What is in a credit report? A credit report is a snapshot of your current obligations to creditors. These creditors include credit card companies, mortgage companies, banks, and retail stores. Lenders are permitted by law to check your credit report and review it in order to determine whether or not to grant credit to you. In order to build a credit report all you have to do is establish credit in the form of a bank loan, credit card account, car loan, mortgage, or studen loan. Information on your credit report comes directly from your history with accounts you currently have outstanding loans with. Whether you pay your obligations on time or not, lenders will report that information to the credit bureaus. There are four categories.