If you are a business that has to pull credit scores on occasion, then you will need software to do this. Quite often, this software will come in the form of an API. Let’s talk a little bit about what they are about, shall we?
What is an API for Credit Scores?
Unless you are a larger business, you may struggle to build up connections with the biggest credit score agencies. They won’t just provide you with the information that you need whenever you request it. For small companies, their fees can be quite substantial too.
However, the biggest problem is not so much forging those connections, it is the number of connections that you need to build. After all, there is more than one credit reporting agency out there, and if you want to be able to generate accurate credit reports, then you need to deal with multiple companies.
Even if you work with these companies, you will have to program a solution that allows you to pull all of the information from these agencies and collect it into a single report. It is a time consuming process. This is why APIs exist.
To put it simply, APIs are pre-coded ways to pull information from credit reporting agencies. When you use an API, you won’t actually have a connection to the reporting agency at all. Instead, that bit of code will get in touch with a credit report pulling company, they will pull the information, and they will send it back to you. The only relationship that you need is with the company that is pulling the credit reports for you.
Do You Need an API?
In theory, no. If you are willing to put in the effort to program your own solution and build up connections with the main credit reporting agencies, then you do not need an API. Although, doing all of that is going to take a whole lot of time, and it is going to be rather costly to do too.
There are also some websites that will allow you to just head there and request credit reports through their website. While this is simple, it is a hassle. Do you really want your staff to have to jump to an external website to pull information? It is a slow and convoluted process.
The benefit of an API is that, with the right programming knowledge, it can be implemented directly into the software that you already have. The best APIs will have several code options that you can use, so whatever programming language you are utilizing, they should be able to work for you.
Do You Need Programming Knowledge to Implement an API?
While APIs are simple to use, a credit score API is still going to involve understanding code. This means that if you do not have any knowledge about how to write code, then you will need to outsource the project to somebody that does. However, if they understand code, then everything should be far quicker and simpler to implement than producing your own system ‘from scratch’.
The best API providers will have a ton of documentation on how to use their code, so if anybody gets stuck at any part of the process, this documentation can be consulted.
Conclusion
If you run a business that needs to collect credit, then look into a credit report pulling API. It is probably going to be one of the quickest, cheapest, and most efficient ways for your business to be able to collect all of the information that it needs.
