Who is Innovis? Are They A Fourth Credit Bureau?

I have often referred to the three national credit reporting agencies (CRAs): Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.  Are you aware that there is a fourth?  It is “Innovis” aka CBCInnovis?

Innovis is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio and owned by CBC Companies. It sells businesses services to “improve customer relationships” such as authentication, preventing ID fraud, and better understanding and managing current customers.

Innovis receives credit information from credit grantors but not from all sources reporting to the big three credit reporting agencies.  It does not sell credit reports for credit granting purposes and does not offer a credit score; as much is stated on thei

We have often referred to the three national credit reporting agencies (CRAs): Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.  Are you aware that there is a fourth?  It is “Innovis” aka CBCInnovis.

Innovis is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and is owned by CBC Companies. It sells businesses services that “improve customer relationships,” such as authentication, preventing identity fraud, and better understanding of current customers.

Innovis receives credit information from credit grantors but not from all sources reporting to the big three credit reporting agencies.  It does not sell credit reports for credit granting purposes and does not offer a credit score. They also sell pre-approved lists of consumers for offers of credit and insurance.

What is in my Innovis Credit Report?

The report includes:

• Personal information: Your name, current and former addresses, and current and former phone numbers.
• Credit accounts
• Account numbers
• Account types
• Date Opened
• Date of last payment
• Past due amount
• Credit limit
• Balances
• Terms
• Scheduled payment
• Actual payment
• Account closed date
• Lost or stolen notes
• Last date updated
• Account rating
• Mortgage accounts
• Closed accounts

What wasn’t in it?

The report does not contain all of the accounts on the big three credit reports, such as American Express and retail co-branded Visa and MasterCard accounts.  No businesses review this credit report for anything, such as credit extensions, new applications, monitoring present accounts, or screening for pre-approved credit offers, insurance, or employment (inquiries).  This confirms that businesses are not buying consumer credit information from Innovis.  The personal information did not include a section for employment or employer. There is no historical payment history information such as dates past due, how many times past due, or the highest amount past due.  Originally Innovis was going to be the negative bureau and only report negative credit information such as past due accounts. 

Request credit file

Consumers can request a copy of their credit report from Innovis by phone or mail.  They aren’t included with the FCRA free credit reports but may be covered by some state laws for a free report.  The phone number is 1-800-540-2505.  The address to request by mail is:

Innovis

Attn: Consumer Assistance

P.O. Box 1689

Pittsburgh, PA 15230-1689

You are entitled to dispute the information on the Innovis credit report and freeze your credit report by calling 1-800-540-2505. You can opt out of credit offers from Innovis at 1-888-567-8688.

Since Innovis does not sell credit reports, you don’t need to be concerned about businesses making credit decisions about you based on their data.  However, you still need to be concerned about the data they house about you and its accuracy.  Businesses could be using this information to manage their current relationship with you, such as what’s in your wallet, how you use credit, how you pay bills, how much of your credit you use, and for the purposes of pre-approved offers of credit and insurance. They use this for cross-sell and up-sell purposes. If you can get this report for free, why not order it?

Categorised in: Credit Monitoring, Credit Report, Credit Score, Money & Identity

This post was written by John Ulzheimer