Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA)
An entity that assembles consumer information into reports used for credit, employment, housing, or insurance decisions, regulated under the FCRA.
Full definition
A consumer reporting agency (CRA) compiles "consumer reports", information bearing on creditworthiness, character, or reputation, used to make eligibility decisions about credit, jobs, housing, or insurance. The big three (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) are CRAs, but so are many background-check companies. CRAs are regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which gives you the right to access your report, dispute errors, and limit certain uses. Many people-search brokers carefully position themselves as non-CRAs to avoid FCRA, which is also why they must add disclaimers that their data can't be used for FCRA purposes.
Go deeper
What is the FCRA? (full explainer) →Related terms
Credit Header Data
The identifying portion of a credit report (name, aliases, addresses, SSN, phone, DOB), sold by credit bureaus largely outside FCRA deletion rights.
Data Broker
A company that collects personal information about consumers and sells, licenses, or shares that information with third parties.
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