Q&A on the News

Q: Why is it legal for credit companies (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian) to collect our private information, such as our Social Security number, driver’s license number, bank account number, the loans we have taken out, our name, address and phone number? What law allows these three credit companies to collect our private information and sell this private information to lenders? —Barry Hodges, Martin

A: The Fair Credit Reporting Act makes it legal for lenders to send information to the credit bureaus and for the credit bureaus to accept, maintain and sell the information.

Those parties just have to comply with the provisions of the act, John Ulzheimer, a credit expert who has previously worked for both Equifax and FICO, told Q&A on the News via email. He added that some of the information collected by the credit bureaus is public record, so there is nothing preventing any party from accessing it.

Under the credit reporting act, consumers give lenders permission to access this information when they sign applications and permit lenders to share this information with the credit bureaus by signing cardholder agreements and promissory notes.

“Despite common perception, your SSN (Social Security number) is not used for identification purposes,” he wrote. “That’s largely done by the credit bureaus’ matching logic, which is primarily based on name, address and DOB (date of birth). A partial match of your SSN is used as a secondary verification attribute. And when you get a copy of your report online, your SSN is never used for authentication. The credit bureaus can create your credit report without a SSN, and lenders can pull your reports without SSNs.”

Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-2222002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).