According to TransUnion, one of the major credit bureaus, there are four major areas of content in your credit report:

Identifying information. This includes your name, phone number, address, Social Security number and date of birth. It may also include a list of your current and previous employers and previous addresses.

Credit history. Your credit history is a summary of your credit transactions. This is the core of a credit report. It includes your payment history, including any late payments, to banks, credit card companies, retailers and other lenders. Other lenders include mortgage and auto-finance companies. These items remain on your credit report for seven years.

Public records. If you owe a creditor or tax agency a debt and do not pay it, expect to have a public lien against you. For example, a person who owes property taxes but does not pay them is likely to have a lien filed against them by their local property tax board.

Public records include any filings of personal bankruptcy or court judgments against you. These items remain on your credit report for seven years, except bankruptcies, which remain on your credit report for 10 years.

Inquiries. There are two types of inquiries: hard and soft. A hard inquiry remains on your credit report while a soft inquiry does not. Frequently applying for credit will run up the number of hard inquiries on your credit report. Some prospective lenders may interpret that as a sign of your desperation for credit.

A credit report also shows any current credit that you have, including amounts owed, amounts available (such as on a credit card or other form of revolving credit and payment amounts on installment loans.

Lenders seize on this area of the credit report since it lends immediate insight into how much credit you may need, how well you pay back your debts and how much your monthly payments are likely to be if they approve your loan request.

The following items are not on your credit report:

Deposit information. Deposits are assets and not a form of debt, after all. A credit report focuses on your liabilities.

Credit score.Credit scores are generated based in part on the contents of a credit report. However, they do not constitute a part of the credit report. The credit bureaus will sell your credit score for a low price, however. We discuss credit scores later in this educator.

Race, gender, ethnicity or national origin. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits the use of this kind of information to avoid any discrimination in lending practices.

Business debts. If a debt is personally guaranteed, a business debt may show up on your personal credit report. Otherwise, it won’t.

You should review your credit report at all three major credit bureaus. Check for errors or omissions in any and all three major reports. Discrepancies may exist between them. If you find an error or note an omission, contact the credit bureau directly. 

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, amended a few years ago, to beef up consumer privacy rules, you are legally entitled to obtain your credit report from a credit reporting agency. This includes receiving a list of everyone that has requested your report.

If you are denied credit based on information in your credit report (the creditor must provide a reason for denial), you have 60 days from the day you receive a denial notice to receive a free copy of the credit report.

The law also entitles you to receive a free credit report every 12 months if you are unemployed and seeking work within the next 60 days, are on welfare or your report is inaccurate as a result of credit fraud.

Of course, you can also pay to obtain a credit report anytime. The three major credit reporting agencies, or credit bureaus, are Equifax, Experian and Trans Union (Dun & Bradstreet Credit Services provides credit reports of businesses

Before you apply for a credit card or loan, you should review a copy of your credit report from each of the three major bureaus to avoid any surprises.

A copy of your credit report from each bureau generally costs $9-$15. Some states, including California and Connecticut, cap the fee slightly lower. Many financial experts suggest you review your credit at least once a year. That means you can review all three major credit reports for less than $50.

In addition, credit bureaus and other credit-report services sell annual subscriptions, often in the $50 to $100 range, that keep you informed of any and all activities to your credit report.

If you are denied credit, you will certainly want to take a closer look at your credit report to spot any errors or see if there are any omissions.

Your credit report can also be used by a creditor or collection agency which may have a defaulted balance listed in your name

More importantly, a credit report is a record of how you use credit and how much of it you have available. If you’re late in making a monthly payment, that too shows up on your credit report.

Whether a lender is evaluating your loan request or a card company is considering whether to give you a credit card, you can count on an evaluation of your credit report to influence its decision.