In June the pages of the book were run out on a mimeograph machine and bound between hard covers with the title "Merchant's Guide.". In 2003, the FTC took Equifax to court for the same reason and settled its lawsuit with the company for a fine of $250,000. For many years, Equifax has operated mostly on the business-to-business sector, where it sold consumer credit and insurance reports. In total, the researcher downloaded the data of hundreds of thousands of Americans in order to show Equifax the vulnerabilities within its systems. Please try again later. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Credit books for Athens, Rome, Columbus, Macon, and Augusta were developed and marketed and a branch office was opened in Augusta. Year should not be greater than current year. [42] Credit reports provide detailed information on the personal credit and payment history of individuals, indicating how they have honored financial obligations such as paying bills or repaying a loan. [16] Certegy effectively became a subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial as a result of this reverse acquisition merger (See Certegy and Fidelity National Information Services for further information).[16]. [41], Equifax primarily operates in the business-to-business sector, selling consumer credit and insurance reports and related analytics to businesses in a range of industries. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. And though Equifaxs story isnt quite as tenured as Experian, its roots date back to the late1800swhen it began as a grocery store. Equifax moved into marketing databases, which allowed patrons to target their most likely customers. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. "[42], According to senator Michael Crapo, "The amount of data that the private industry and Government collect and store is very concerning. [85][86] Equifax ultimately reached a settlement with regulators for up to $700 million. [35], In July 2020, Equifax reported that, after purchasing Ansonia Credit Data (Ansonia), a major source of consumer credit, payments, and invoice receivables (AR) data used by financial companies and other borrowers and businesses in the shipping and logistics sectors, the firm has expanded its position in commercial payment technology solutions. By taking these steps to mollify the public, Equifax hoped to ward off federal legislation that would mandate costly measures to increase fairness. The credit bureau had opened 34 branch offices in the United States and three in Canada, as well. Equifax has been operational for over a decade, during which time it has experienced immense success. Miller's lawyer, Justin Baxter, explained that the false reporting damaged Miller's reputation, she was denied credit, and her private information was given to businesses Miller had no relationship with. [74] An Equifax spokesperson said that Equifax is considering appealing the jury's verdict. The company also developed its first form containing questions relating to fire insurance. Fostering inclusive communities is the heart of Frazers mission. Equifax. These included insecure systems reported in 2016. The agency was founded by two brothers Guy and Cator Woolford, in 1899. Residents in the United Kingdom (15.2 million) and Canada (about 19,000) were also impacted. Also in the late 1970s, Equifax began strengthening consumer credit reporting operations by purchasing small, local credit reporting agencies and by affiliating with others. Merchants paid $25 a year to use the book and subsequent credit reports; grocers paid less. Add to your scrapbook. (France); UAPT-Infolink, plc (U.K.). Your Scrapbook is currently empty. Equifax was founded by Cator and Guy Woolford in Atlanta, Georgia, as Retail Credit Company in 1899. However, in February 2020, the United States Department of Justice indicted four members of China's People's Liberation Army on nine charges related to the breach, which China has denied. The companys name was changed to Equifax in 1976, perhaps, some thought, to counter the lingering memory of the companys brushes with government regulators. ). The email does not appear to be a valid email address. The company continued expansion by opening new branch offices throughout the decades following the war. By 1986 the company's files covered 150 million people in 28 states. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. Revenues had reached a record $1.62 billion by 1998, but the outlook was somewhat clouded by the economic uncertainties that had begun with the Asian financial crisis of 1997. [42] Equifax and other credit monitoring agencies are required by law to provide US residents with one free credit file disclosure every 12 months; the Annualcreditreport.com website incorporates data from U.S. Equifax credit records. GREAT NEWS! [66], In 1982, Retail Credit Company was criticized for collecting "facts, statistics, inaccuracies and rumors about virtually every phase of a person's life; his marital troubles, jobs, school history, childhood, sex life, and political activities. Please enter your email and password to sign in. The company experienced rapid growth, and by 1920 it had opened offices all over Canada and the United States, and by the 1960s, the agency was one of the leading credit bureaus. You can always change this later in your Account settings. