Credit Report

A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness.

A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit reporting agency and used by a financial institution in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness.

A credit report is a summary of your financial history. Potential lenders will use your credit report to help them evaluate whether you are a good credit risk.

The three major credit-reporting agencies are Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. These agencies collect certain types of information about you, primarily your use of credit and information in the public record, and sell that information to qualified recipients.

As a provision of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACT Act), you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report each year from each of the credit reporting agencies.

You also have a right to see your credit report at any time if you have been turned down for a loan, an apartment, or a job because of poor credit. You may also question any information the credit reporting agency has about you and ask that errors be corrected.

If the information isn't changed following your request, you have the right to attach a comment or explanation, which must be sent out with future reports.

A history of loan and bill payments, kept by a credit bureau and used by financial institutions and other potential creditors to determine the likelihood that your future debt will be repaid. Lenders and insurers use information from credit reports, along with your credit score, to set loan and insurance rates. Also called a credit history. To learn more about credit reports, visit our Consumer's Guide to Credit Reports and Credit Scores.

A document used by the credit industry to examine your use of credit. It provides information on money that you've borrowed from credit institutions and your payment history.

A report generated by the credit bureau that contains the borrower's credit history for the past seven years. Lenders use this information to determine if a loan will be granted.