They aren't and they further shift the responsibility of dealing with credit agencies negligence onto the consumer. You want to rent an apartment, change your

They aren't and they further shift the responsibility of dealing with credit agencies negligence onto the consumer. You want to rent an apartment, change your cell phone carrier, get home owner's insurance, order cable - all of these things require a credit check and you having to pay 5 dollars to each agency and making 3 separate calls to each of them to do so.