Credit Bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union) are the source of all credit information available to us or any other creditor.

Credit Reporting Agencies, on the other hand are the companies that provide credit reports supplying credit bureau information to those of us who need it in order to determine the creditworthiness of a potential borrower. There are several of these companies including Fiserv/Credstar and First American Credco plus thousands of smaller local companies. These companies report information from the bureaus and provide credit supplements to fix credit issues that may be incorrect or not found on the bureau report.

But just because a credit reporting agency gave you a supplement showing a collection account is paid off or late payment was incorrect does not mean the account will suddenly appear differently on the borrower's bureau reports, because it won't. The issue is that the bureaus don't rely on what the reporting agencies provide because there is no guarantee of accuracy and therefore, they insist on doing it themselves for quality control reasons.

A borrower who has an inaccuracy fixed with a credit supplement should always be advised to follow up with the bureaus using the procedure outlined in yesterday's LO insights in order to avoid having the same issue rear it's ugly head the next time they apply for credit.