[29][30][31], By September 2019, however, Equifax had added qualifications and "hurdles" to its claims process which put in doubt whether the previously announced cash settlement of $125 per affected consumer would actually be awarded. Try again. [19], In September 2017, Equifax announced a cyber-security breach, which it claims to have occurred between mid-May and July 2017,[20] where cybercriminals accessed approximately 145.5 million U.S. Equifax consumers' personal data, including their full names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and driver license numbers. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. Its customers included retailers, government agencies, healthcare providers, insurance firms, and credit unions, among many others. [46], "I didn't have to do anything fancy," the researcher told Motherboard, explaining that the site was vulnerable to a basic "forced browsing" bug. Equifax, one of the nations top three credit-reporting agencies, along with Experian and TransUnion, holds information on more than 400 million credit holders across the. As of Apr 06 -3.03 / -1.52%. Cator Woolford got his start in the credit bureau business as a grocer in Chattanooga, Tennessee. With the robust recovery of the U.S. economy in the postwar years, however, Retail Credit's business revived and grew. In June the pages of the book were run out on a mimeograph machine and bound between hard covers with the title "Merchant's Guide.". [10][11] Even though the company continued to do credit reporting, the majority of its business was making reports to insurance companies when people applied for new insurance policies, such as life, auto, fire and medical insurance. Founded by brothers. The company posted a loss of $2,242. According to the reporting, despite receiving this warning from the security researcher, the affected portal was not closed until six months later in June, well after the March and MayJuly breaches had begun. You have chosen this person to be their own family member. Inception The agency was founded by two brothers Guy and Cator Woolford, in 1899. Equifax Inc. is the largest consumer credit bureau in the United States, providing information about consumers to clients in several industries, including insurance, finance, credit card, banking, retail, and telecommunications. 1986: The company amasses data on more than 150 million consumers in 28 states. [42] Credit reports provide detailed information on the personal credit and payment history of individuals, indicating how they have honored financial obligations such as paying bills or repaying a loan. In 1934 Retail Credit purchased a Brooklyn credit agency, Retailers Commercial Agency, Inc. Retail Credit moved to professionalize operations in the 1930s, relying less and less on part-time correspondents for information and more often utilizing full-time, company-trained inspectors. Woolford's former estate in Druid Hills is now the site of the Frazer Center and the Cator Woolford Gardens" -- New . To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. It had turned to Edelman for earlier crisis control after the October 2017 privacy breach. To use this feature, use a newer browser. Resend Activation Email. [11], Equifax expanded into commercial credit reports on companies in the United States, Canada and the UK, where it came into competition with companies such as Dun & Bradstreet and Experian. Equifax Similar Companies Jobs Equifax History FAQs How Old Is Equifax? Equifax's image-polishing moves came just as the company's net income had declined from $64 million in 1990 to $5 million in 1991; the general recession had held down demand for credit and credit reports, plus a restructuring that cut about 1,900 jobs resulted in a $19 million charge. Retail Credit's activities in the consumer credit business were regulated for the first time in 1971, when Congress passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act, effective in April. Failed to delete flower. 28. [11] RCC also investigated insurance claims and made employment reports when people were seeking new jobs. 1989: Equifax forms an alliance with CSC Credit Services. However, in February 2020, the United States Department of Justice indicted four members of China's People's Liberation Army on nine charges related to the breach, which China has denied. [72] The award included $18.4 million in punitive damages, and $180,000 in compensatory damages. 20042023 Georgia Humanities, University of Georgia Press. Equifax, one of the largest credit-reporting agencies in the country, collects data on more than 400 million credit holders nationwide. Cator Woolford (1869-1944) moved to Georgia and formed a credit bureau there with his brother Guy. All rights reserved. Equifax is the oldest and largest credit bureau in existence today. This legislation gave consumers rights regarding information stored about them in corporate databanks. This is a carousel with slides. were exposed as in the MayJuly breach, according to Motherboard. Please try again later. There was an error deleting this problem. The company responded that such findings were never used in credit-rating evaluations but were limited to its insurance and consumer investigations businesses (which were later spun off). In addition, the company hoped to avoid the expensive class action suits over its activities that competitors had suffered. [42] Equifax also provides commercial credit reports containing financial and non-financial data on businesses of all sizes. Two years later the San Francisco office was entirely destroyed by earthquake and fire. 1899: The Woolfords moved to Atlanta with the goal of making credit reporting their new career. As an Equifax executive explained in Business Week, "People see the use of this information as a privacy problem if it goes beyond credit purposes." Equifax Inc. - then called the Retail Credit Company - was founded in Atlanta, Georgia, by brothers Cator and Guy Woolford in 1899. Retail Credit attempted to make up the slack by increasing automobile insurance reporting; by the following year, more than one-fifth of the agency's business was contributed by this division. [citation needed] The company also had a division selling specialist credit information to the insurance industry but spun off this service, including the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) database as ChoicePoint in 1997. I thought you might like to see a memorial for Cator Ringgold Woolford I found on Findagrave.com. The company sold stock to the public for the first time in 1965. