FYI AND TIPS
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Credit Systems and how they work.
The three major credit bureaus in the United States are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
These private businesses collect and sell data about consumers' borrowing and spending habits to create credit reports.
Credit reports include information about a person's identity, credit history, and activity, as well as public record information.
Credit bureaus may get this information from a variety of sources, including banks, credit card issuers, auto lenders, mortgage lenders, and debt collection agencies.
They may also gather publicly available information, such as bankruptcy filings and court records.
Basically, they are data brokers, along with LexisNexis and Chexsystems.
They all have its main place and purpose but can have lots of the same data.
You get the idea. So, it's good to understand how they impact your life, unless you pay in cash for everything, including big ticket items but even that can end up on LexisNexis.
Most people need it to get cars, loans, banks, housing (buying/renting), insurance and credit cards.
Lets Google:
LexisNexis –
Transunion –
Experian –
Equifax -
Chexsystems
The big 3 is the most used, then LexisNexis. Most Banking though is where LexisNexis and Chexsystems comes in more so than Transunion – Experian – Equifax but Equifax is used for verifying Identity and verification in general. I believe i-9s use Equifax or they offer it.
Just about anything you do, online or off, gets logged somewhere. Sucks I know.
I’m sure many have heard of Credit Karma and if not, now you have. It's free BUT it kind of comes with a hidden cost and its not money. They can sell your data. As an FYI, this is common with just about all company's. Reading the privacy policy and/or how they use what they collect will tell you all you need to know.
Using this you can monitor and get some alerts on Transunion – Experian – Equifax.
If you want to see what LexisNexis has on you, you have to put in a request but depending on the situation, they may charge you to get the report. This is the same with Chexsystems.
With all the data breaches etc, how does one protect themselves from all this? Simple answer is you cannot BUT you can limit the problems and, in many cases, see something before it causes a big problem.
Sure you can pay someone like LifeLock with an avg monthly cost of $6-9 but they will need access to everything to monitor whatever it is, you want protected.
Me, I do not like that.
I can do most of what they offer myself for free. You just will not have 1 million dollars of protection as I understand, if something big happens. First Credit Karma does a reasonable job of sending alerts.
The best thing is make a free account on each of the systems we talked about here besides LexusNexis because they do not have a Comsumer option, that I see or are aware of and that's fine.
All of it is free, BTW. Now with a bit of work, you should see the option of FREEZING your credit on Transunion, Experian and Equifax.
Once this is done, for the most point, no one can pull your credit or even pull any data or verify anything.
Once this is done. The only one you need to mess with is Transunion and Equifax. Do not worry about Experian as much. Not many use them.
If someone needs access to your data then you log on to Transunion and Equifax and UN FREEZE it. Give them no more than 1-3 days to do this then RE FREEZE both. I would tell them they have 1-3 days to do what is needed so it's clear.
Chexsystems as I have read and understood, is mostly used by banks to open checking and savings accounts. So if you FREEZE it then in most cases, no one but you could do any of these things. Now, if you have an account with the said bank I believe they will open a account without checking anything. If banks merge, I believe the same applies to.
As I understand, if the bank is not FDIC insured or similar government agency then high chance, they will not check anything.
Side note, unemployment agencies and when needed, any government benefit's need access to Equifax to verify everything.
As of 2024, discover card has identity alert but you must qualify for their credit card that supports this option. This is free. They also tell you your credit score.
Capital One credit card has an option of telling you your credit score as well. I have them all to compare the numbers. Most of the time they are the same or a point or 2 off.
As a precaution, its best to keep your passwords safe and secure off site plus change then as often, like 6 months or a year and don’t use the same passwords across different account. Use multi factor authentication on most critical accounts plus that could affect other accounts if someone other than you gain access.
Don’t click on emails, links or view images in text or any other, you do not recognize and/or look off. Call any source directly with a number you know is good on what you got if you have questions on it or even visit them.
UPDATES:
Medical debt on credit report for 2025 (Link)
Put a freeze on LexisNexis as of 2025 (Link)
Doing this is not as easy and a big hassle then it is with the credit reporting agencies.
I have not really done any research on innovis but they where talked about a few times so I thought I'd list it here.
Innovis is a credit reporting agency that collects and sells credit information about individuals and businesses. It's the fourth largest credit reporting agency in the United States, after Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. If you want to put a freeze on this too, here is the link but again doing this is not as easy and a big hassle then it is with the credit reporting agencies. (Link)
Quick Links and Resources:
The three major credit bureaus in the United States are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
These private businesses collect and sell data about consumers' borrowing and spending habits to create credit reports.
