Of the three major credit bureaus, Equifax is the oldest. They were founded in 1899 as the Retail Credit Company. By 1960, they were considered as one of the largest credit bureaus in the United States. They are currently one of the so-called “Big Three” credit bureaus (along with Experian® and TransUnion®) and provide global services for their credit reports and insurance reports. Equifax also provides information, business analytics, and reporting software.
Equifax Credit Report
Equifax gives the public access to their consumer credit reports via their own website (Equifax.com) and directly through the government’s AnnualCreditReport.com website.
Equifax considers the following information when they create their Equifax credit reports:
- Payment history: this makes up 35 percent of your score. Your payment history is based on credit card or retail/department store card account information, car loans, student loans, mortgages, public records showing any bankruptcies or liens, collections, and the overall number of accounts you have open that have been paid on time.
- Amounts owed: this is 30 percent of your Equifax score. This looks at the amount of money you owe on various accounts, whether you are carrying a balance, and what the credit line is.
- Length of credit history: the amount varies between five to seven percent. Equifax takes the age of your oldest account and most recent account into consideration. They also look at the types of accounts you have as well as if there has been any activity on some of those accounts.
- New credit: this amount also varies, accounting for between ten to 12 percent. New credit doesn’t just mean the number of recently opened accounts you have. Additionally, it counts how many inquiries are on your account and the time that’s passed between inquiries, as well as the number of new accounts versus older accounts.
- Credit type: this is 15 percent of your credit score. Simply put, this is the number of credit accounts you have and what kinds of accounts they are.
Equifax Credit Scores
The Equifax Credit Score™ has a lower starting point in its range than the FICO® Score. The Equifax Credit Score starts at 280 and goes as high as 850. While obtaining Equifax credit reports means that the scoring model used will be the Equifax Credit Score, this scoring model is also used by Experian® and TransUnion® and will appear on the files from each of those credit bureaus.
How to Get Your Equifax Credit Report
You can obtain your Equifax free annual report from the www.AnnualCreditReport.com website or directly from Equifax on their website. While your Equifax credit report is free from the www.AnnualCreditReport.com, you will have to pay to obtain it from Equifax directly. You can also call AmONE toll-free at 1-800-809-1107 to speak with one of our knowledgeable financial search specialists. Our financial search specialists can assist you in obtaining your credit information for free from our trusted partners, show you free resources that will help you understand your credit report, and give you Equifax information on how you can improve your credit scores if you need to.
