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What are the benefits of reporting credit?
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Promoting on-time payments can provide your customers with the best
opportunity to build or establish credit.
Reinforces borrower
incentives to manage credit wisely and avoid delinquencies and
defaults. Reporting credit improves the performance of the entire
market and lowers the costs of making credit available.
Better information results in better lending. Sharing payment information
provides other creditors the information they need to avoid overextending
your customers. As a result, your customers will be in a better position
to pay their loan on time.
Customers who know you are reporting payment history are more
likely to make on-time payments.
Allows a collection agency better leverage to collect a debt.
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How does a company report tradelines?
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Step 1 - Contact each
National Credit Reporting Repository
(Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, Innovis) which you will be reporting with, and establish a
Data Furnishers
or
Service Agreement.
This is a separate agreement from pulling credit reports.
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Step 2 - All businesses reporting to the
National Credit Bureaus, must meet the
minimum reporting requirements
established by each Credit Reporting Agency.
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Step 3 - Once you have established a
Data Furnishers
or
Service Agreement
with one or more of the National Credit Bureau repositories and meet their account
reporting minimums,
then your best option is to lease
Credit Manager
- Metro 2®
credit reporting software which will
accurately report your consumers accounts.
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Step 4 - Enter or update your accounts into the
Credit Manager
software.
View a list of required account information.
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Step 5 - The software will perform validity checks
on the accounts, to ensure the information which you have entered, is compliant
with the latest regulations related to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA),
the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA),
the Fair Debt Collections Practice Act (FDCPA) and the Metro
2® format specifications as defined in the
Credit Reporting Resource Guide®.
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Step 6 - Send your accounts to the
National Credit Repositories which
you have a reporting agreement with. Once the Credit Repository
has received your accounts, they will run extensive processes to
verify the data which you have submitted. They may also request
additional information from your company and may have you manually
verify the data which was submitted. Because of the time involved
in this initial verification process, the first batch of accounts
may not be updated for several weeks. Once the bureaus have approved
your accounts, they will typically update the accounts within a thirty
day period. This process and time delay will vary between bureaus.
Please contact your sales representative at the bureau for their policies.
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Step 7 - Repeat steps 4-7 on a monthly basis.
Please note: Monthly reporting is required by all credit reporting agencies.
Customers which do not report on a monthly basis, risk termination of their
reporting agreement and accounts purged from their databases.
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What is the Metro 2® Format?
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In 1997, the credit reporting industry initiated the use of the "Metro
2®" format which became the industry
standard for reporting trade line information.
The Metro 2® format layout was developed by
Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA) to replace the Metro format which
was developed in the late 1970's. The Metro 2®
format layout is described in the Metro 2®
Credit Reporting Resource Guide. It facilitates complete and greater
accuracy of reporting of data and provides the following features:
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The Metro 2® format is designed to be
easier to use and understand;
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provides one standard computer format to be used for reporting accurate,
complete and timely consumer credit information;
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meets all requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Fair
Credit Billing Act (FCBA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA);
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allows for reporting information at both the account and consumer levels;
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allows reporting on debtors that "cannot be located"
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allows reporting of deferred payments and "associate"
borrowers/debtors information;
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Identification numbers can be changed to accommodate transfer or sale
of debt (asset sales); and,
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the format accommodates a 4-digit "year" for improved accuracy.
View a list of required account information.
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Why do I need Metro 2® software?
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Metro 2® Credit Reporting Software, such as
Credit Manager will properly format accounts into the Metro
2® format which is the required format for
reporting trade lines to the major credit bureaus. Prior to submitting
the accounts to the credit bureaus, the software will also perform
compliance
checks on the accounts to make sure the information to be submitted is
up-to-date with the latest reporting standards and Metro
2® requirements. The reporting standards are
updated every year to meet the latest reporting laws and regulations and
accounts which do not meet the latest reporting standards are subjected
to rejection by the bureaus. If your file contains excessive rejections,
your entire file may be rejected. It is crucial that the software used to
report trade lines is kept up-to-date with with the latest reporting standards.
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What is the difference between a third-party processor and a third-party reporter?
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A third-party processor such as The Service Bureau provides a service to which
a company can submit their accounts/trade lines to a processor, the processor
combines their accounts with other companies and submits the accounts to the
bureaus. The company must be approved and have a data furnishers/service
agreement with each bureau prior to using this service. This service is
typically used by companies who do not meet the credit bureaus minimum
reporting volume but have been approved by the bureau to report through a
third-party processor.
A third-party reporter such as a collection agency would report the companies
bad debt/negative accounts/trade lines to the bureaus however, the collection
agency would have the agreement with each bureau rather than the company
submitting the accounts.
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