This was my thought. Why do we need three credit reporting agencies?
TransUnion and Experian should be enough. I go through my reports and all three are pretty much the same.
TransUnion and Experian should be enough. I go through my reports and all three are pretty much the same.
Though competition without consequences clearly isn't.
I'd like to see a few more bureaux. Or the role nationalised. Government is at least in theory answerable to the citizens. Though government as financial vetter introduces numerous other issues.
The question of why people require credit for day-to-day financial activities, many carrying balances, is another part of this question. Sufficient pay, collective bargaining, workplace and tenant / homeowner protections, and wealth and land taxes are a few policy changes outside the data security arena which would help markedly.
Credit rating isn't exactly a free market, but I'm very skeptical that we should reduce any significant oligopoly from three corporations to two.
The other part is if I'm applying for any kind of credit, I assume the most conservative lender would look at all three results and just go with the lowest credit score.
But I agree, even in a semi free market, competition is good.