host: stewart pratt is the president and c.e.o. of the consumer industry association here to talk about credit reports. what is a credit report and how sit formulated? guest: credit reports are a summary of how we manage our various loans. so we'll have mortgage loans, your credit cards, if you bought furniture at a retailer, that would be on your credit report. some public record information if you went through a bankruptcy. and if you had accounts that had been submitted to collections, those would be on your credit report as well. and they're updating about 3 billion a month all of this regulated by a federal statute. so that's i gezz the basics. lenders use them, insurance companies use them. host: why do they peart? guest: probably profoundly for all of us. we don't get access to credit without a credit report. they tell our stories. they essentially tell the story of our hard work, our responsible management of our finances. and that's really true for the majority of americans in this country. so if i walk into an auto dealer