Subprime & Alternative-Credit Bureaus

Subprime and alternative-credit bureaus are specialty consumer reporting agencies that most people have never heard of — until a payday, installment, or other short-term lender denies them because of one. These bureaus collect data about your short-term loans, applications, and alternative credit history and sell it to lenders. Where they act as consumer reporting agencies, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires them to follow reasonable procedures to assure the accuracy of what they report (15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b)), to disclose your file to you on request (§ 1681g(a)), free if you ask within 60 days after an adverse action based on their report (§ 1681j(b)), and to reinvestigate your disputes (§ 1681i). When one of them reports something inaccurate or that is not yours, the FCRA gives you the right to dispute it and, in some cases, to sue over it. Below are the subprime and alternative-credit bureaus covered on this site.

Where a subprime or alternative-credit bureau is a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA, it owes you the same accuracy and dispute duties as Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Lease-to-own companies check these files too. Snap Finance says it reports lease payment outcomes to Clarity and DataX, and Acima applications have appeared on consumers’ reports as Clarity inquiries; see Snap Finance on your credit report and Acima on your credit report.