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Today, Equifax has a workforce of about 14,000 employees throughout 19 countries, and reports revenue of $3.14 billion per year. All requests for permission to publish or reproduce the resource must be submitted to the rights holder. This entity was later sold. Cator Woolford Gardens - Cator, Three (CWG) (GC4BAB) was created by BigDoggie & Frogger (adopted by ckirbee) on 4/10/2002. Residents in the United Kingdom (15.2 million) and Canada (about 19,000) were also impacted. [37][38] Equifax acknowledged reporting inaccurate credit scores, but insisted the errors had affected only a few people. [42] Credit grantors use this information to decide what sort of products or services to offer their customers, and on what terms. Also in the late 1970s, Equifax began strengthening consumer credit reporting operations by purchasing small, local credit reporting agencies and by affiliating with others. As one of the key players in the increasingly electronic world of commerce, however, Equifax was likely to survive the thrive. In 1934, he co-founded the short-lived Correct Address Company, with Edwin K. Large . In 1994 the company also greatly expanded its international operations through acquisitions and joint ventures, gaining a presence in 12 countries, including Argentina, Chile, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Australia. In addition, the company modified the processes for correcting mistakes in its files, making it easier for consumers to set the record straight. Cator Woolford got his start in the credit bureau business as a grocer in Chattanooga, Tennessee. You shouldn't count on it", "If you made a claim for $125 from Equifax, you're not getting it after court awards nearly $80 million to attorneys", "Equifax acquires Ansonia expanding leadership in commercial credit data solutions", "WSJ News Exclusive | Equifax Sent Lenders Inaccurate Credit Scores on Millions of Consumers", "Equifax issued wrong credit scores for millions", "Equifax sued over erroneous credit scores sent for "millions" of Americans", "Equifax to acquire Brazilian credit bureau Boa Vista Servios for $596m", "Freezing Credit Will Now Be Free. St. James Press, 1999. In July 1995 Equifax acquired U.K.-based Infocheck Group Limited and TecniCob S.A., a French payment services firm. These services included identifying theft prevention products as well as credit fraud identity. Market Value. [73] The jury's verdict is believed to be the largest award in an individual case under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Equifax had quickly built up a significant presence in the emerging Brazilian market through a total investment of more than $350 million. In the following year, however, the number of customers increased and the company also branched out to other small, fast-growing commercial centers in Georgia. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. Beautiful, intimate, and all-inclusive. The Cator Woolford Gardens is a mission-driven event space for life's most important moments. On March 1, 2018, Equifax announced that 2.4 million additional U.S. customers were affected by the breach,[21] increasing the number of affected to 147.9 million Americans. In 1979 the company took a big step in that direction, acquiring Elrick & Lavidge, a Chicago firm that performed marketing surveys, and merging it into the company's Marketing Information Services subsidiary. Learn more about managing a memorial . Your support helps us commission new entries and update existing content. Likewise, Equifax gained the capability to provide additional types of information to clients. Stock, Director Heather Wilson, Director John McKinley, Director & 6 others Equifax Competitors Credit Information Bureau 2000, Mumbai, $19.1M Canopy 2015, London, $12.4M Applied Data Finance 2014, New York City, $202M Aire 2014, London, $33.3M Riley, Michael, Anita Sharpe, and Jordan Robertson, "The New Equifax Boss Wants to Make Amends. Wanting more opportunity for her daughter, Anne Lane joined forces with her friend and civic leader Rebecca Frazer to create the Cerebral Palsy Centerin 1949 in the basement of St. Lukes Episcopal Church on Peachtree Street. Photograph of Cator Woolford, who, with his brother Guy, started the Retail Credit Company, the precursor to Equifax, in Atlanta, Georgia. In an effort to focus on payment services, credit reporting, and risk management services, Equifax sold its healthcare information business in 1996, just four years after entering the field; then in the following year Equifax spun off its insurance information services group, which had been a part of the company for nearly as long as credit reporting had been. [57][58] For roughly half the US population, both of the latter pieces of data are known to be in possession of criminals, following Equifax's MayJuly 2017 security breach. All these figures have been every rising every year for the past couple of years. Retrieved Aug 19, 2013, from https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/business-economy/equifax/. [4] Equifax collects and aggregates information on over 800 million individual consumers and more than 88 million businesses worldwide. [17], In February 2016, Equifax acquired the Australasian company Veda, the largest credit reference agency in Australia at the time. Equifax is headed by Mark L. Feidler as the chairman of the board, Mark W. Begor, as the CEO, and John W. as the vice president as well as the CFC. 1988: The company now covers all 50 states, with revenue of $743 million. [citation needed] Business customers include retailers, insurance firms, healthcare providers, utilities, government agencies, as well as banks, credit unions, personal and specialty finance companies and other financial institutions. Heres a look at how the Atlanta-based company grew into the credit reporting giant that it is today. The business soon became very successful. Once the estate of Cator Woolford, founder of the company now known as Equifax, these lovely grounds include the beautiful Cator Woolford Gardens. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. In addition, the agency sells fraud prevention and credit monitoring services to their customers. By 1920, it has 37 branches throughout North America. [42] Equifax and other credit monitoring agencies are required by law to provide US residents with one free credit file disclosure every 12 months; the Annualcreditreport.com website incorporates data from U.S. Equifax credit records. The vulnerability in which Chinese hackers leveraged was CVE-.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#3a3;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}2017-5638,[22] the hackers managed to stay in Equifax systems undetected for approximately 134 days. 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