Why Does Each Credit Report Vary by Credit Bureau?

When you view your credit report, you will notice that some accounts may differ from one credit bureau to another. There is some information that will remain the same, some that will differ and some creditors that may not even appear on all three bureaus.

The reason that the information is different is usually because each credit reporting agency collects data independently. Some furnishers do not report to all three credit bureaus. Smaller banks and debt collection agencies are usually culprits to none reporting’s.

When the credit bureaus use different sources to access public records, they can sometimes report the same debt, like tax liens, garnishments and bankruptcies differently. This can cause additional variations among the credit reports.

It is estimated that tens of millions of consumers are at risk of being penalized by inaccurate and inconsistent credit reports. Another reason the credit reports differ, is that the credit bureaus often receive and process information from credit furnishers at different times. There are numerous reasons for the three major credit reporting bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and EquiFax) for having slightly different information on their reports that would credit a different credit score from all three.

Getting a tri-merged credit report will allow you to see all three reporting bureaus in one convenient report.