Which out of the three credit agency is best to get your report from Trans Union Equifax or Experian or does it really matter?

Answer 1

It does matter. And your question is difficult to answer without industry insider information. Credit started in local areas. Think of Little House on the Prairie. If Mr. Ingles wanted to purchase some farm equipment from Mr. Olsen, but didn't have the money until his crops came in. Mr. Olsen knew Mr. Ingles. He was able to make a decision about whether or not to extend him credit based on that personal knowledge. When urban areas began developing and most merchants no longer knew their clients personally, a need to gather and dispense information about consumer's borrowing and repaying habits came into the picture. This is why credit bureaus originally formed. Equifax started in Atlanta, the other two started in Chicago and California respectively. Until the 1970's there were thousands of local credit bureaus which gathered and sold information about local consumers. During that decade the big three sent reps all over the country to buy out databases. They assimilated local credit information, particularly collection accounts into the national bureaus. For any consumer: Where you have gotten mail for the majority of your life will affect which bureau is the "best" to pull. In the past when mortgage companies requested credit reports that compiled two of the three bureaus, there were specialists at the bureaus who could pinpoint, down to the city, which two of the three were the best to pull for any given consumer. That practice and standard has changed. The majority of mortgage, auto and credit card lenders now use either a tri-merge of all three bureaus, or their own personal favorite of the three. There is no way to know which they will use, unless you ask. This is the basic reason it is advisable for all consumers to get a copy of their credit report from all three bureaus and work to clear any inaccuracies.