Equifax

Equifax traces its origins to 1899, when Cator and Guy Woolford founded the Retail Credit Company (RCC) in Atlanta, Georgia. Their mission was simple but revolutionary: to help merchants assess the creditworthiness of customers using objective, standardized data — replacing intuition with insight.

For decades, RCC manually collected employment, payment, and character references, compiling thick paper dossiers that traveled by train across the United States. While criticized in later years for opaque practices, this system laid the foundation for modern consumer reporting — proving that shared data, when governed responsibly, could expand access to credit and opportunity.

In 1975, facing regulatory pressure and evolving societal expectations, RCC rebranded as Equifax — a name derived from “equity” and “facts” — signaling a commitment to fairness, accuracy, and transparency. The company went public the same year (NYSE: EFX), entering a new era of accountability and scale.

The 1980s and 1990s saw Equifax pioneer automated credit scoring, co-develop the FICO® Score with Fair Isaac Corporation, and expand internationally — acquiring credit bureaus in Canada, the UK, and Latin America. By 2000, it had become one of the “Big Three” national credit reporting agencies in the U.S., alongside Experian and TransUnion.

Equifax has evolved from a paper-based ledger keeper to a global data, analytics, and technology company — serving over 11,000 customers in more than 24 countries. Its mission today remains rooted in its founding principle: empowering economic opportunity through trusted information.

The company invests over $1.2 billion annually in technology, cybersecurity, and data science — building infrastructure that processes over 35 billion data transactions per day.

Equifax operates three core business segments: Workforce Solutions (verifying employment and income), U.S. Information Solutions (credit reporting and fraud prevention), and International (localized data and analytics across EMEA and APAC).

Its database includes information on over 800 million individual consumers and more than 130 million businesses worldwide.

Equifax is a founding member of the Data & Marketing Association’s Ethics Committee and adheres to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), and GDPR, among other global frameworks.

Following the 2017 cybersecurity incident, Equifax undertook the largest corporate technology transformation in its history — retiring over 8,000 legacy systems and building the Equifax Cloud™, a secure, scalable platform with zero-trust architecture.

The company now runs one of the world’s largest private cloud environments — processing over 200,000 queries per second with 99.999% uptime.

Equifax was the first credit bureau to offer free, unlimited access to credit reports and scores via AnnualCreditReport.com — fulfilling its FCRA obligation ahead of mandate.

It provides over 50 million free credit reports annually to U.S. consumers, plus free identity monitoring and fraud resolution support.

Equifax Work Number® — its flagship income and employment verification service — is used by over 90% of the top 100 U.S. mortgage lenders and supports over 150 million employment records.

In 2023, Equifax launched “True Report,” a next-generation credit file that incorporates rental, utility, and telecom payment data — helping 36 million “credit-invisible” consumers build scores for the first time.

Powering Economic Confidence Through Data and Analytics

Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) is a global data, analytics, and technology company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with operations in 24 countries. Founded in 1899, Equifax helps individuals, lenders, employers, and governments make confident decisions by turning complex data into actionable insights. Unlike traditional credit bureaus focused solely on risk assessment, Equifax now delivers end-to-end solutions across the entire economic lifecycle — from identity verification and employment screening to credit underwriting, fraud prevention, and portfolio management.

The company’s three business segments — Workforce Solutions, U.S. Information Solutions, and International — serve distinct but interconnected markets. Workforce Solutions, its highest-margin and fastest-growing division, powers real-time income and employment verification for mortgage, auto, and personal loan originations. Its database, built through direct integrations with over 7,000 payroll providers, offers near-instant validation of earnings — reducing fraud and accelerating approvals. U.S. Information Solutions provides credit reporting, credit scores (including the VantageScore® and proprietary Equifax Credit Score™), and identity & fraud solutions such as Precise ID and FraudIQ. Internationally, Equifax tailors its offerings to local regulations and market needs — offering credit reporting in Canada and the UK, alternative data scoring in emerging markets, and B2B analytics in Australia and New Zealand.

Equifax is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and is a component of the S&P 500. In 2024, it reported $5.2 billion in revenue, with over 14,000 employees worldwide. The company maintains rigorous compliance standards, undergoing annual SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS audits. Its cybersecurity program includes 24/7 threat monitoring, red-team exercises, and mandatory employee training. Since 2017, Equifax has invested over $2 billion in security modernization — including migrating 98% of its workloads to its proprietary cloud platform, built on Google Cloud and Snowflake. This architecture enables real-time data processing, AI-driven anomaly detection, and granular access controls — ensuring that sensitive information remains protected while remaining usable for authorized purposes.

Equifax’s technology strategy centers on three pillars: Security, Scalability, and Intelligence. The Equifax Cloud™ — built on Google Cloud Platform and Snowflake — is a fully managed, zero-trust environment that processes over 200,000 queries per second with sub-100ms latency.

• 🔹 Equifax Cloud™
  A modern, API-first platform with microservices architecture. Retired 98% of legacy mainframes by 2023. Enables rapid product iteration and secure third-party integrations.
• 🔹 Data Fabric
  Unifies 40+ structured and unstructured data sources — including credit, employment, alternative payments, and public records — into a single, governed data layer.
• 🔹 AI & ML
  Over 300 deployed models for fraud detection, attribute generation, and predictive analytics. Models are monitored for bias and retrained quarterly using SHAP and LIME explainability tools.
• 🔹 Ignite Platform
  Self-service analytics for fintechs and SMBs — offering pre-built dashboards, APIs, and sandbox environments. Reduces time-to-integration from weeks to hours.
• 🔹 Cybersecurity
  24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC), quarterly red-team exercises, hardware security modules (HSMs), and mandatory phishing simulations for all employees.
• 🔹 Privacy by Design
  All products undergo Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs). Consumer consent is managed via a centralized preference center compliant with CCPA, GDPR, and FCRA.

Equifax holds over 250 patents — primarily in identity verification, data matching, and real-time analytics.

Equifax collaborates with technology leaders, data providers, and industry consortia to enhance data quality, security, and innovation. These partnerships are governed by strict data-use agreements and undergo annual third-party audits.

Equifax is a member of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and the Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN).

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Note: For consumer support (credit report disputes, fraud alerts, or identity theft), please visit www.equifax.com/personal.