The claim: The government gives you your credit score
A meme about credit scores first shared in March is making the rounds again on Facebook.
The meme uses a well-known template of a man in a Spiderman costume standing in front of a white projector screen. Text over the screen says, “The people who are 30 trillion in debt are giving you a credit score.” The March 22 post containing the meme has been shared more than 800 times in six weeks.
The “people who are 30 trillion in debt” presumably refers to the United States government. In February, the Treasury Department announced that the country’s debt had surpassed $30 trillion for the first time, according to Forbes.
While the debt figure is correct, the government doesn’t issue credit scores.
Instead, scores come mostly from three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. While these agencies are highly regulated, all three are private companies and are not part of the government.
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The user who posted the claim could not be reached for comment.
Credit reporting agencies are private entities
While more than three credit ratings agencies exist in the U.S., the three major ones account for the bulk of credit scores. All three companies are publicly-traded, for-profit entities, according to The Balance, a personal finance news site.
Each agency has its own process for determining a consumer’s…
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