Your credit history will include your:
- full name;
- date of birth;
- driver’s licence;
- gender;
- residential addresses; and
- employment information.
The credit information which may be recorded on your credit history will include:
- credit applications made in the past five years relating to
- Credit cards;
- Personal loans;
- Store credit; and
- loans for the purchase, renovation or re-financing of a residential property;
- details of overdue consumer credit accounts; and
- serious credit infringements
Since March 2014 your credit history may also include “positive” information, including:
- Type of credit account;
- Account open date and close dates;
- Credit limit; and
- Monthly repayment history.
The following public available information may also be captured on your credit file:
- court judgements and court writs;
- directorship details;
- proprietorship details; and
- bankruptcy, debt agreement and personal insolvency information.
It’s a good idea to obtain a copy of your report from time to time so that you are aware of the information has been recorded against your credit history. You can request for an amendment to your credit history if you believe that any of the information is incorrect.
You can obtain a free copy of your credit history in the following circumstances:
- You can request a copy where a credit application was declined. You must apply within 90 days of the date you were declined;
- You can request a copy if you have lodged a correction request and been advised that information on your file has been corrected; and
- You can request a copy once every 12 months.
It’s a good idea to check your credit history every year. As well as affecting your ability to get credit, incorrect listings can alert you to things like identity theft. When you do get a copy of your credit history, some possible problems/errors to check for are:
- Your name or date of birth might be incorrect;
- Your address may need updating;
- A debt might be listed twice or the amount might be wrong;
- You may have missed one repayment on your loan but were never 60 days in default; and
- Someone might have stolen your identity to get credit.
If you don’t agree with what’s in your credit history, you can request to have it changed. Incorrect listings should be changed for free. However, a credit history cannot be changed unless a listing is shown to be inaccurate or out of date.
Follow these steps to change an incorrect listing
- Talk with the credit reporting agency first. They may be able to fix small errors straight away. For others, they will help you through the steps needed to make a change. They may offer to contact credit providers for you.
- Talk with your credit provider. Contact your credit provider and explain why the listing is misleading or incorrect. If they don’t fix the problem, go directly to your credit provider’s independent dispute resolution scheme.
- Listing still incorrect? Contact the Privacy Commissioner. If you still haven’t been able to sort out the problem after going to your provider’s dispute resolution scheme, contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (go to privacy.gov.au).
You can get a copy of your credit history from these agencies:
Veda Advantage – veda.com.au – 1300 762 207
Dun and Bradstreet – dnbcreditreport.com.au – 13 23 33
Tasmanian Collection Service – tascol.com.au – (03) 6213 5555
Experian – experian.com.au – 1300 783 684
If you are looking to apply for any credit, from a credit card to a home loan, your credit history is an important consideration that the lender will take into account in deciding to approve your application. It is important that you regularly check your credit history to ensure it is accurate, if you have not checked your credit history in the last year do so now.