Equifax’s Grip on Mortgage Data Squeezes Smaller Rivals<br />Mortgage lenders need to know your credit standing when they consider whether to give you a loan,<br />and while other credit-reporting companies can provide a merged report, Equifax is a major go-to source for that information.<br />Even more troubling is a deal between Freddie Mac, the huge mortgage-finance company, and Equifax<br />that gave the troubled credit reporting agency an even tighter grip on the business of providing credit information.<br />Chad Wandler, a Freddie Mac spokesman, said that having access to a broad network of credit-report providers “has not been cited as a priority for those customers<br />who use our quality control tools like Loan Quality Advisor.” He added, “We will continue to listen to our customers to provide the functionality they need.”<br />Naturally, this does not sit well with independent credit-reporting companies.<br />It was, according to the company’s website, a “risk and eligibility assessment tool<br />that evaluates loan data to help lenders determine if a loan is eligible for sale to Freddie Mac.”<br />Naturally, a borrower’s credit history goes into this system.<br />That’s because, of the three major credit reporting agencies, only Equifax has a division, Equifax Mortgage Solutions,<br />that supplies lenders with what is known as a merged credit report.<br />“What we’re talking about here is to provide the consumer with a touch point of service<br />that is different than what you get from the bureaus,” said Terry Clemans, executive director of the National Consumer Reporting Association, an organization of credit-reporting agencies, employment-screening services and tenant-screening companies.
