The big bad bogey men of the financial world. They are the the custodians of your credit past and the first place a credit granter goes to when they want to evaluate the risk of a new client. They are the credit bureaus. In the financial realm there are three main players who dominate this niche. TransUnion, Equifax and Experian credit bureaus.
There are some who believe that credit bureaus infringe on personal privacy when they keep in-depth records of their financial history. They believe that credit bureaus like Experian only believe in peddling information to the highest bidder. This is a slightly biased perspective. Finances are a personal topic so it is understandable why people would react personally to it.
Credit bureaus exist to provide a vital financial service. In order to effectively judge the financial stability of an individual past information is needed. This is essential when a creditor wishes to determine the level of risk he is undertaking by allowing an individual to take his product with only the promise of future monthly payment. Which is essentially what credit is. Credit bureaus like Experian and TransUnion exist as data bases from which creditors can make informed decisions. After all should a trustworthy person who consistently pays his debts on time be unfairly penalized?
All the information that they possess is either freely available or you allowed them to access when you signed the terms and conditions form that was presented to you by the creditor. So what it boils down to is that the credit bureaus like Experian and Equifax are not the bad guys for holding information on your accounts that are in arrears. After all, they were not the people who spent that money.