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. [57][58] For roughly half the US population, both of the latter pieces of data are known to be in possession of criminals, following Equifax's MayJuly 2017 security breach. [57][58] In July 2019, Equifax settled with the Federal Trade Commission for $700 million. Nevertheless, after the company pledged to monitor its procedures more carefully, the government halted its investigation. For those that were affected by the data breach, there were open suggestions to file claims against it. Retail Credit's activities in the consumer credit business were regulated for the first time in 1971, when Congress passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act, effective in April. In 2010 Equifax bought an identity verification software company Anakam, which was headquartered in San Diego, California. Between 1983 and 1988, the company's overall revenues increased by nearly 60 percent, to $743 million, and earnings more than doubled. [14] Equifax formerly offered digital certification services, which it sold to GeoTrust in September 2001. Founder of the Retail Credit Company of Atlanta, Ga., now Equifax, one of the three major credit-rating agencies in the US. Nevertheless, after the company pledged to monitor its procedures more carefully, the government halted its investigation. Towards this end, the company opened five new insurance-related offices in that year. The change symbolized the company's growing capabilities and prepared the way for further diversification of its activities, from operations centered in the insurance industry to wider marketing functions. Thanks for your help! He was co-founder of Atlanta Retail Credit Company (now Equifax) and used part of his fortune to build this estate and mansion in the historic Ponce de . "[45], According to an October 2017 report from Motherboard, around December 2016, a security researcher examining Equifax's servers found that an online portal, created for Equifax employees only, was accessible to the open Internet. By the end of the company's second year, the staff had expanded to eight and the volume of sales was growing steadily. The company planned to handle all phases of the operation, including selection of potential customers, production of mailing brochures, handling of telephone inquiries, verification of credit applications, and property appraisal. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. After a month the task had grown so large that two additional men were hired to assist the Woolfords, and one week later a woman was employed as well. This changed in 1999 when the agency started offering services to credit consumer sectors. Leaving the direct-marketing business enhanced Equifax's public image without too much sacrifice; the relinquished activities provided only $12 million, or one percent of Equifax's revenues. It started in Atlanta, Georgia, under the name of Retail Credit Company. [4] Equifax collects and aggregates information on over 800 million individual consumers and more than 88 million businesses worldwide. In April 1903 Retail Credit closed its Augusta office, after clearly noting signs that the branch would not become profitable. This was one of the last parcels in Druid Hills to be purchased, ostensibly because so much of it was considered The company's operations had already been divided into four divisions: insurance information services, its traditional strength; credit services; marketing services, the newest division; and Canadian operations, which were consolidated into one company, Equifax Canada Inc., in June 1989. Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, Statutory and Executive Boards and Commissions, Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter. Today, Equifax has a workforce of about 14,000 employees throughout 19 countries, and reports revenue of $3.14 billion per year. Eventually the company's ability to retrieve information by computer from vast data banks would prove one of Retail Credit's greatest assets. The Woolford brothers left their own legacies apart from the phenomenally successful business they started. Equifax was founded in 1898 by two brothers, Cator and Guy Woolford. Equifax, one of the nations top three credit-reporting agencies, along with Experian and TransUnion, holds information on more than 400 million credit holders across the. In March 1930 Retail Credit established the Georgia Credit Exchange to provide services in cities across the state. Equifax, one of the largest