Why Do Credit Reports Vary by Type?

The variations among credit reports are partly due to the way that consumer credit information is collected. Furthermore, creditors and lenders report information about their customers' accounts to credit bureaus on a voluntary basis. Creditors and lenders are only required to report accurate information about their customers' accounts, but when and if they report that data is up to them.

Account Activity

The national credit reporting companies are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Auto lenders, credit card issuers, mortgage lenders and others subscribe to those companies' services and report their customers' account activity to them. According to Experian, the U.S. Fair Credit Reporting Act doesn't require creditors and lenders to report account activity to the national credit bureaus. In some cases, your creditors may report your account activity to one or two of the national companies. Other creditors may not report your account history at all. That's partly why different credit reports don't have the same information.

Account Updates

Your credit reports change frequently because creditors and lenders choose when to report their customers' account activity to credit bureaus. The bureaus usually receive the information one time each month from creditors and lenders who choose to report account activity. However, Experian indicates that the day of the month that creditors and lenders send account updates varies. Therefore, your credit report not only varies from bureau to bureau, but it also may vary from day to day at the same bureau.

Public Records

The credit reporting companies collect their own information from public records to add to consumers' credit files. The public records information on credit reports includes bankruptcies, foreclosures, wage garnishments and other credit-related actions. Each of the credit reporting companies gathers its own information on such things, and each one is responsible for its own updates. They gather information on thousands of consumers, and they have their own methods for doing updates. Therefore, the public records information on consumers' credit reports may vary from company to company.

Report Format

The national credit reporting companies also choose their own formats for the credit reports that they send to consumers and businesses. The companies make notations on the reports in different ways to specify things such as late payments. However, consumers who order a credit report from a bureau usually receive information on what the various sections of the report mean. Consumers shouldn't expect to see a credit score on a credit report. The information in a credit report affects people's credit scores, and consumers who want to see their scores usually have to request them from bureaus separately.