A credit bureau is a company that keeps a record of your credit history and uses that record to provide information that is used to create your credit report, called a credit record of an individual’s credit history. Lenders use your credit report to help them make decisions about whether to lend you money when you apply for a mortgage, small business or department store loan or credit card. There are three huge credit bureaus in the United States: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. They maintain information about tens of millions of consumers and their credit reports are used by lenders to make decisions on whether or not to lend to you.