Experian Credit Monitoring
Experian monitors the credit activity of over 460 million credit holders and 35 million businesses worldwide, most of them in the US. Its service is designed to help businesses evaluate the creditworthiness, or borrowing risk, of consumers to help businesses make key lending decisions. It also helps businesses decide on actions to take when consumers fail to comply with lending terms.
All three credit bureaus obtain information from credit-granting companies known as ‘data furnishers.’ Every time one makes a credit transaction, such as a bill payment or a loan application, the creditor forwards the information to the three bureaus, who will then add it to the customer’s credit profile. The information is shown in a credit report, which can be accessed by lenders to evaluate an applicant’s creditworthiness.
Experian also provides all legal US residents with a free copy of their credit reports every year, as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The free report can be ordered and instantly accessed online at Annual Credit Report (annualcreditreport.com), a website jointly established by the three bureaus.