Your credit report contains a significant bit of information about your financial history as it pertains to credit. The information on your credit report is used by credit grantors to determine whether or not they should extend credit to you. Several pieces of information are included in your credit report.

Personal identifying information such as your name, address, telephone number, social security number, and employer is included on your credit report. Your credit report will contain current and previous addresses and employers. When you receive a copy of your own credit report your spouse's name may be included.

Your credit history makes up the bulk of your credit report. This includes all accounts you have with banks, finance companies, mortgage companies, retail stores and any other company that has granted credit to you. Information about each of these accounts is included: when the account was opened, the type of account it is, the credit limit or amount of loan, the current balance, and your monthly payment amount. Late payments and missed payments appear in this section of your credit report.

Public records that pertain to your credit worthiness are listed on your credit report. Tax liens, court judgments, and bankruptcies are in this section.

Inquiries made to your credit report are listed. Whenever a credit granter requests a copy of your credit report an inquiry is added. Some companies receive your name and address to offer you credit or some other product, for example, the companies that send pre-approved credit card offers. These companies are included in the inquiry section of your credit report.

Should you find any inaccurate information on your credit report, you can dispute it. These dispute statements are included on your report.

The following pieces of information are not included on your credit report: race, health, criminal records, driving records, income, bank account balances, religion, and driving records.

Depending on who is requesting your credit report, different versions are given. When you request your own credit report, your version, known as the consumer version, includes all the above mentioned information and a full listing of inquiries made for your credit report. A business version of the credit report exists that includes only inquiries that have been made with a permissible purpose. Usually permissible purpose defines a business that you initiated business with rather than unsolicited pre-approval companies.