Credit Reporting at Galileo

A credit report is a statement that provides information about a consumer’s credit activity and current credit situation such as the status of a credit account. Credit reporting is available for secured credit products that operate as a charge card with the full amount due each period, and not other credit products like secured cards with revolving credit.

There is no legal requirement to report credit account activity to the three credit bureaus. Whether you report the charge card activity to the credit bureaus depends on whether you believe your cardholders will benefit from it. Reporting to the bureaus will most likely help your cardholders establish their credit history.

Metro 2 reporting at Galileo

To generate a consumer’s credit report, the credit bureaus are provided a Metro 2 file. Metro 2 is a standardized electronic reporting format specification created by Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA). Metro 2 files meet all requirements of the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and all applicable state laws.

Galileo is responsible for generating the Metro 2 file, which we deliver to you via Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). You are responsible for sending the completed file to the credit bureaus directly, also known as the data furnisher.

Accessing the Metro 2 file

The Metro 2 file is automatically generated on the first of the month by default. This value can be set to any integer day of the month (1-28). You can arrange to retrieve the files from Galileo's SFTP server or Galileo can push the files to your SFTP server. The filename of the report is “METRO2--". See Galileo setup in this guide for details on how to receive the Metro 2 file.

Account closure status reporting

When a customer’s secured credit account closes, you can indicate the account closure status using Galileo’s Program API. Galileo will include the status in the Metro 2 file. A customer’s status at account closure may affect their credit score.

Account closure statuses indicate whether the amount owed was paid and who initiated the closure (the customer or the issuer). Account closure statuses are:

• Account is unpaid, closed by the issuer, and charged off
• Account is unpaid, closed by the issuer, and is in internal collections
• Account takeover fraud, account closed by the issuer
• Account is paid and closed by the issuer due to inactivity
• Account is paid and closed at the customer’s request

For developer instructions to send account closure statuses see Reporting account closure status under Developer Setup for Secured Credit.

Delinquent account closures and reporting

You may set a policy to state that, when an account is delinquent, the account is closed, and the funds from the secured credit account are used to pay the amount owed. Galileo will include the account closure in the Metro 2 file.

If the account is closed after the report is sent, Galileo will not include the account in future reports. If the customer wants to reopen the account, you must create a new account instead and Galileo will report the new account.

Bankruptcy reporting

Galileo offers a feature for bankruptcy reporting to credit bureaus. Clients can request the Bankruptcy Reporting guide for more information.

Galileo setup

• Configure billing cycles.
• Establish relationships with each of the credit bureaus to obtain a subscriber ID.
• Determine your process for handling FCRA disputes.

You must provide Galileo with the following required information to send the Metro 2 file: