CREDIT » CREDIT REPAIR & REPORTS

Though you may be thousands of dollars in debt, are on the verge of losing your car, and can barely pay your bills; when someone suggests credit counseling as a way to straighten out your situation, do you say "No, not me!?" If that is you, you may be in denial. Of course, not everyone needs credit counseling services, but more peopleneed itthan are actually admitting. So how do you know if you're one of those people in denial? Take a look at this quick list...

You Know You Need Credit Counseling If You:

• Are filing for bankruptcy. If you'refiling the Chapter 7 (complete liquidation of your debt), you will need to consult a credit counselor to make sure that can't reasonably pay off your debt on your own. Ifit is ruled that you can, you may be moved to aChapter 13, which means you will utilize credit counseling to create a debt management plan with your creditors.
• Have alow credit score. If your FICO Score is lower than 620, it is very possible that you've made some errors along the way with managing your debt. Whether you've failed to pay credit card bills on time, or completely defaulted on a loan, you might consider credit counseling asa way to straighten out your debt and raise your score.
• Simply know that your debt management is out of hand. If your credit score is not low yet and you are not in danger of needing bankruptcy, yet you know that your spending is a bit irresponsible, you may seek credit counseling for guidance on how to better manage your spending. However, most people use this type of counseling to get help with paying back debt that can't manage without professional assistance.

If you don't think you need credit counseling, you're in good shape! But if you do, you may want to visit the U.S. Department ofJustice to find an approved list of credit counseling agencies in your state.

TransUnion is one of the three major credit bureaus that you'll find managing your credit information as collectors and other entities report to it.

WhenTransUnion Started:

TransUnion got its start in 1968 as the parent company of the Union Tank Car Company. The following year it acquired the Credit Bureau of Cook County (CBCC), which manually maintained over3 million card files of consumer information in 400 seven-drawer cabinets. Realizing that more advanced forms of storage where going to soon be necessary, the company began making vast improvements in technological storage. The way TransUnion did it was to replace accounts receivable data with automated tape-to-disc transfer, which helped dramatically to cut the storage time and cost of updating consumer files.

Expanding to the Future:

In the 1970s and 1980s the company acquired other companies and expanded its facilities and technological efforts drastically. Then in 1988, TransUnion achieved full coverage in the United States, meaning that it was able to maintain and update information on every market-active consumer in the country.

By the 1990s the company expanded even further into real estate, creating a full division that handles originating and closing residential loans. And by 2002, TransUnion had entered the direct-to-consumer market by acquiring TrueCredit.com. This enabled the company to help millions of consumers protect and improve their credit over the Internet.

TransUnion is still fully operable today and is larger than ever. Currently, its operations extend to 25 countries on five different continents.

>> Learn the roles of the credit bearus and how it affects you.

Equifax's Background:

Equifax was founded over 100 years ago in 1898 by two brothers, Cator and Guy Woolford. Cator had already gotten his start in the credit bureau business as a grocer in Tennessee. For the local Retail Grocer's Association, he supervised a compilation list of customers by...

If you like learning about the history of companies you're associated with then you'll love learning about Experian. The only major consumer credit bureau of the three that got its start in the United Kingdom, it has managed to build quite a reputation in the industry.

How Experian got Started:

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