TransUnion

TransUnion is an American company that provides credit information and information management services to approximately 45,000 businesses and approximately 500 million consumers worldwide in 33 countries. It is also the third-largest credit bureau in the United States. Like major competitors Equifax and Experian, TransUnion markets credit reports directly to consumers. The company is based in Chicago, Illinois, and its revenue in 2014 was US$1.3 billion.

History

TransUnion was originally formed in 1968 as a holding company for the railroad leasing organization, Union Tank Car Company. The following year, it acquired the Credit Bureau of Cook County, which possessed and maintained 3.6 million card files. In 1981, a Chicago-based holding company The Marmon Group acquired TransUnion for approximately $688 million. Almost thirty years later, in 2010, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Advent International acquired it from Madison Dearborn Partners In 2014, TransUnion acquired Hank Asher’s data company TLO. On June 25, 2015, TransUnion became a publicly traded company for the first time, trading under the symbol TRU.