 TITLE: What Is a Credit Report? CONTENT: How Is a Credit Report Made?\n----------------------------\nThe national credit bureaus maintain millions of consumers' credit histories, based on information supplied by lenders and other entities. Each file includes records relevant to a person's history borrowing and making monthly payments. For identity verification purposes, your credit file also contains information such as your current name and any other names you may have used in the past, current and past addresses and your date of birth.\nA credit file is not set in stone—it's a living and breathing record that's constantly being updated with the latest information being provided to the bureaus by your lenders and other institutions. When a company such as a lender, insurance provider or potential employer requests to check your credit, the bureau pulls the contents of your credit file that are relevant and disclosable by law to the company, and packages it in an organized document known as a credit report.\nYour credit report does not contain all the data in your credit file—the credit bureaus have your full payment history on record, for instance, but are typically authorized to release only records for the last seven years. Your credit report also cannot be provided to just anyone; there are strict limits on the types of companies that can check your credit and when they are allowed to do so.\nThe companies that supply information to the bureaus are not legally required to, but most do report on the status of accounts to one or all three credit bureaus every month. Experian maintains credit reports for more than 220 million consumers in the U.S. END