TransUnion®

TransUnion® is the third largest credit reporting agency in the United States.  The company began as the holding company of Union Tank Car Company in 1968 and one year later started purchasing local credit bureaus. It would grow substantially in the coming years and later became part of the Marmon Group, before becoming an independent company in 2005.

It now operates 250 offices located in the U.S. and 24 other countries from its headquarters in Chicago, Ill. By 2005, the company had 4,000 employees and claimed to have credit information in its files on “substantially all of the credit active consumers in the United States.”

TransUnion collects credit information, assembles credit reports and calculates credit scores, and provides the information to people looking to lend. This information gives a lenders an idea of the risk they will take in providing a loan to a consumer. TransUnion also provides copies of credit reports to consumers. TransUnion also offers a system that allows you to monitor your credit report. Keep in mind that the company is mandated by law to investigate any errors in the credit information they have accumulated about you.

The TransUnion credit score formula was once known as Empirica®, which the company now calls Classic. The Empirica scale ranges from 150 to 934.