A number of years ago, in a desperate search for employment, I was interviewed (and subsequently hired) by a company whose business is your personal business. They were (and still are) a crafty bunch, even the job listing or interview didn't initially reveal who they really were.

The time has come, given the current financial predicament, we are all are up to our eyeballs in, to tell everyone what they don't want you to know. Knowing that information could help keep your personal financial boat from sinking.

On the first day I reported to work I found myself working at a newly formed subsidiary, that had a very official sounding "governmental" name. We were right on Pennsylvania Avenue, near the White House. I'd been hired as a market research analyst to help them find new markets for their "information" products.

It was about a half a day before their Fortune 500 "parent company's" name slipped off of one of the executive's lips. At that point, I quickly had to excuse myself to gather my composure. I had unwittingly signed a contract to work for one of the three credit bureau companies (there is actually four, the first three are just more well known).

Immediately, I had a lot of issues with that tidbit of knowledge. First, I'd moved across the country, and needed a job immediately. For me, there was no turning back, at least until I could find another job. The salary was wonderfully staggering, the commute into D. C. was bearable, I had an office window, a large number of support staff, very pricey office furniture and decor, lots of perks, right down to my name on the marque in this prestigious building (small thing, but made me feel important). I really wanted that job, and had no choice, but to take it. However, I was deeply troubled by the nature of their business, once they revealed their parent company. This subsidiary of the credit bureau, was in the business of selling financial information.

As we all know the credit bureaus (CRA's) are supposed to screen consumer credit accounts and purchases, examine payment history, and keeping record and scores on how well your personal financial transactions are performed. They portray themselves as reporting agencies, but their real business is selling financial information.

You'd have to live under a rock to not know there are four main credit bureaus known here in the U.S. They are:

• Equifax
• Experian
• Trans Union
• Innovis (aka CBCInnovis) This one is lesser known to the general public.

What many people don't know is they are globally operated, far reaching, "for extensive profit- driven" conglomerates that have and own many subsidiary companies. They also have what's known as "affiliate" companies. Keep firmly in your mind, that their sole purpose and only business, is the selling of your personal and financial information. They retail it to creditors, employers, insurance companies, marketers, you, and basically anyone who has the money and desire to obtain it.

The subsidiary that I was under contract with, had been formed by this particular credit bureau, to sell your personal information back to our own governmental agencies. Essentially, we were helping them keep information on you, and you the tax payer were paying for it indirectly. Sometimes this information was needed for good reasons, even noble reasons. More often, it didn't really matter the governmental agency's reasons, as long as there was a market for it.

There are many truths about credit reports, but the main one everyone needs to understand is:

• While a credit bureau may actively state that they do not sell your name to direct mail companies, or others without your permission, what they don't reveal is that their affiliate, or subsidiary does sell this information.

The very act of regularly checking your credit report lends to their endeavors.

In the somewhat dangerous and desperate times of our financial times, collection agencies (many of them owned and operated by the credit bureaus) are becoming even more aggressive. Now, they have a legal loop-hole to re-age old debts and place old debts on your credit reports. Collection agencies are rampant with illegal practices.

Among them are:

• They will call you at work
• They will pursue you day and night at home
• They will lie to you, threaten you, and do just about anything to get you to pay them money
• They will not disclose that they do not act for your original creditors, if you even owe the debt
• They will not divulge that the statue of limitations has ended in your state
• They will even seek out judgments against you
• They will disobey state and federal laws and they may be owned by the very credit bureaus who will be reporting your credit information to employers, mortgage lenders, your insurance company, etc.

Credit collecting companies will use many tricks of the trade to both collect and gather information. One of the newest and most widely techniques is caller ID spoofers. Spoofing and spoofers exist online and in the newest technology of caller ID.

In my mind, they were spawned in the credit collecting industry long ago, when they circumvented the Fair Trade Laws, along with the laws and judgments placed upon the credit collecting industry.

Probably the majority of American's have caller ID. None of us want to be bothered answering the phone to talk to unsolicited sales calls, people we don't like, or even credit collectors. Some people hate it, some of us can't live without it.

Maybe I'm getting to be grouchy as I age, but I don't want my train of thought or sleep interrupted by a constantly ringing phone. I pay the bill, and to my way of thinking -- if I didn't personally give you my phone number, I'm not answering your call.

One of the reasons for my attitude is that the last three numbers we've been given by the phone company, have all turned out to be old numbers. These numbers belonged to other people before it was passed onto us. There were people didn't pay their bills, forgot to tell their friends and family they moved, etc. It doesn't matter how many times you tell their creditors this is not their number, they and their computers will continue to call.

Oh, that handy "National Do Not Call" list? Forget about it, because it is constantly being circumvented. I learned all about circumvention, when I worked in the information selling industry. There is no penalty for the most part, no accountability, and except under extreme circumstances for legal recourse when you are be harassed by a caller. However, there are things you can do yourself to stop unwanted calls.

