Among other directives given, the U. Retail Credit changed its name in to Equifax Inc. Also in the late s, Equifax began strengthening consumer credit reporting operations by purchasing small, local credit reporting agencies and by affiliating with others. In doing so, the company expanded its computerized files enormously and paved the way for greater diversification. Likewise, Equifax gained the capability to provide additional types of information to clients.
Consolidation in the credit bureau industry continued throughout the s, as Equifax and its two largest competitors, TRW Inc. In a ten-year period, smaller credit bureaus had been added to the Equifax network alone. By the company's files covered million people in 28 states. In the following year, the company's capacity grew 40 percent, to cover all 50 states. During this time, Equifax also continued to spend heavily on technological developments for the purpose of keeping data-processing equipment up to date and offering new products to customers with the equipment.
Equifax moved into marketing databases, which allowed patrons to target their most likely customers. In April the company established a marketing services division, whose first project was to develop a direct-mail program to sell home mortgages for a Midwestern insurance company. The company planned to handle all phases of the operation, including selection of potential customers, production of mailing brochures, handling of telephone inquiries, verification of credit applications, and property appraisal.
In May Equifax formed a strategic alliance with the fifth largest credit bureau, CSC Credit Services, a division of the Computer Sciences Corporation; the yield was 65 additional bureaus, bringing Equifax's total number of bureaus to more than The company's operations had already been divided into four divisions: insurance information services, its traditional strength; credit services; marketing services, the newest division; and Canadian operations, which were consolidated into one company, Equifax Canada Inc.
Equifax also divested itself of two unprofitable units in , Equifax Insurance Systems and Enercon, Inc. As the s arrived, the company strove to enter the European market. Late in , the company bought out its British partner to form Equifax Europe. In addition to formation of a technology division, brought about by the consolidation of the company's activities in that field, Equifax also acquired Telecredit, Inc.
The company's purchase of Telecredit was complicated by a sizable drop in the value of Equifax stock during , as investors grew concerned about the stability of the company's profits in an economic downturn. Another concern was growing consumer dissatisfaction. In Equifax had commissioned a poll that showed that 71 percent of all Americans thought they had lost control over information concerning their lives and 79 percent considered privacy a basic right.
Equifax was forced to confront growing consumer hostility in the early s, as watchdog groups contended that credit bureaus' files were often inaccurate and were used in inappropriate ways. As an Equifax executive explained in Business Week, "People see the use of this information as a privacy problem if it goes beyond credit purposes.
The company would also no longer keep tabs on customers' buying histories for the purpose of placing shoppers in a range of categories from "luxury buyers" to "coupon clippers. In addition, the company modified the processes for correcting mistakes in its files, making it easier for consumers to set the record straight.
In Equifax also abandoned a planned joint database project with Lotus Development Corporation that would have made available to small businesses a wide array of demographic information at microneighborhood levels; a consumer outcry and negative media attention led to the project's demise.
In mid Equifax agreed to provide consumers with a toll-free number and to begin investigating disputes within 30 days. By taking these steps to mollify the public, Equifax hoped to ward off federal legislation that would mandate costly measures to increase fairness.
In addition, the company hoped to avoid the expensive class action suits over its activities that competitors had suffered. Despite Equifax's flat earnings, the company moved past its main competitor, TRW, to seize the lead in market share among credit bureaus in the beginning of TRW's credit bureau was spun off as Experian Inc. Having already moved into check verification and credit card processing in the early s, Equifax diversified again in through the acquisition of Health Economics Corporation, which moved the company into the field of healthcare information.
By Equifax had acquired three more healthcare information firms, giving it a substantial presence in claims processing. With the acquisition of Integratec Inc. In the company also greatly expanded its international operations through acquisitions and joint ventures, gaining a presence in 12 countries, including Argentina, Chile, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
That year also saw Equifax introduce a record 25 new products. This heightened activity was fueled by the decision to subcontract the running of Equifax's computer operation to IBM, a move that freed Equifax's large technical staff to develop new ways of packaging the company's data in consultation with its customers. In an effort to focus on payment services, credit reporting, and risk management services, Equifax sold its healthcare information business in , just four years after entering the field; then in the following year Equifax spun off its insurance information services group, which had been a part of the company for nearly as long as credit reporting had been.
