What is a credit report? | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2024)

FAQs

What is a credit report? | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? ›

A credit report is a statement that has information about your credit activity and current credit situation such as loan paying history and the status of your credit accounts. Most people have more than one credit report.

We're the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a U.S. government agency that makes sure banks, lenders, and other financial companies treat you fairly.

We protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices and take action against companies that break the law. We arm people with the information, steps, and tools that they need to make smart financial decisions.

A credit report will document which accounts are in good standing, if any debts are past due, and other information about your financial history. A credit report, however, is a type of consumer report. A consumer report is a broader report that contains personal identifying information beyond credit.

Your credit report is a summary of your credit history. Your credit report is created when you borrow money or apply for credit for the first time. Lenders send information about your accounts to the credit bureaus, also known as credit reporting agencies.

Sometimes the CFPB will send a warning letter to advise recipients that certain actions may violate federal consumer financial law. These are not accusations of wrongdoing.

CFPB-administered payments

The person or company that violated the law pays the CFPB, and then we send the money to harmed consumers, sometimes through a payments administrator. These payments are also known as Bureau-Administered Redress.

Consistent with applicable law, we securely share complaints with other state and federal agencies to, among other things, facilitate: supervision activities, enforcement activities, and. monitor the market for consumer financial products and services.

The CFPB supervises a range of companies to assess their compliance with federal consumer financial laws. We have supervisory authority over banks, thrifts, and credit unions with assets over $10 billion, as well as their affiliates.

The CFPB investigates potential violations of federal consumer financial laws by entities or individuals within its authority and initiates public enforcement actions when appropriate.

Do I have to agree to a consumer report? ›

The applicant or employee must agree in writing to the release of the report to the employer. This written permission may be given on the notice itself.

A consumer report can contain a wide variety of information including credit history, past bankruptcy, judicial records, employment records, and even online activity. This information can only be accessed with approval from the individual and is highly regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

Checking your own credit report is not an inquiry about new credit, so it has no effect on your score. In fact, reviewing your credit report regularly can help you make sure the information the credit reporting companies share with lenders is accurate and up-to-date.

While the general public can't see your credit report, some groups have legal access to that personal information. Those groups include lenders, creditors, landlords, employers, insurance companies, government agencies and utility providers.

Credit reporting companies, also known as credit bureaus or consumer reporting agencies, are companies that compile and sell credit reports. Credit reporting companies collect credit account information about your borrowing and repayment history including: The original amount of a loan.

We'll share your complaint with the company so it can review and respond to the issues you've described. If we can't send your complaint to the company for response, we'll send it to another federal agency and let you know.

An additional 19 million consumers have “unscorable” credit files, which means that their file is thin and has an insufficient credit history (9.9 million) or they have stale files and lack any recent credit history (9.6 million).

The CFPB helps ensure the financial market is a level playing field by cracking down on bad financial actors that engage in unfair, deceptive, abusive, and discriminatory practices that harm consumers.