On the contrary, this year credit scores have been rising and interest rates falling despite borrowers, in reality, being at a greater risk of default today than maybe any other time since 2008.
Maybe the real service provided by the credit data sharing is how data is used almost everywhere in reality: marketing?
I suspect their basic service is to outsource responsibility.
If each lender does their own due diligence and risk ranking, any lender that has an above average failure rate will take a lot of flack from their investors and regulators.
If they say "We use the same scoring formulas and credit files as everyone else", they can push the blame back to the bureaus.
Maybe the real service provided by the credit data sharing is how data is used almost everywhere in reality: marketing?