Equifax

Equifax is a multinational consumer credit reporting agency based in Atlanta, Georgia. It is one of the three major credit bureaus in the United States, alongside Experian and TransUnion. The company collects and maintains credit information on individuals and businesses and provides credit reports, credit scores, and other data analytics to lenders, employers, insurers, and government agencies. It also offers identity theft protection, credit monitoring services, fraud prevention, and business analytics solutions.

Equifax was founded in 1899 in Atlanta as the Retail Credit Company and was renamed Equifax in 1975 after a series of mergers and reorganizations. It operates across North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EFX.

The data held by Equifax includes consumer credit history, payment records, public records, and other identifying information sourced from lenders and various public and private datasets. The company provides credit reports used to assess creditworthiness and, in some markets, score calculations used by lenders.

In 2017 Equifax disclosed a data breach that exposed personal information of an estimated 147 million people, including names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and, in some cases, driver's license numbers. The breach led to regulatory investigations worldwide and a series of settlements. In 2019 and 2020, Equifax agreed to resolve claims with the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and state attorneys general, totaling up to about 700 million dollars in penalties and consumer restitution, as well as ongoing obligations to improve data security and monitoring for affected consumers.

Equifax remains a central player in credit reporting, with ongoing focus on data security, privacy, and consumer protections.