Credit Bureaus are also referred to as "Credit Reference Agencies". These credit bureaus are basically defined as the commercial organizations which keep track of an individual’s credit record and assign him/her with an appropriate credit rating. This credit rating information, also referred to as credit score, is further used by the lenders, credit card companies or banks to determine the credibility level of the person who is going to take a loan. Besides this, credit bureaus are also entitled to know whether the person has ever been bankrupt or regarded as delinquent in paying off debts. These are some of the reasons that contribute to the widespread familiarity of these credit bureaus in the financial world.

 Credit bureaus also keep a record of the consumer’s name, present as well as past contact addresses, SSN (social-security-number) and much more. There are in fact three well renowned credit bureaus, namely Transunion, Experian and Equifax which are governed by the rules and regulations set forth by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).  At certain times, credit card companies rely on the effective utilization of these credit bureaus. The main factor behind this strategy is that they want to verify the credit ratio of the individual who is supposed to get credit card.

In more elaborate manner, we can say that credit bureaus basically measure the person’s credibility with his level of paying money back. This means that those individuals who have already proved their credibility can use their credit efficiently and pay back borrowed money at an appropriate time. With this, they will continue to enjoy the benefit of borrowing money in future as well.

There are in fact two significant reasons as to why a consumer contacts credit bureaus. The foremost reason is that he may wish to acquire the copy of the credit report and secondly he wants to get all the mistakes in his credit report rectified. After getting the copy of the credit report, it enables you to get familiarized with your credit score/rating. Besides this, it will also let you know whether any company or individual is keeping an eye on your credit report. This will enable you to be aware of any sort of identity theft or credit card misuse.

Now, if you have come across a dispute over the credit report errors, you can definitely go ahead and contact a credit bureau. This implies the fact that once a consumer finds anything wrong in the credit report, he can surely contact the credit bureaus’ customer service and know about all the procedural guidelines for placing a claim.

  Another advantage of these credit bureaus is that they provide the consumer with the credit reports free of cost, either monthly or annually. All you have to do is contact these bureaus, namely Experian, Transunion and Equifax directly at an appropriate time.

 While concluding, we can say that if a person wishes to know his updated credit score or credit rating and he wants to keep an eye on any sort of identity theft, he can go ahead and contact any of these three credit bureaus.