Credit Bureau Scores are generic scoring models, which are based on data from the past lending experience of a number of creditors. These scoring models are useful to lenders who are newly established in the market and do not have sufficient samples of accounts to develop their own custom scoring models. While these scoring models are not available to creditors, the bureaus provide generic scores as part of their credit decisions ranging from target marketing and credit approval to account management and recovery action.

Credit bureau data improves the efficiency of both decision-making and operations. Information in the credit bureau data, the credit file, is gathered from many different sources. Banks, consumer finance companies, and collection agencies are some of the entities that periodically report to the credit bureaus. Data is also obtained from state courts on judgments, bankruptcy filings, etc.