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Consumer Reporting Agency
A consumer reporting agency is a company that is in the business of gathering, storing, and disseminating the credit histories of consumers. The three leading companies in the field of consumer reporting are Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union.
The operations of consumer reporting agencies are subject to the provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Under the provisions of the legislation the reporting agencies are allowed to collect and to use credit histories for the purpose of credit evaluation but they are responsible for determining that the entities with which they do business have a permissible purpose to request the credit information.
Consumer reporting agencies are also required by law to disclose the credit information they have gathered to the consumer upon request. Negative information may not be retained for excessive time periods (usually seven years for most instances but ten for bankruptcies.) It is considered a good practice to request your credit report from time to time to examine the information for errors or for items that can be corrected.
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