|
Experian plc, formerly known as CCN Systems, is a global credit information
group, with operations in 36 countries. The company employs 15,500 people with
corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and operational headquarters in
Nottingham, England and Costa Mesa, California. It is listed on the London Stock
Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
It acquired its US credit reporting business, formerly known as TRW Information
Services, from Bain Capital and the Thomas H. Lee Partners in 1996.
Experian's principal lines of business are credit services, marketing solutions,
decision analytics and interactive services. The company collects information on
people, businesses, motor vehicles and insurance. It also collects 'lifestyle'
data from on- and off-line surveys.
Its databases contain credit information on 215 million people in the United
States and 450 million vehicles, including title and registration data. It
provides address information for more than 20 billion promotional mail items to
more than 100 million households every year. Experian also provides credit
reports on businesses. This business unit partnered with eCredit (now Cortera)
in June 2007.
Like the other major credit reporting bureaus, Experian is chiefly regulated in
the United States by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The Fair and Accurate
Credit Transactions Act of 2003, signed into law in 2003, amended the
FCRA
to
require the credit reporting companies to provide consumers with one free copy
of their credit report per 12 month period. Like its main competitors,
TransUnion and Equifax, Experian markets credit reports directly to consumers.
Experian US handles its credit disputes in its National Consumer Assistance
Center (NCAC) in Allen, Texas. You may contact the NCAC once you have a copy of
your personal credit report by calling the number that is located on the
personal credit report itself.
Experian provides regional data at nationalscoreindex.com which shows average
credit scores by region and zipcode as well as various other measures of
household debt. The site does not indicate if it uses a FICO based credit score,
the new VantageScore, or some other scoring model.
The company's largest operation is Experian North America, a consumer credit
reporting agency that is considered one of the three largest American credit
agencies along with Equifax and TransUnion.
Experian
P.O. Box 2104
Allen, Tx. 75013-2104 1 (888) 397-3742
http://www.experian.com/ |
