4 Myths about the Credit Bureaus

They exert tremendous power over your life - and the lives of every other American adult who cares about their credit. But what do you actually know about the main three credit reporting agencies?

Survey after survey suggests the average American knows very little about the credit bureaus other than that they control their credit reports - and as a consequence, their buying power. And that is how the credit bureaus want it, argues Dr. Randy Padawer, a clinical psychologist whose research into consumer credit has been featured in Smart Money Magazine and the bestselling FICO 850 seminar for The Motley Fool.

"The three major credit bureaus truly want consumers to believe that they've each been blessed with an officially sanctioned franchise," says Padawer, who has consulted for Lexington Law, a firm that helps consumers dispute errors and other questionable negative information from their credit reports.

The fewer facts you know about the credit reporting agencies, the more difficult it will be to resolve a problem when one shows up on your credit report. And odds are an error will appear. Four out of every five credit reports contain errors, and approximately 25 contain errors serious enough to cause significant problems for consumers, according to research by the National Association of State Public Interest Research Groups.

Here are some credit bureau misconceptions and the real facts behind each fiction:

Fiction 1: There are only three "official" consumer reporting agencies.

Fact: Many organizations are in the business of collecting, compiling and processing credit information.

Fiction 2: The big three consumer reporting agencies are officially sanctioned by the federal government.

Fact: "There are no official bureaus," Padawer says. "While most Americans perceive their credit reports to have at least the same legal standing as their driving records, the truth is that the government had no role in establishing the for-profit companies which produce them."

Fiction 3: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion all have the same credit information.

Fact: Different creditors often report to different credit bureaus. In fact, there is no law that forces them to report to any of the big three bureaus. Consumer reporting agencies do not share information either, so if there is an error on your report from all three agencies, correcting it with just one of them does not mean it will automatically come off your other two reports .

Fiction 4: Consumer reporting agencies will act promptly to help me rectify an error or delete inaccurate negative listings from my credit reports.

Fact: Federal law requires all consumer reporting agencies to complete an investigation into a consumer complaint within 30 days. The bureau may decide the disputed item remains on the report as is, update but not delete the listing, remove the listing, or deem the dispute frivolous. Given that it is easiest to simply deem your complaint as frivolous, many consumers find that their legitimate disputes get dismissed.

Increasingly, frustrated and fed up consumers are turning to credit correction professionals like Lexington Law to help them resolve credit report issues. Anyone who has disputed an item on a credit reports knows the process can be long, frusterating and perhaps without results. Involving a credit repair professional can achieve faster, better results.