Thursday, January 18, 2007 - Credit Report Fees Increasing Soon

There is an upcoming policy change affects two major credit reporting agencies that are passing on fees for reissuing credit reports.  Effective January 1, 2007, both Equifax and Experian will begin charging all credit resellers a fee each time a credit report is reissued. 

UPDATE:  Experian has announced a new start date for the reissue fee of February 1, 2007 and Equifax announced a new start date of April 1, 2007. 

• Reissue fees will vary from approximately $0.85 to $3.80 depending upon the credit agency, credit reseller and type of report (individual vs. joint).
• TransUnion has not announced a reissue fee policy at this time (12/20/06).

A "reissued" credit report can be described by the following: 

• When a credit report re-pull is requested outside of your office or your Loan Origination System (LOS), it indicates another lending institution is ordering a re-pull.
• When a credit report is pulled through your LOS and then later re-pulled into an Automated Underwriting System (AUS). Note: Freddie Mac's LP and Fannie Mae's DU are excluded from this rule.  
• If a credit report is pulled into your own LOS and then later re-pulled into another lending institute's LOS.

Again, this is an industry-wide policy change and you should discuss the effects on your credit report billing directly with your credit provider.