Before I go into that though, and before you continue to rely on caller ID, understand that now, it is routine for some unscrupulous companies and individuals, to makeup a false name, and call back number show up on your phone screen. This practice is called "spoofing."

Furthermore, it's widely used both by criminals and by credit collecting companies. You cannot trust that the caller is who they say they are for certainty, verify the number they are actually calling from, or even know what country they are calling from. Never give out personal information, especially financial information, to anyone who calls.

One of the techniques and systems that enables false identities to call you, is called Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Originally, it was intended for profession and legal uses by law enforcement and other such entities.

It's forerunner was a concept used by private detective firms for years. I worked in one such agency for a long time, and we routinely made contact with individuals we were tracing by "phony purpose" (pretext calling) phone calls. Private investigation firms often like to hire women to do this sort of skip tracing. It worked very well for tracking down individuals who failed to return rental cars and skipped the state with them (something that happens more than people realize).

Today, however, with the click of a mouse anyone can use a high tech version of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). This is an industry that is not regulated, and is fraught with abuses, harassment, and potentially can be dangerous. It is actively used by affiliates and subsidiaries of the credit bureaus.

It's important to know a little about the general history of the three big credit bureaus (CRAs). It's also important to know who they are and how far they reach into the financial global market.

Most of the credit bureaus began as groups of small private detective firms. They provided the information they collected on certain people to businesses, to help the company conclude if the individual was deserving of a loan, and to what degree the borrower had in the capacity to repay the loan.

From these scattered investigation firms sprang larger companies who eventually morphed into what we "think" we know as credit bureaus today. Unfortunately, the average person doesn't have a real grasp of what these extremely powerful entities are really about.

Historically, it didn't take long before these companies became so powerful, that governments saw the need to regulate them. Additionally, despite regulation these are industries fraught with abuses of powers, big and small, that affect each and everyone's pocket books and our economy's overall general financial health report card. These companies are well entrenched in the current financial crisis many people and countries are struggling with. They have a lot to gain, and we have a lot to lose by some of their practices.

With the current mortgage crisis, we hear a lot about FICO scores and there are some basic concepts about credit scores that everyone needs to understand. Of course, your credit score is important if your want to get a loan, obtain a mortgage, or buy something on time via your credit.

It's also important in that as it factors into getting the best rates for insurance, being hired over another equally qualified applicant, getting a security clearance, or even being hired at all. The basic thought process, among some employers -- is that if you can't manage your finances, perhaps you can't other areas of your life, and that these tendencies may affect your job.

Supposedly, your credit score derives from twenty plus separate pieces of data merged from the key credit bureaus records. The actual scores can vary widely and each one of the credit bureaus will be added to find the center score (which is different than averaging). These scores are arrived at by looking at several categories, which are:

• Payment history on existing and prior accounts
• Length of credit history
• New Credit
• Types of credit
• Amount of total reportable debt

Supposedly, your credit score derives from twenty plus separate pieces of data merged from the key credit bureaus records. The actual scores can vary widely and each one of the credit bureaus will be added to find the center score (which is different than averaging). These scores are arrived at by looking at several categories, which are:

• Payment history on existing and prior accounts
• Length of credit history
• New Credit
• Types of credit
• Amount of total reportable debt

Credit scores normally range between three hundred and eight hundred and fifty. A very narrow portion of the population have scores above eight hundred, amounting to less than thirteen percent. Optimal scores to have, are above six hundred and twenty. Scores over seven hundred, are accepted norms for being a responsible manager of your personal finances.

However, there is a large number of items that end up affecting your credit scores that will not be divulged by the industry, and will be actively denied by those in this business. These factors hugely have impact on not only American lives, but lives of people all over the world today in a global economy.

Here are the facts:

• These credit bureaus are primarily motivated by the selling of your personal and financial information
• They have no motivation to determine if the information they are providing is accurate
• They have no motivation to determine if the information they are providing is complete
• They are only interested in collecting information to sell
• They collect and report personal information that is detrimental and illegal for them to have, and it's all done under the guise of their subsidiary companies
• They have access to your bank accounts
• They have the ability to track you in a very personal way
• They have no motivation to correct any errors
• They have no motivation to correct any credit fraud
• They have no motivation to correct any identity theft
• When you turn in a "change of address" to the U.S. post office, that information is managed and that information is collected by one of the credit bureaus
• All medical information is managed by the credit bureaus
• Employers can check your credit whenever they want, as often as they want, without your permission
• All insurance information is managed by the credit bureaus
• Almost all public records are managed by the credit bureaus
• They maintain your driving records
• They maintain your voting records
• They manage your telecommunication records
• They keep records for payday loan companies. This is important to know, because even if you are cashing an after hours check, paying a utility bill, or especially getting a payday loan -- the end result is it shows up on your credit information that you frequent a "risk" and can lower your credit score.
• They sell lists to direct marketers.
• Fingerprinting at some banks, pawnshops, and check cashing businesses are all part of information that is sold back to the government by the credit bureaus.
• Permits for guns are also information that they collect and re-sell
• If you try to claim unclaimed property, your information is captured for resell
• Even Facebook is maintained by a credit bureau's computers

These are just a few of the records that their various information services collect, a small overview. Because of the broad scope of the information that is collected, adverse and erroneous information can seriously be of great concern, considering this information is resold, and resold, and resold. The companies who buy what these credit bureaus sell will hound you with unwanted calls, sinful junk mail, and unwanted emails.

