24 Facts About Equifax

Equifax Inc is an American multinational consumer credit reporting agency headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and is one of the three largest consumer credit reporting agencies, along with Experian and TransUnion .

Equifax collects and aggregates information on over 800 million individual consumers and more than 88 million businesses worldwide.

Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Equifax acknowledged reporting inaccurate credit scores, but insisted the errors had affected only a few people.

The following day, a class-action lawsuit was filed by Jacksonville, Florida resident Nydia Jenkins against Equifax alleging she had received a "substantially pricier car loan" due to Equifax reporting her credit score 130 points off from what it should have been.

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In September 2017, Equifax announced a cyber-security breach, which it claims to have occurred between mid-May and July 2017, where cybercriminals accessed approximately 145.

In July 2019, The New York Times, the New York Post and other media reported Equifax had agreed to pay approximately $650 million to settle with the Federal Trade Commission to resolve investigations by several state attorneys general, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the FTC, and a consumer class-action lawsuit related to the data breach.

Equifax was founded by Cator and Guy Woolford in Atlanta, Georgia, as Retail Credit Company in 1899.

Equifax had a division selling specialist credit information to the insurance industry but spun off this service, including the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange database as ChoicePoint in 1997.

Equifax formerly offered digital certification services, which it sold to GeoTrust in September 2001.

Also in 2001, Equifax spun off its payment services division, forming the publicly listed company Certegy, which subsequently acquired Fidelity National Information Services in 2006.

In October 2010, Equifax announced it was acquiring Anakam, an identity verification software company headquartered in San Diego, California, which invented and pioneered SMS two-factor authentication.

Equifax purchased eThority, a business intelligence company headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, in October 2011.

In February 2016, Equifax acquired the Australasian company Veda, the largest credit reference agency in Australia at the time.

In July 2020, Equifax reported that, after purchasing Ansonia Credit Data, a major source of consumer credit, payments, and invoice receivables data used by financial companies and other borrowers and businesses in the shipping and logistics sectors, the firm has expanded its position in commercial payment technology solutions.

Equifax primarily operates in the business-to-business sector, selling consumer credit and insurance reports and related analytics to businesses in a range of industries.

Equifax sells businesses credit reports, analytics, demographic data, and software.

Equifax provides commercial credit reports containing financial and non-financial data on businesses of all sizes.

Equifax collects and provides data through the National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange, an exchange of non-credit data including consumer payment history on telecommunications and utility accounts.

In 1999, Equifax began offering services to the credit consumer sector in addition, such as credit fraud and identity theft prevention products.

In July 2019, Equifax settled with the Federal Trade Commission for $700 million.

An Equifax spokesperson said that Equifax is considering appealing the jury's verdict.

In January 2020, Equifax agreed to a global settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and 50 U S states and territories.

Equifax ultimately reached a settlement with regulators for up to $700 million.