During this same period, Equifax aggressively expanded overseas. In July Equifax acquired U. In June the company gained full ownership of Transax plc, the largest check guarantee company in the United Kingdom, while in March it acquired a leading U. With opportunities for expansion growing more limited in the developed world, Equifax turned to the Latin American and Asian markets, acquiring full or partial ownership of firms in Chile, India, Argentina, Peru, and El Salvador.
As a new century dawned and the company entered its second century in business, Equifax was busy gaining a toehold in the burgeoning world of Internet commerce. Equifax's push into the Brazilian market was challenged by the economic difficulties there, especially the currency devaluation. As one of the key players in the increasingly electronic world of commerce, however, Equifax was likely to survive the thrive.
Principal Subsidiaries: 1nfo Inc. Ireland ; Equifax Decision Systems B. Finance Ltd. Finance No. France ; Transax Australia plc U. New Zealand ; Transax plc. In October , Equifax acquired Anakam, an identity verification software company. For most of its existence, Equifax has operated primarily in the business-to-business sector, selling consumer credit, insurance reports, and related analytics to businesses in a range of industries.
Business customers include retailers, insurance firms, healthcare providers, utilities, government agencies, as well as banks, credit unions, personal and specialty finance companies and other financial institutions. Equifax sells businesses credit reports, analytics, demographic data, and software. Equifax collects and provides data through the NCTUE, an exchange of non credit data including consumer payment history on telco and utility accounts.
Starting , Equifax began offering services to the consumers, such as credit fraud and identity theft prevention products. Professional Credit Repair. Credit Firm » Education » Who is Equifax. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
All Rights Reserved. Sign Up. Learn More. Our People At Equifax, we are focused on nurturing our people — our most valuable asset. Grow Your Career. We are a group of the best and brightest in our fields.
Our team of experts encourage each other to be our best and are passionate about helping people. Our Business at-a-Glance.
Business Units Equifax serves consumers and business customers through four business units. Each business unit focuses on the needs of unique market segments, putting customer first in everything they do. Sid Singh President, U. Information Solutions. View Bio. Sid Singh. Information Solutions Providing U.
Beverly Anderson. Global Consumer Solutions. Enabling credit monitoring, identity management services, and other direct-to-consumer solutions and services across the U. Rudy Ploder President, Workforce Solutions. Rudy Ploder. Workforce Solutions Partnering with thousands of businesses across the U. Lisa Nelson President, International. Lisa Nelson. International Leveraging unique data sources and analytics to provide consumers, business, government entities around the world with more access to credit and financial opportunity.
It is the result of our investment to create a world class enterprise-wide infrastructure tailored to highly regulated data workloads. Learn More. Global Capabilities Only Equifax has a powerful combination of differentiated data, advanced analytics, a cloud-native data fabric and scalable global platforms. Equifax brings unrivaled decision intelligence to a wide spectrum of global customers in industries ranging from lending and fraud detection and prevention to HR management, marketing and more.
Gain more predictive power. Make smarter, faster decisions with direct access to superior data and analytics to understand business and consumer behavior for better lending outcomes. Confidently verify employment, income, and education information for credit products, mortgages, and government programs with more comprehensive insights delivered seamlessly and quickly. Turn marketing precision into customer value with data-driven solutions and a unique understanding of household economics.
From prospect identification and qualification through origination, and activation — we can help navigate each phase of the acquisition path. Deliver a great employee experience and meet compliance needs with award-winning HR technology that supports every stage of the employment life cycle; from talent acquisition and onboarding through active service and post-employment.
Better insights mean better business. Gain visibility into customers and prospects at the point of interaction — verify and authenticate identity, assess fraud risk, understand device risk, and help ensure regulatory compliance.
We offer powerful solutions to mitigate fraud risk. We conduct rigorous, frequent and thorough technology and regulatory auditing which gives us full visibility into the data that is coming in and out of our environment. A cloud-native technology stack provides the opportunity to exceed an on-premise security posture when combined with the implementation of our rigorous security controls.
We can quickly and more accurately devalue data to the point that it is useless to attackers. Our state-of-the-art cyberfusion center and cybersecurity talent successfully defend against millions of threats every day.
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