Bailing out the boat of financial woes has many overwhelmed and desperate debtors turning to using leaky cups of credit restoration. Books, businesses, online services, etc. are all springing up daily, under the guise of helping you restore your credit.

Some of this help is also owned by the credit bureaus. Many of them will not only not restore your credit, but actually make your credit woes worse. Exercise extreme caution before you turn to them for help, even if they are law firms.

Medical record information is retained and maintained under the subsidiaries of the credit bureaus. This means the very people who collect your financial and personal history and sell it, are also the same people who collect and sell your medical information.

As a former lobbyist on Capitol Hill, it can be honestly stated that among the most powerful lobbyist groups in Washington, are those lobbyists working for the credit industry.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is only fair to a point, with just enough feel good legislation to pacify consumers and watch groups, mixed with a whole lot of wiggle room for the credit card companies, other creditors, and credit bureaus.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is largely ignored by the credit bureaus and by credit collecting companies. While a few individuals have managed to win judgments against the credit bureaus and credit collecting agencies, these judgments amount to a monetary slap on the hand, because they know correcting any credit reporting problems that are disputed, is something most consumers are ill equipped to handle on their own.

In all fairness to Equifax, when it comes to some of their subsidiaries and affiliates, they are a little more forthcoming in acknowledging who they are, although the information is buried. Remember, these are only their main subsidiaries, they have other entities under which they operate.

Additionally, understand that not all of these entities are collecting information, many of them are credit collecting agencies, out to squeeze every dollar from the consumer and businesses that they can, regardless of who owes it. Some of the known subsidiaries for Equifax are:

• 1nfo Inc
• Acrofax Inc. (Canada)
• CBI Ventures, Inc.
• Computer Ventures, Inc.
• Credence, Inc.
• Credit Northwest Corporation
• Credit Union Card Services, Inc.
• Equifax Asia Pacific Holdings, Inc.
• Equifax Card Services (Madison), Inc.
• Equifax Check Services, Inc.
• Equifax Card Services, Inc.
• Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc.
• The Equifax Database Company Ltd. (Ireland)
• Equifax Decision Systems B.V. (Netherlands)
• Equifax de Mexico Sociedad de Informacion Creditica, S.A.
• Equifax Europe Ltd.
• Equifax Europe (U.K.) Ltd.
• Equifax Healthcare Information Services, Inc.
• Equifax Holdings (Mexico) Inc.
• Equifax India Private Ltd.
• Equifax Information Technology, Inc.
• Equifax Investments (Mexico) Inc.
• Equifax Investments (U.S.) Inc.
• Equifax Luxembourg S.A.
• Equifax Luxembourg (No. 2) S.A.
• Equifax Mauritius Private Limited
• Equifax Payment Services, Inc.
• Equifax Properties, Inc.
• Equifax-Rochester, Inc.
• Equifax South America, Inc.
• Equifax U.K. Finance Ltd.
• Equifax U.K. Finance (No. 2)
• Equifax Ventures, Inc.
• Financial Institution Benefit Association, Inc.
• Financial Insurance Marketing Group, Inc.
• First Bankcard Systems, Inc.
• Global Scan Ltd. (U.K.)
• Global Scan (USA), Inc.
• Goldleaf Technologies, Inc.
• High Integrity Systems, Inc.
• The Infocheck Group Ltd. (U.K.)
• Infolink Ltd. (U.K.)
• Light Signatures, Inc.
• Market Knowledge, Incorporated
• Stewardship, Inc.
• Tecnicob S.A. (France)
• Transax Australia plc (U.K.)
• Transax France plc (U.K.)
• Transax (Ireland) plc
• Transax Ltd. (New Zealand)
• Transax plc. (U.K.)
• Transax pty Ltd. (Australia)
• Transax S.N.C. (France)
• UAPT-Infolink, (U.K.)

Unlike the other well known credit bureaus, Experian is actually a subsidiary of a UK based corporation, known as The Great Universal Stores PLC. Experian focuses on web-based information products and services. Experian operates in over sixty companies, but primarily in the:

• UK
• U.S. (Especially California)
• France
• Italy (Iveco)
• Spain (Amena)
• Korea (Kookmin Bank)
• Malaysia (AmBank)
• Australia (Westpac)
• Turkey (Kredi Kayit Burosu)

To name a few, other entities/products it operates under the names:

• Experian-Scorex
• Nordic Info Group
• DMS Atos
• Cheetah Mail
• QAS
• PriceGrabber
• Lower My Bills
• PriceGrabber
• AffiliateFuel
• Truvue