Mike Hodgson/Associate Editor

Credit reporting has come a long way in the 80 years since the forerunner of the Credit Bureau of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties was established.

For example, at one time, virtually anything could wind up on a person/s credit report.

&#8220In the old days, anything could be used as credit information,C said Sandy Lubin, who currently owns the bureau with wife Cindi. &#8220If you saw Charlie coming out of a bar with someone else/s wife, that went on your credit report.C

But the Fair Credit Reporting Act strictly limited what could be reported and ensured the accuracy of information on the reports.

&#8220Today it is credit information and only credit information,C noted Lubin, president and chief executive officer of the Credit Bureau.

As recently as 1975, the local credit bureau was gathering and maintaining information on 3-by-5-inch index cards.

&#8220When we bought (the bureau) in 1992, we saw some of that, but they were phasing it out,C said Lubin, adding he had seen a lot of &#8220old-fashionedC credit reporting techniques and systems during his previous 27-year banking career.

&#8220Technology has allowed us to take our business to a level that no one would have ever thought possible 20 years ago,C he said. &#8220That and the Fair Credit Reporting Act are probably the two things that I have seen with the most significant impact to the financial services industry over the last 25 years.C

In the mid-1990s, the Credit Bureau had four employees dedicated solely to mortgage reporting, sending out 80 to 100 reports per day. The bureau also sold 4,000 credit reports per month.

Today, four of the bureau/s 30 employees still handle mortgage reporting and have added credit reporting to their duties, although the term &#8220reportsC has been replaced by the term &#8220units.C

That/s because in the 1990s, the bureau only had one product 7 credit reports, Lubin said. Today, the business provides a variety of products, such as credit scores and medical and bankruptcy reports.

Using today/s technology, those four employees send out more than 1,000 units per day 7 approximately 30,000 per month.

&#8220Twenty years ago, it was a very large, time-consuming situation,C Lubin said, noting the advent of computers helped. &#8220But even though we got data with computers, most of the information was downloaded from databases using old modems with teletype machines. Now, it/s instant. Now, it/s all automated.C

Lubin began his banking career in 1965 in Los Angeles. He and his wife relocated to the Central Coast in 1989.

Since purchasing the Credit Bureau in 1992, they/ve expanded their market as far north as Paso Robles and as far south as Ventura, serving real estate lenders, banks, businesses, hospitals and other professionals.

Although the Credit Bureau maintains its own files on mortgage reports, it acts as a wholesaler for credit reports, Lubin explained. And the service is Internet-based.

When a client contacts the company for information on a potential borrower, the Credit Bureau purchases reports from the major credit reporting firms of Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

The client then can access those reports through a secure Web site to see how well a borrower has paid or is paying off debts.

In the early years of credit reporting, only &#8220negativeC information on borrowers 7 delinquencies and bankruptcies 7 was shared. But gradually, information about the successful handling of accounts was added.

If misinformation shows up on a credit report, the big-three credit reporting agencies are responsible, not the Credit Bureau, Lubin said.

But the Credit Bureau can provide individuals with the phone numbers and other information necessary to contact the big three and get errors corrected.

The bureau also can sell individuals copies of their own credit reports if they don/t want to provide personal information online to obtain them free.

In 1999, the Credit Bureau acquired Central Coast Collections and now has more than 500,000 collection accounts. That/s another arena where technology has been a boon.

&#8220Could you imagine how many filing cabinets we would have to keep around here to track 500,000 records?C Lubin joked.

And much like the Fair Credit Reporting Act cleaned up credit reporting, the Fair Collections Act has cleaned up the collections business.

&#8220We don/t have people who go out and break legs anymore,C Lubin said.

Mike Hodgson can be reached at 739-2221 or mhodgson@santamariatimes.com.

Jan. 14, 2007