credit-reporting agencies in the country, collects data on more than 400 million credit holders nationwide. [87], 2016 advance-warnings of insecure systems, 2017 withdrawal of vulnerable mobile apps. To make amends, Equifax announced in August 1991 that it would cease using credit information to compile lists for the purposes of direct marketing. . Oops, we were unable to send the email. [13] The insurance reporting was phased out. In 1904 a fourth office was opened in Kansas City, Missouri. The origins of these gardens date back to the 1920's and was once home to Cator Woolford himself - one of the leading founders of what we know today as Equifax. I thought you might like to see a memorial for Cator Ringgold Woolford I found on Findagrave.com. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. There he supervised the compilation of a list of customers, with indications of their credit-worthiness, for the local Retail Grocer ' s Association. Our History: From Cator Woolford Gardens to Our Disabilities Programs Our History Frazer Center is tucked away on 39 acres of old-growth forest in the heart of Atlanta. Cator Woolford got his start in the credit bureau business as a grocer in Chattanooga, Tennessee. There was a consent decree. After a decade-long court battle, Retail Credit was allowed to retain the purchases. The company was founded by Cator Woolford and Guy Woolford in 1899 and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. Show more---Top 5 ETFs holding EFX. cemeteries found in Woolford, Dorchester County, Maryland, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. For instance, in 1908 the company began issuing reports for automobile liability insurers. Along withTransUnionand Experian, Equifax helps make up the big three of the credit reporting bureaus. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. The same cybersecurity firm was hired following the MayJuly breach. [47], Between May and July 2017, yet-identified hackers were able to use a known exploit on one of Equifax' web servers that had yet to be updated to access the credit records of more than 140 million Americans as well as some British and Canadian citizens before the breach was detected and shut down. Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. Four months later, the company spent $9 million to open an elaborate consumer services center which provided information to callers about their credit file in eight languages. In 2000, Equifax, along with Experian and TransUnion, was fined $2.5 million for blocking and delaying phone calls from consumers trying to get information about their credit. Cator Woolford Gardens - Cator, Three (CWG) (GC4BAB) was created by BigDoggie & Frogger (adopted by ckirbee) on 4/10/2002. Its customers included retailers, government agencies, healthcare providers, insurance firms, and credit unions, among many others. Equifax Courtesy of Equifax Beginnings In 1899 Cator and Guy Woolford, two brothers from Woolford, Maryland, began operations as the Retail Credit Company in Atlanta. The agency also purchased a business intelligence company known as eThority, which has headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina. Equifax was founded in 1898 by two brothers, Cator and Guy Woolford. Founded by brothers Cator and Guy Woolford, each got their start in the credit business as grocers, where they compiled lists of customers based on their creditworthiness. [9] By the 1960s, Retail Credit Company was one of the nation's largest credit bureaus, holding files on millions of American and Canadian citizens. Its 2005 market value of nearly $5 billion makes it one of the largest publicly traded companies in the state. On two occasions, the agency was fined by the Federal Trade Commission, and this was for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. The enterprise was newly christened the Retail Credit Company, Inc., on December 29, 1913. In 1989 Equifax had commissioned a poll that showed that 71 percent of all Americans thought they had lost control over information concerning their lives and 79 percent considered privacy a basic right. [27][28], In July 2019, The New York Times, the New York Post and other media reported Equifax had agreed to pay approximately $650 million to settle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to resolve investigations by several state attorneys general, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the FTC, and a consumer class-action lawsuit related to the data breach. [36], On 2 August 2022, a week after its CEO Mark Begor was deemed "uniquely qualified to lead the Company" and was granted a $25 million bonus package by Equifax's board, the Wall Street Journal reported that Equifax had sent millions of incorrectly calculated credit scores to lenders. As of Apr 06 -3.03 / -1.52%. In 1934, he co-founded the short-lived Correct Address Company, with Edwin K. Large . In a ten-year period, 104 smaller credit