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.
Full definition
Credit header data is the top, non-financial section of a credit file: your name and past names, current and former addresses, Social Security number, date of birth, and phone numbers. Because it is not the "creditworthiness" portion of the report, bureaus have long sold credit header data to data brokers, identity-verification firms, and skip tracers without the full restrictions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. It is a primary reason your address history is so widely available, and a focus of recent CFPB rulemaking aimed at bringing brokers under FCRA.
Related terms
Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA)
An entity that assembles consumer information into reports used for credit, employment, housing, or insurance decisions, regulated under the FCRA.
Skip Tracing
The practice of locating a person's current whereabouts by piecing together data from many sources, originally to find debtors who "skipped" town.
Data Broker
A company that collects personal information about consumers and sells, licenses, or shares that information with third parties.
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