When a loan officer pulls your credit report, he or she uses a credit report service. Factual Data or Credit Link are two commonly used credit report services.
Credit report service extracts data from three major credit agencies and puts it into certain format that is readily displays pertinent information. Loan officer has an option of getting one credit agency report, two and three. The latter one is called tri-merged or 3-in-1 merged report and used when you apply for major loans like mortgage.
Credit report services also provide fraud alert if it is placed on your credit file by any of the credit agencies.
Your loan officer will have to pay for a report once it is ordered so be ready to reimburse him if asked, but since the amount is very small - single credit agency report costs around $4, very few of them ask.
Besides credit reports and scores, certain credit report services are used for following:
- tenant screenings
- pre-employment screenings - for job applicants
- employment screenings - for current employees
- previous employment match
- business and merchant credit screening
- address verification
- SSN verification
- criminal records - county criminal
- sexual offender search
- flood certification - if a property is in a flood zone or not
As you see a credit report service has a comprehensive information on all of us.
