

Frazer – How to Report Credit to Equifax, Experian, TransUnion & Innovis
Congratulations! You have made the right decision to report your consumer accounts in Frazer® to the credit bureau. This will reward your customers paying on time by opening financial opportunities for them after you report their positive score. At the same time, it may also encourage your delinquent accounts to pay on time.
Usually it takes between 1 and 3 months to get your account established with the credit bureau(s). We will guide you through each step of the process. If you have any questions, just give us a call at (833) 387 7545 or email support@hutchinssystems.net. Let's start the journey…
Step 1 – Sign up with NIADA
- Your office must have a membership number with the National Independent Dealers Association.
- http://www.niada.com for your state.
- NIADA fee is $290.00 per year.
Step 2 – Sign up with credit bureau(s) as a data furnisher
First you should sign up your business as a data furnisher to report the consumer accounts to the credit bureaus. Some useful information and contact numbers of the credit bureaus are below.
If you have provided an email to the salesperson, you will receive all the communications through email. Check your spam folder regularly until you receive your approval to make sure the emails from the bureau(s) are received.
| Equifax | TransUnion | Experian | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone Number | 1-888-202-4025 x 3 | 1-866-922-2100 x 3 | 1-800-831-5614 x 3 |
| Cost (Does not include the cost if you pull credit report) | $50.00/month | $100.00/month | $75.00 (one-time, no monthly fees) |
| What to ask the sales person | Can you please email new member package to pull and report consumer credit information for our consumer accounts? | Can you please email new member package and include all the paperwork for the data furnishers agreements to pull and report consumer accounts? | Can you please email new member package to pull and report consumer credit information for our accounts? |
| Onsite Inspection | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Member Numbers | Will send your member number for reporting consumer data. | Will send the member number only after we publish the data to them. | Will send you the program identifier and vendor ID. |
| Membership Time | 3 – 4 weeks | 4 weeks | 4 weeks |
* The information above are general guidelines. The Credit Bureau(s) reserves the right to change the minimum accounts requirement or processing times as per their terms and conditions.
Step 3 – Fill in the service agreement very carefully and check again!
The Credentialing Analysts at the Credit Bureau(s) are very busy but also extremely thorough and detailed in their screening and approval process. In order for your business to pass their approval, it's essential that you provide accurate information about your business. Some items are as follows:
- Owner name of the business as in the legal business formation document.
- Physical and mailing address of the business in the application should match any source of information like your website, google or phone directories.
- Nature/kind of the business – Used Car Dealership. Buy Here Pay Here Lot.
Processor Information:
- Name of 3rd party data processor: Hutchins Systems, Inc.
- Processor Contact: Mark Benson — Phone: (833) 387-7545 x 2
Check if all the required questions are completed, do not skip/miss any questions, it will just delay the approval process. Submit the application, wait… check the application again if you need to 🙂
As mentioned before, timely response to the questions from credit bureau(s) will speed up the approval process, so check your emails (including spam/junk folder) and respond as quick as you can!
Step 4 – Prepare your business for physical inspection
After you submit your data furnisher application, credit bureau(s) will schedule a physical inspection of your business location. Some common items they would check are as follows:
- Company's permanent non-removable signage; it needs to be located on a door, exterior, wall or window.
- If there is a directory available in your building then make sure your business is listed in it.
- All your consumer files should be held in a secure location such as locked cabinets, locked file room or such.
- If you have any computers used in your business make sure it's password protected to prevent unauthorized access and the screen is locked when not in use.
- You should have a crosscut or micro-cut shredder to securely dispose your consumers paper documents.
Please be respectful and courteous to the inspector and give them space to do their inspection; any questions they ask is just to make sure accurate information is being passed to the bureaus. Now, the waiting continues…
Step 5 – Hurray! Your data furnisher account is approved
You will receive an email or call from a member of the bureau(s) that your data furnisher account is approved, Congratulations!! But wait, there is one more thing you need to do.
You have 30-60 days from now to send your first data in Metro 2® format to the bureaus.
Step 6 – Call Hutchins Systems to enroll in monthly processing & create your first Metro 2® format file
- Give us a call at (833) 387 7545 x 2 and request for monthly processing agreement.
- After you enroll in our monthly processing, input your auto accounts into Frazer (remember to input all cash deals as a single payment account) and we will send you instructions how to create a Metro 2® file for us to work with each month and how to upload the information through our secure web site for the monthly processing.
- We will also give you the username and password to login to our secure site and upload your file.
- Our data compliance experts will validate and audit your Metro 2® file.
- If your consumer data needs any correction, you will receive an audit report from our team.
- After the data is corrected, we will furnish your consumer data to the bureaus for audit and on-boarding.
Step 7 – Authorize to load
After you upload the first data load, if it's successful, then you will receive an email from credit bureau(s) requesting authorization to load your consumers' to production!
Follow the instructions in the email to approve the data load; this is only required the first time.
Step 8 – Sign up with e-OSCAR®
e-OSCAR is a web-based, Metro2 compliant, automated system that enables you to respond to consumer credit history disputes. This is the “Last piece of the puzzle” you need to complete to successfully report to credit bureaus and remain compliant.
Conclusion
After you complete steps from 1 through 8 you will be successfully setup to report your consumer accounts to the credit bureaus! Even though establishing a data furnisher account with the credit bureaus is a prolonged process, the effort and investment over-weighs the advantages of reporting your consumer accounts.
- Better leverage in debt collectionCustomers who know you are reporting payment behavior to credit bureaus are less likely to default on their debt.
- Creating opportunity for consumersPromoting on-time payment behavior can provide your customers with an opportunity to build or establish credit.
- Fight against identity theftMany consumers pull or monitor their own credit regularly. Once reported, consumers can see the accounts associated with their identification.
CONSUMER DATA INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION®, CDIA®, the CREDIT REPORTING RESOURCE GUIDE®, and METRO 2®, are registered trademark or trademarks of the Consumer Data Industry Association in the United States and or other countries. Neither Hutchins Systems Inc. nor its products or services are affiliated with or endorsed by the Consumer Data Industry Association or CDIA.
Contact Info
9:00am – 5:00pm EST
(Closed Holidays)
Resources
Ready to Get Started?
Book a free consultation with our Metro 2® compliance experts.
Book a Free Consultation