Atlanta-based Equifax Inc., one of the three large, national credit-reporting companies, has bought the credit-reporting files of Credit Bureau Services Inc., of Spokane, for an undisclosed sum.


In the transaction completed last month, Equifax has gained control over the Spokane companys consumer credit-reporting services here and similar services it provided through operations at Idaho Falls and a separate company it owned in Lewiston, says Equifax spokesman David Rubinger. Equifax will operate that business through customer-service centers across North America, he says.


Total assets acquired by Equifax include consumer credit information owned by Credit Bureau Services and about 1,000 of its customer contracts with consumer credit lenders such as banks.


Nick Warrick, president and co-owner of Credit Bureau Services here, says the company has kept its specialized credit-reporting division, called ACRAnet Inc., and a collection agency, called CBS Collections Inc. ACRAnet offers commercial, mortgage, employee-screening, and tenant-screening credit-reporting services.


Credit Bureau Services changed its name to CBS Reporting Inc. after completing the transaction, Warrick says.


Equifax cut about 20 positions from the Spokane credit-reporting operations, mostly from the consumer credit-reporting and support staff, Warrick says. CBS Reporting and ACRAnet re-hired some of those employees, he says.


CBS Reporting, CBS Collections, and ACRAnet now employ a total of about 50 people in Spokane and 14 in Idaho Falls. The separate credit-reporting company in Lewiston still operates its collection agency, Warrick says.


Credit Bureau Services of Spokane had been an affiliate of Equifax, and Warrick says he had expected that Equifax would seek to buy Credit Bureau Services consumer credit-reporting services here after noticing that Equifax has been acquiring consumer credit-reporting services of its other affiliates over the last 10 years.


Weve known this was coming, he says. We saw the trend, so we spent the time negotiating with Equifax to get an equitable portion for the part of our company that was being sold.


Rubinger says that buying affiliates has become the nature of the business for Equifax and the other two major credit-reporting bureaus, Chicago-based TransUnion LLC, and Experian Information Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of GUS plc, which is based in the United Kingdom. Credit Bureau Services in Spokane was the last Equifax affiliate in the western U.S. to sell its consumer credit-reporting services to the Atlanta agency, he says.


Equifax had bought the credit-reporting files from the Coeur dAlene Credit Bureau in 1998, Rubinger says.


Warrick says ACRAnet will continue selling copies of credit reports with scores from the nations three major credit-reporting bureaus. However, credit users here now must contact the three agencies directly for free credit reports, he says.


Consumers who visited Credit Bureau Services to discuss or dispute personal credit reports now must wait for their reports from Equifax to arrive by mail, and then contact the agency to discuss the scores, Warrick says.


Its the first time since 1903 that the surrounding area hasnt had an independent, privately-owned consumer credit bureau, he says.


Thats when Warricks grandfather, Nicholas MacLeod, started Credit Bureau Services here as a consumer credit-reporting agency, he says. The company later launched the CBS Collections and ACRAnet businesses.


Warrick says that the decision to sell a portion of the family-owned business was a difficult one.


Theres bitterness along with the sweet, he says. They paid for the data and the assets, but if we had our druthers, wed rather stay active.


Credit Bureau Services chose to sell its assets because Equifax and the nations other two credit-reporting bureaus have stopped renewing contracts with their affiliates to provide services, Warrick says.


We could have kept the data and competed locally, but thats not practical in todays environment, he says. I dont think any independent credit bureau like us has turned them down. It would be a financial nightmare.


Equifax, which employs 4,800 people in 12 countries, reported annual revenues of about $1.2 billion last year.