bureaus had been added to the Equifax network alone. As consumers, we often take for granted all the hard work that goes into building a great company. Think Again", "- AN EXAMINATION OF THE EQUIFAX CYBERSECURITY BREACH", "Breaking: Equifax Knew of Security Flaws Months Before It Was Hacked", "Equifax Suffered a Hack Almost Five Months Earlier Than the Date It Disclosed", "Credit reporting firm Equifax says cybersecurity incident could potentially affect 143 million US consumers", "Equifax to Pay $575 Million as Part of Settlement with FTC, CFPB, and States Related to 2017 Data Breach", "U.S. Charges Chinese Military Officers in 2017 Equifax Hacking", "Data from Equifax credit hack could "end up on the black market," expert warns", "Equifax reportedly used 'admin' as password in Argentina", "Equifax's app has disappeared from Apple's App Store and Google Play", "Here's Why Equifax Yanked Its Apps From Apple And Google Last Week", "Equifax Breach Fallout: Your Salary History Krebs on Security", "Equifax will give your salary history to anyone with your SSN and date of birth / Boing Boing", "Equifax owes you a lot more, but here's how to get $125 from this week's settlement", "Equifax website hacked again, this time to redirect to fake Flash update", "Equifax may have been hacked again and it's not even funny anymore", "Equifax rival TransUnion also sends site visitors to malicious pages", "Malicious Redirects on Equifax, TransUnion Sites Caused by Third-Party Script | SecurityWeek.Com", "After second bungle, IRS suspends Equifax's "taxpayer identity" contract", "Equifax to Pay $250,000 to Settle Charges", "An $18 Million Lesson in Handling Credit Report Errors", "Equifax must pay $18.6 million after failing to fix Oregon woman's credit report", "Jury Awards $18.6M For Equifax Credit Report Mix-up", "Equifax weighs appealing $18.6M award to consumer", "Judge cuts Oregon woman's award in Equifax case", "Woman sues in effort to prove she is alive", "Woman Listed as Deceased Files Lawsuit Claiming She's Alive", "God Just Wants Some Credit, So He's Suing Equifax", "Oklahomans File Lawsuit Against Equifax", "Former Equifax manager charged with insider trading linked to cyber breach", "Former Equifax Manager Charged With Insider Trading", public domain material from this U.S government document, "Equifax Breach Affected 147 Million, but Most Sit Out Settlement", Equifax Consumer Identity Protection website, 2019 Eligibility site related to 2017 data breach, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Equifax&oldid=1147501990, This page was last edited on 31 March 2023, at 11:16. According to Bloomberg, Equifax enlisted Mandiant (owned by FireEye, Inc.) to assist in investigating the March attack. Other services offered by Equifax include selling credit monitoring to their customers as well as fraud prevention services. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. In the early 1970s, Retail Credit purchased several competitors, buying credit bureaus in Oregon, Idaho, and California, and Credit Bureau, Inc., located in Washington, D.C. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. In May 1989 Equifax formed a strategic alliance with the fifth largest credit bureau, CSC Credit Services, a division of the Computer Sciences Corporation; the yield was 65 additional bureaus, bringing Equifax's total number of bureaus to more than 300. As a result of its growing insurance business, Guy Woolford opened a second company office in Dallas, Texas, in March 1902. These 39 acres of property are nestled in the heart of the North Druid Hills area. That year also saw Equifax introduce a record 25 new products. There he supervised the compilation of a list of customers, with indications of their creditworthiness, for the local Retail Grocer's Association." This episode of our daily podcast, The Outline World Dispatch was all about the Equifax breach. [32][33][34], On 19 December 2019, a federal judge in Atlanta awarded class-action attorneys representing consumers approximately $77.5 million, suggesting that individual consumers might expect to receive around six or seven dollars. In the following year, the company's capacity grew 40 percent, to cover all 50 states. New Georgia Encyclopedia, 03 November 2006, https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/business-economy/equifax/. Don't ignore the company's latest email", "That $125 payment from Equifax? Renamed REACH in 1989 and the Frazer Center in 1999, the vision to offer research-based education, vocational support, and therapeutic intervention to children and adults with developmental disabilities remains intact. With the company's sales running at $350,000, the Woolfords decided to incorporate. Woolford, the founder of the Retail Credit Company - which later became Equifax. The company responded that such findings were never used in credit-rating evaluations but were limited to its insurance and consumer investigations businesses (which were later spun off). Cator also served on the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation where President Roosevelt and he became friends. