You probably think of your credit report in black-and-white terms, either good or bad. But it isn’t quite so simple — it really comes down to who is reviewing your credit report and for what.

The credit report itself is a compilation of facts about how you manage your credit, and for the most part, it is judgment free. It’s up to lenders, insurance companies or others who review your credit reports to evaluate that information and decide what they think, and they usually do that with the help of credit scores. Of course, the information used to calculate your credit score can be found in your credit report, so you don’t really want to evaluate one without checking the other.

How Are Your Credit Reports Compiled?

There’s a misconception that your credit report is a computer file that sits at a credit reporting agency and gets periodically updated. But it doesn’t quite work that way.  When someone requests your report, the credit reporting agency’s computers go to work, compiling information that matches your identifying information with a report that can be scored or provided to the lender, insurance agency or other company that purchased it.

There are three main companies that compile credit reports: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. They typically don’t share information with each other, and the data each one collects and reports may be different as a result. That’s why it’s a good idea to review your reports with each of these agencies so you know where you stand. You can get your credit reports free once a year from AnnualCreditReport.com and access two of your free credit scores with updates every month, here on Credit.com. Checking your scores will not harm them in any way, nor will looking at your reports.

What’s In Your Credit Report?

There are four main categories of information in your credit report: personal information, account information, public record information, and inquiries.

Personal information includes the items used to help identify accounts that are yours when your report is compiled, such as:

• Your current and former names (if you’ve married or divorced and changed your name, for example)
• Your Social Security number
• Current and former addresses

Here, you’ll want to investigate addresses you see that are clearly wrong — in another state, for example — or variations of your name you don’t recognize. They could mean your credit information is getting mixed up with that of someone else, or they could be a sign of identity theft, which can drag down your scores and cause financial trouble. (You can learn more about the dangers of identity theft and how it can hurt your credit scores here.)

Account information, or tradelines, is the meat of your credit report and usually the most detailed section. It may include:

• Credit cards, department store cards, gas company cards
• Vehicle loans or leases; RV and boat loans
• Mortgages and home equity loans
• Consumer finance company accounts
• Credit union credit cards or loans

Each individual account will also list details such as:

• Lender name and account number
• Date the account was opened and closed, if applicable
• Original and current balance
• Monthly payment amount
• Payment history
• Current status (paid as agreed, 30 days late, etc.)

Remember when we said credit reports are compiled when requested? That means your credit report includes the latest information reported by your lenders. If your lender hasn’t reported you paid your balance off yet, for example, the last balance reported will show up. It may take up to 30 days for your current balance to be reported. (And by then, it may have changed again.) Also remember that some accounts, like medical bills, are only likely to show up on your credit reports if they have been turned over to collections. Because reporting accounts is voluntary, you may not see all of your loans on your reports or only appear on some reports and not others.

Public record information includes items that are part of the public record, which means they have been recorded with a court. This section can also contain collection accounts, even though those are not part of the public record. Here’s what you’ll find:

• Civil judgments (criminal information is not reported on standard consumer reports)
• Bankruptcies
• Federal, state and county property and tax liens
• Collection accounts

When checking this information, you’ll want to make sure all dates and balances are correct. Dates are especially important because they determine when these items will come off your credit reports. It’s also important to note that while paying a collection account may be the right thing to do and may help you avoid being sued for a debt, it may not boost your credit scores. If you currently have an account in collections, this guide can help you learn more about how to deal with a debt collector.

Inquiries note when someone has obtained your credit information. There is nothing that indicates whether you were approved or rejected for credit at that time. Some inquiries can affect your credit scores, but not all of them do. Soft inquiries generally aren’t seen by anyone except the consumer and usually won’t affect your credit scores. Here are some examples.

• Consumer inquiries, which indicate you’ve requested your own credit information.
• Promotional inquiries, usually for prescreened credit cards. (You can remove your name from these marketing lists by calling 1-888-5OPT-OUT.)
• Account review inquiries, which are created when lenders request your credit information.
• Employment or insurance-related inquiries
• Mortgage, auto and student loan inquiries within a recent time period (usually 30 or 45 days, depending on the scoring model). Inquiries of these types are usually grouped together.

It’s a good idea to look into inquiries from companies whose names you don’t recognize. While it’s possible they could be from companies you’ve done business with (if they report under a different company name, for example), they could also indicate fraud like identity theft, which we mentioned can bring down your credit scores. You’ll want to dispute any errors you discover as soon as you can to avoid further damage. Not sure where to start? You can learn more about disputing an error on your credit report by reading this primer.

This article has been updated. It was originally published on April 28, 2014.