In the current system, America’s three big credit-reporting companies—Equifax, Experian and TransUnion—collect reams of financial and personal data to produce consumer-credit files on individual borrowers. Credit-scoring company Fair Isaac Corp. licenses an algorithm to the three companies that turns their data into a standardized FICO score. Each company’s scores are then combined into a so-called tri-merge report that lenders use to decide whether to issue a loan and at what interest rate.