Sometimes, for 100% confidence that you do not owe anything to anyone, people turn to specialized organizations. This must be done not only to clear conscience, but also for the sake of one's own curiosity. Thus, you can look at yourself through the eyes of the bank. BKI Equifax is an organization that provides information on the credit reputation of a client. What kind of company is this? And is it convenient to use her services?
A few words about the company itself
Equifax - is the largest credit history bureau that tops the list of domestic credit index banks. The company works closely with the Central Bureau of Credit Histories of the capital and regularly develops special offers for mutually beneficial cooperation with credit and financial organizations of the Russian Federation.
BCI "Equifax" provides services to individuals and legal entities within the framework of the law. These services are associated with risk management, the prevention of fraudulent activities by attackers, and the receipt of analytical data.
General information on the creation of the company and its customer base
Equifax Credit History Bureau was founded in 1899. The official headquarters of the organization is located in Atlanta, Georgia (USA).
Since its inception, the company has managed to go beyond its homeland and open its representative offices in other countries. So, company branches can be found in 24 countries of the world.
Currently, the company, issuing credit histories online and free (available 2 times a year), has an extensive client base. It includes over 308.4 million files on individuals and about 806,000 on legal entities. Over 2000 financial and credit organizations cooperate with this BKI on an ongoing basis.
Why contact the BKI?
When you need a credit history check, Equifax is the BKI where you can go. This company provides information on the current status of your credit dossier upon individual request.
Moreover, you can get an extract from the credit dossier completely free of charge, but once a year. If you deal with loans regularly, it makes sense to do it more often. Only these requests will already be paid.
Credit History Brief
A credit history is information about when and where you took loans. Everything is described here: the terms of the loan, the correctness or incorrectness of its repayment (indicates the presence of delays in payments). It has the date of full repayment of the loan. You can find out your credit history online for free twice a year by contacting Equifax.
Why do I need a credit history?
In most cases, banks are interested in credit history when they are looking for information about a potential borrower. However, knowing your credit dossier can be very helpful. In particular, you can find out the reason why, for example, you were denied a bank with a loan. The reason may lie in errors made in the dossier.
So, banks fill the credit dossier. They transmit information about their clients to BKI. It happens that due to the carelessness of an employee of a credit institution, an error was made in the name, surname or address of the client. The bank system may fail and your existing loan will be written to you twice. Or do not indicate the loan repayment date. Having seen such a dossier, the new bank where you went to take a loan may very well refuse you.
Solving the problem is easy. It is enough to periodically send a request to Equifax BCI. Credit history is issued free of charge and online here on the basis of data received from banks and the central credit history bureau.
How to act when identifying inaccurate information?
Having received data on the state of your credit history, in case of any violations, you can go straight to the bank. According to company employees, many of their clients did just that.
If you pay attention to reviews of Equifax, you can see the current picture as a whole. Having received a credit dossier with errors, for example, in a surname, they went to the bank. There they showed their passport, checked the data.
In most cases, this trip ended with the correction of data errors and updating the credit dossier. In the worst case, the bank refused to change anything, and customers had to go to court.
How to get information about your credit dossier?
In order to send a request to receive your credit dossier, you must perform the following steps:
- Go to the official website of the company.
- Select “Individuals” in the masonry.
- Choose the most suitable option for the request.
If you believe the reviews about Equifax, there are several options for contacting the bureau. For example, one of the options is to send an electronic version of the appeal to the address of the organization. To do this, fill out a special application form, sign the document with a complex electronic signature (enhanced qualified) and send it to the BKI email.
The second way to get a report is to register on the official service of the credit bureau. Further, it remains only to enter your Equifax account and leave a request.
But remember, you must be prepared to verify the authenticity of information about your personality. This can be done, for example, through the website of the State Service, by sending a telegram to the company by Russian Post.
Alternatively, you can log into your Equifax account and send a request by virtual letter with a simple electronic signature. In this case, the key to the signature must be obtained during a personal visit to the organization, in accordance with the rules for the use of electronic signatures in the Russian Federation.
What other application options are possible?
Many reviews of Equifax refer to additional options for sending an application to the BCI. For example, you can download a sample application, fill it out, notarize and send to receive a credit dossier.
Another option to contact the bureau is to send a telegram with a personal signature, certified by a post office employee. It should include your surname, first name, patronymic, place and date of birth, address of registration and actual location, the desired method for receiving an answer: by Russian post or virtual letter.
And finally, if you live in Moscow, it is always realistic to personally visit the company’s office, write a statement on the spot and wait for a response. The document can be obtained in electronic form or a paper version of your choice.
What customers say about Equifax: reviews
Versions of many customers, based on their own opinion about this BKI, may differ. For example, some customers say that they liked receiving information from the company. She always arrives on time, and all services are provided flawlessly.
The second confidently declare that they are not satisfied with the work of the support service. According to them, they repeatedly contacted her and did not receive a response for several months. You can solve the problem by writing your questions to the email address of the company. According to company customers, after such an appeal, the answer came faster, and representatives of the organization even phoned and apologized.
Others do not like the quality of the services provided. From their words, it becomes clear that their credit dossier is incomplete. For some, it is very short, came with completely or partially missing information. Upon receipt of the fourth dossier, the client was not found. This happened due to a valid last name error when filling out the user profile.
Fifths complained about the large amount of advertising sent to their personal email address. Six did not like the presence of a large number of paid services, the inexperience of operators and the incorrect behavior of employees.
Most like the scoring score for your dossier can be seen for free. Some clients who applied to this BKI managed to solve the problem with mythical loans supposedly issued in their last name. The reason for the incorrect information is not clear.
However, after contacting the BCI for free, I managed to contact the company that provided information on non-existent debt and correct the real information in the client’s credit history.
In a word, it’s good to know your credit history. Trust but check. Do you often check your credit dossier?