There are many laws that have been passed in order to monitor and regulate credit reports. One of the Acts that decides who should have access to your report is the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This act has provisions that limit the number of people who can gain access to the report. Your credit report can be scrutinized by people you have done business with, such as lenders, landlords, credit card companies and other business entities. Each of these groups must have a “permissible reason” for viewing your report, and these inquiries are called hard inquiries.