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Everything you need to understand about Comprehensive Credit Reporting and what it means for you.
Comprehensive Credit Reporting (CCR) has changed the way credit reporting works in Australia. It provides a more complete picture of your credit history that can affect your ability to borrow money or get credit from banks and other lenders.
Like nearly all Australian adults that have credit, you have a credit report and score that play a big part in whether or not you can borrow funds to buy a house, a new car or get approved for a credit card.
In a nutshell, your credit score matters, which is why it’s more important than ever to keep it in good shape.
Your credit report is a bit like a report card for banks and lenders with important information (positive and negative) about your credit history.
If you apply for a loan or any other form of credit (like a credit card), your credit report forms an important part of your application, so it’s super important to keep your credit report in great shape.
There are two parts to your credit report:
1. Your personal details
Your personal details are used to identify you, and include your name, gender, date of birth, address, employer and driver’s licence.
2. Your credit history
Information about how you’ve managed other debts including any loans or credit cards you currently have or have had over the last two years.
It’s the number on your credit report that summarises your credit history with a score. That rating tells a credit provider (a bank or lender) how likely you will be to pay back any money that you borrow from them.
The four main things that go into determining your credit score are:
Credit reporting bodies use different methods to calculate your credit score but it will be a number between zero and 1,000 or zero and 1,200.
The higher your score, the more likely you are to pay back a loan. The lower the score...you get the picture!
If you’ve got a loan or credit facility with us, we report your comprehensive credit information to a credit reporting body like Equifax, Experian and Illion.
What we report on includes information such as:
The information we report on includes positive and negative credit information that’s used by credit reporting agencies to determine your score - which means it’s really important to pay your bills, loan or credit card repayments on time to keep your credit report looking good.
Want to get a better handle on your credit? There are some simple things you can do to make sure you get on top of things and keep your credit report in good shape:
You can request a free copy of your credit report once a year from each credit reporting body. To get a copy, you’ll need to contact the credit bodies directly and provide them with some identification.
Your credit report and score can change over time so it’s a good idea to check them on a regular basis.
