What Is A Credit Report?

A credit report outlines who has access to your credit history. Before national credit bureaus prompted the creation of today's standard credit report, regulated content and access was unavailable. Individual merchants tracked their customers' credit lines, and outside of helping merchants stay on top of outstanding debts, this system proved quite futile. A more organized system was needed, and merchants looked for broader means in which to share this information.

As a new credit tracking system began to take shape, consumers began to demand their own access rights. Previously, credit information was made available only to merchants and lenders. Consumers were left in the dark as far as knowing what was being reported, and by whom these reports were made. Eventually more revision was needed to combat other limitations of this tracking model, such as its inability to track outside of local areas.

Towards the middle of the 19th century, a more established system to track credit status took root across the nation. Each affiliate office became a beacon to which all credit activities were reported, forming a network of agencies from coast to coast. This design formed the original blueprint for today's Credit Reporting Agencies (CRA). A CRA is accountable to their subscribers, consumers and businesses that request information, and to the general public on how they safeguard credit reports from those seeking to commit fraud and on the accuracy of their reports.