The credit bureaus are not governmental organizations; however, they are publicly traded; therefore, the federal government has put specific legislation in place to regulate their activities and protect citizens. The law that governs the actions of these agencies is the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The credit bureaus provide analytic tools for companies so that they know whether to loan you money and if at all, what interest to charge you. The credit bureaus are not in charge of making these decisions; however, they provide the necessary information for money lending institutions to make such a decision.