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). "All you had to do was put in a search term and get millions of results, just instantlyin cleartext, through a web app," they said. Cator, a former bank employee, and Guy, a lawyer, employed simple notations to reflect merchants comments about their shoppers payment habits: Prompt, Slow, or Requires Cash. They published these findings as The Merchants Guide, sold it for $25, and offered individual credit reports. Insurance companies paid much more highly for the information they needed; Retail Credit quickly expanded operations into this lucrative area. [50] The data from the breach has yet to be seen on black markets or the dark web by security experts, making it difficult to identify the origin of the breach. [55] While these apps themselves were not reportedly connected to that breach, they had security flaws of their own, being vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks owing to some parts using HTTP instead of HTTPS. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. [42], Equifax also offers fraud prevention products based on device fingerprinting such as "FraudIQ Authenticate Device. Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Cator Woolford (73468528)? By 1920, the company had offices throughout the United States and Canada. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? The marketing division had sales of $90 million in the first nine months in operation. The company was founded by Cator Woolford and Guy Woolford in 1899 and is headquartered in Atlanta . The company has been in existence for over a decade, and it has stood the test of time to be among the largest consumer credit reporting agency of all time. In addition, the agency sells fraud prevention and credit monitoring services to their customers. The number grew to 258 over the next ten years. In addition to formation of a technology division, brought about by the consolidation of the company's activities in that field, Equifax also acquired Telecredit, Inc., a Los Angeles credit bureau that provided check and credit card authorization services, for $457 million in 1990. In 1991 Equifax also abandoned a planned joint database project with Lotus Development Corporation that would have made available to small businesses a wide array of demographic information at microneighborhood levels; a consumer outcry and negative media attention led to the project's demise. Equifax, one of the nations top three credit-reporting agencies, along with Experian and TransUnion, holds information on more than 400 million credit holders across the country. These services included identifying theft prevention products as well as credit fraud identity. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. They started their credit investigations by going door-to-door among merchants, asking about their customers and noting the findings in ledgers. Equifax is headed by Mark L. Feidler as the chairman of the board, Mark W. Begor, as the CEO, and John W. as the vice president as well as the CFC. [citation needed] Business customers include retailers, insurance firms, healthcare providers, utilities, government agencies, as well as banks, credit unions, personal and specialty finance companies and other financial institutions. These activities had long taken place at a different location under separate management; three years later, Retail Credit further severed its connection when the Exchange was sold to businessman L.S. Wanting more opportunity for her daughter, Anne Lane joined forces with her friend and civic leader Rebecca Frazer to create the Cerebral Palsy Centerin 1949 in the basement of St. Lukes Episcopal Church on Peachtree Street. He established the Thomas Guy Woolford Charitable Trust, which is today administered by SunTrust Banks (now Truist). Cator Woolford got his start in the credit bureau business as a grocer in Chattanooga, Tennessee. [42] Equifax also provides commercial credit reports containing financial and non-financial data on businesses of all sizes. Equifax was widely criticized for the hack and for how it responded after the matter. Equifax's push into the Brazilian market was challenged by the economic difficulties there, especially the currency devaluation. By the end of the company's second decade of existence, Retail Credit was thoroughly established as a significant partner in the life insurance business. Two brothers, Cator and Guy Woolford, created the company. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. 20042023 Georgia Humanities, University of Georgia Press. