Metro 2®* Credit Reporting Software

• 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.
• Step 2 - All businesses reporting to the National Credit Bureaus, must meet the minimum reporting requirements established by each Credit Reporting Agency.
• 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.
• Step 4 - Enter or update your accounts into the Credit Manager software. View a list of required account information.
• 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®.
• 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.
• 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.

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:

• The Metro 2® format is designed to be easier to use and understand;
• provides one standard computer format to be used for reporting accurate, complete and timely consumer credit information;
• meets all requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA);
• allows for reporting information at both the account and consumer levels;
• allows reporting on debtors that "cannot be located"
• allows reporting of deferred payments and "associate" borrowers/debtors information;
• Identification numbers can be changed to accommodate transfer or sale of debt (asset sales); and,
• the format accommodates a 4-digit "year" for improved accuracy.

View a list of required account information.

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.

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.