Credit reports include information about a person's identity, credit history, and activity, as well as public record information.
Credit bureaus may get this information from a variety of sources, including banks, credit card issuers, auto lenders, mortgage lenders, and debt collection agencies.
They may also gather publicly available information, such as bankruptcy filings and court records.
Basically, they are data brokers, along with LexisNexis and Chexsystems.
They all have its main place and purpose but can have lots of the same data.
You get the idea. So, it's good to understand how they impact your life, unless you pay in cash for everything, including big ticket items but even that can end up on LexisNexis.
Most people need it to get cars, loans, banks, housing (buying/renting), insurance and credit cards.
Lets Google:
LexisNexis –
Transunion –
Experian –
Equifax -
Chexsystems
The big 3 is the most used, then LexisNexis. Most Banking though is where LexisNexis and Chexsystems comes in more so than Transunion – Experian – Equifax but Equifax is used for verifying Identity and verification in general. I believe i-9s use Equifax or they offer it.
Just about anything you do, online or off, gets logged somewhere. Sucks I know.
I’m sure many have heard of Credit Karma and if not, now you have. It's free BUT it kind of comes with a hidden cost and its not money. They can sell your data. As an FYI, this is common with just about all company's. Reading the privacy policy and/or how they use what they collect will tell you all you need to know.
Using this you can monitor and get some alerts on Transunion – Experian – Equifax.
If you want to see what LexisNexis has on you, you have to put in a request but depending on the situation, they may charge you to get the report. This is the same with Chexsystems.
With all the data breaches etc, how does one protect themselves from all this? Simple answer is you cannot BUT you can limit the problems and, in many cases, see something before it causes a big problem.
Sure you can pay someone like LifeLock with an avg monthly cost of $6-9 but they will need access to everything to monitor whatever it is, you want protected.
Me, I do not like that.
I can do most of what they offer myself for free. You just will not have 1 million dollars of protection as I understand, if something big happens. First Credit Karma does a reasonable job of sending alerts.
The best thing is make a free account on each of the systems we talked about here besides LexusNexis because they do not have a Comsumer option, that I see or are aware of and that's fine.
All of it is free, BTW. Now with a bit of work, you should see the option of FREEZING your credit on Transunion, Experian and Equifax.
Once this is done, for the most point, no one can pull your credit or even pull any data or verify anything.
Once this is done. The only one you need to mess with is Transunion and Equifax. Do not worry about Experian as much. Not many use them.
If someone needs access to your data then you log on to Transunion and Equifax and UN FREEZE it. Give them no more than 1-3 days to do this then RE FREEZE both. I would tell them they have 1-3 days to do what is needed so it's clear.
Chexsystems as I have read and understood, is mostly used by banks to open checking and savings accounts. So if you FREEZE it then in most cases, no one but you could do any of these things. Now, if you have an account with the said bank I believe they will open a account without checking anything. If banks merge, I believe the same applies to.
As I understand, if the bank is not FDIC insured or similar government agency then high chance, they will not check anything.
Side note, unemployment agencies and when needed, any government benefit's need access to Equifax to verify everything.
As of 2024, discover card has identity alert but you must qualify for their credit card that supports this option. This is free. They also tell you your credit score.
Capital One credit card has an option of telling you your credit score as well. I have them all to compare the numbers. Most of the time they are the same or a point or 2 off.
As a precaution, its best to keep your passwords safe and secure off site plus change then as often, like 6 months or a year and don’t use the same passwords across different account. Use multi factor authentication on most critical accounts plus that could affect other accounts if someone other than you gain access.
Don’t click on emails, links or view images in text or any other, you do not recognize and/or look off. Call any source directly with a number you know is good on what you got if you have questions on it or even visit them.
UPDATES:
Medical debt on credit report for 2025 (Link)
Put a freeze on LexisNexis as of 2025 (Link)
Doing this is not as easy and a big hassle then it is with the credit reporting agencies.
I have not really done any research on innovis but they where talked about a few times so I thought I'd list it here.
Innovis is a credit reporting agency that collects and sells credit information about individuals and businesses. It's the fourth largest credit reporting agency in the United States, after Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. If you want to put a freeze on this too, here is the link but again doing this is not as easy and a big hassle then it is with the credit reporting agencies. (Link)