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. The company handles or facilitates more than ten million electronic transactions per day for 300,000 customers worldwide. Nestled on 39 acres of mature hardwoods, the Cator Woolford Gardens are situated on one of the few remaining intact historic estates in Metropolitan Atlanta and are located just a few miles from the heart of downtown. [56], On October 8, 2017, Krebs reported that The Work Number, a website operated by Equifax's TALX division, exposed the salary histories for employees of tens of thousands of US companies to anyone in possession of the employee's Social Security Number and date of birth. This oasis has remained practically untouched by today's urban sprawl. Soon offices in Chicago and San Francisco came on line. Today, we know that company as Equifax. There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. There was an error deleting this problem. Over the years, the agency has faced several challenges, their biggest one being security failings. [citation needed] The company also had a division selling specialist credit information to the insurance industry but spun off this service, including the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) database as ChoicePoint in 1997. Please reset your password. Market Value. We Have Some Questions", "Equifax, Inc. (EFX) Income Statement - Yahoo Finance", "Equifax Inc. 2022 Annual Report (Form 10-K)", "How to protect yourself against the theft of your identity", "All Products and Solutions | Business | Equifax", "All Credit Score, Credit Report & Identity Theft Products | Equifax", "Equifax breach just another page in the sordid history of credit bureaus", "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act", "ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2001", "GeoTrust acquires Equifax's digital certificate business", "DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENTS RELATING TO MERGER OR ACQUISITION", "Equifax buys local eThority: Company to stay, grow in Charleston, founder says", "Who controls opinion polling in Australia, what else we need to know about the polls, and why it matters", "The Dizzying Number Of CFPB Complaints Against Equifax Since 2012 Should Infuriate You", "Equifax just discovered 2.4M more account breaches", "Equifax, Apache Struts, and CVE-2017-5638 vulnerability | Synopsys", "Equifax CIO Put '2 and 2 Together' Then Sold Stock, SEC Says", "Former Equifax employee sentenced for insider trading", "Former Equifax Executive Gets 4 Months for Insider Trading | SecurityWeek.Com", "Former Equifax manager sentenced to 8 months home confinement for insider trading", "Ex-Equifax Manager Gets Home Confinement for Insider Trading | SecurityWeek.Com", "Equifax Is Said to Be Near $650 Million Settlement for Data Breach", "Equifax agrees to pay $700M after massive data breach", "Report: Equifax to pay $700 million in breach settlement", "Opinion | Equifax Doesn't Want You to Get Your $125. [46], "I didn't have to do anything fancy," the researcher told Motherboard, explaining that the site was vulnerable to a basic "forced browsing" bug. Riley, Michael, Anita Sharpe, and Jordan Robertson, "The New Equifax Boss Wants to Make Amends. Try again later. Relying on his experience in Tennessee, Cator began by seeking out an alliance with the city's grocers. [60][61][62][63] At that time, only 3 out of 65 top anti-malware products provided protection against the particular malware, meaning that many visitors were at risk of having their computers infected when visiting the Equifax website. In addition to credit and demographic data and services to business,[5] Equifax sells credit monitoring and fraud prevention services directly to consumers. [82], Equifax software engineer Sudhakar Reddy was charged with insider trading for purchasing options prior to the disclosure of the 2017 data breach. All requests for permission to publish or reproduce the resource must be submitted to the rights holder. They were originally founded in 1898, 70 years before the creation of the Trans Union. [59], On October 12, 2017, Equifax's website was reported to have been offering visitors malware via drive-by download. Guy Woolford was also inclined to make lasting contributions to his community. Despite this setback, geographical expansion continued and New York premises were opened in 1907. Founded by brothers. Finally, we can read about how these great companies came about with Company Histories.. 28. Cator Woolford (1869-1944), Atlanta businessman, civic leader and philanthropist, founded the Retail Credit Company (the precursor to Equifax) in 1899. Equifax also divested itself of two unprofitable units in 1989, Equifax Insurance Systems and Enercon, Inc. As the 1990s arrived, the company strove to enter the European market. This browser does not support getting your location. THE CATOR WOOLFORD ESTATE 1815 S. Ponce de Leon, Ave, NE, Atlanta, GA 30307 Determination and Scope for Fence Permit . were exposed as in the MayJuly breach, according to Motherboard.

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cator woolford equifax