Credit Repair Kit For Dummies, 4th Edition
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Specialty reporting agencies, as the name implies, gather information for specific industries. They often gather more detailed information than the big-three credit bureaus do in areas such as gambling, checking accounts, medical claims, insurance, and rental and employment history.

If you’re being checked out because you’re applying for a loan, insuring your car, finding a new apartment, or being considered for a promotion at work, the person reviewing your application has the option to request a report from a specialty agency in addition to a traditional credit report from one of the big-three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).

Among the better-known specialty report providers are the following:

  • ChoiceTrust, which sells its C.L.U.E. products based on your auto and homeowners insurance claims history, as well as information for background employment and rental checks

  • The Medical Information Bureau (MIB), which accumulates and sells your medical-insurance claims history report

  • ChexSystems, SCAN, and TeleCheck, all of which keep records of bounced checks and sell various check-verification products

Many people aren’t aware of these specialty reporting agencies or the fact that you have the right to request and obtain free copies of your credit reports from these agencies annually, just as you do with the traditional credit bureaus. Some reports contain only negative information, or they may have absolutely no information about you at all.

It’s a good idea to get your free report annually just to make sure that the information in the report is yours and is accurate. You may not be aware that one of these databases is being checked because they aren’t as top of mind as the three main credit bureaus.

Call any bureau you want a report from and ask how to order a free copy.

Category Bureau Name Phone Number
Casinos Global Cash Access (Central Credit) 888-898-8021
Checking accounts Certegy 866-543-6315
ChexSystems 800-428-9623
Early Warning Services 800-325-7775
SCAN 800-262-7771
TeleCheck 800-366-2425
Employment Accurate Background 800-784-3911
American DataBank 800-200-0853
EmployeeScreenIQ 800-235-3954
First Advantage 800-321-4473
GIS 800-265-4917
HireRight 800-381-0645
Infocubic 877-360-4636
Intellicorp 866-202-1436
Lexis Nexis 866-312-8075
Pre-employ.com 800-300-1821
Trak 1 Technology 918-779-7000
Verifications Inc. 877-884-1313
The Work Number 866-604-6570
Identity ID Analytics web only
Insurance C.L.U.E. Auto History 866-312-8076
C.L.U.E. Homeowners’ History 866-312-8076
Insurance Information Exchange 866-560-7015
ISO’s A-Plus Auto and Property Databases 800-709-8842
Medical information Medical Information Bureau (MIB) 866-692-6901
Supplementary credit report Innovis 800-540-2505
L2CInc. 866-268-7156
Payday lending Clarity Services web only
Prescription drugs DataX web only
Factor Trust 866-910-8497
Microbilt 877-772-2123
Milliman 877-211-4816
Teletrack 877-309-5226
Rental information Accufax 800-256-8898
Advantage Tenant 800-894-9047
American Tenant Screen 800-888-1287
Contemporary Information Corp. 800-288-4757
Micobilt 877-772-2123
Resident History Report 877-448-5732
Core Logic Safe Rent 888-333-2413
Leasing Desk 866-934-1124
LexisNexis Resident History 866-312-8075
National Tenant Network 800-228-0989
Property tax filings Tenant Data Services 800-228-1837
CoreScore Credit Report 877-532-8778
Utilities National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange 866-343-2821

Included in the growing list of companies that report on you are those that specialize in your rental history, workers’ compensation claims, prescription drug purchase history, and gambling history.

Until recently, use of prescription drug use databases was unheard of. Insurers’ use of these databases was first publicized when the Federal Trade Commission sued two owners of drug databases. Like the Medical Information Bureau reports, these reports are used when you’re seeking private health, life, or disability insurance. Rx drug databases can go back as far as five years, detailing drugs you’ve used as well as dosages and refills.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book author:

Steve Bucci, BA, MA, is a personal finance expert and a nationally syndicated columnist whose column is carried by the financial megasite Bankrate.com and the Scripps Howard News Service.

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