Equifax started in Atlanta in 1899 as Retail Credit Company and took its current name at the end of 1975. The credit report is the part everyone knows, and it's regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, with its own dispute and freeze rights. What puts Equifax in a data-broker directory is everything it sells alongside that report.
The IXI Network is the biggest piece. Equifax bought IXI Corporation in 2009, and it runs a co-op in which more than 65 banks, credit unions, wealth managers and insurers submit anonymous deposit and investment data twice a year. Equifax says that covers about 45% of US consumer invested assets, and it turns the pool into household wealth estimates and segments for banks, investment firms and insurers. Equifax also sells prospect and email lists, and digital targeting segments that reach advertisers through data marketplaces. It can even match prescreen lists to email addresses, so a firm offer can arrive in your inbox.
The Work Number is the other. Run by Equifax Workforce Solutions, the former TALX, it's fed straight from payroll and held 813 million employment records, 209 million of them active, at the end of 2025, by Equifax's own count. It's regulated by the FCRA, has its own profile and its own freeze, and a credit freeze doesn't touch it.
