Credit reporting

Your credit report shows how many times you’ve applied for credit and which loans you've opened. It outlines your history of making repayments, any defaults, and how much debt you currently have. This is very important information as it tells the new credit provider how you’ve treated those debts, which gives an indication about how you’re likely to treat the new debt.

It includes information that is needed to identify you - your name; birth date; and recent addresses; current or last known employer’s name and driver’s licence number (if you have one).

Your credit report helps us determine your suitability for credit (loan) products, like home loans, personal loans or credit cards. When you apply for a home loan, personal loan or credit card with us we will check your credit report. We will also record your application for credit.

You can access your own credit report using the credit reporting bodies outlined on the CreditSmart website.

In Australia, everyone has the right to one free credit report per year from each of the three main credit reporting bodies. These reports include the information that credit providers see when you apply for a loan or credit, so it’s important to check each report for any errors. 

It's worthwhile getting a copy of your credit report before you apply to borrow money or buy something on credit, if you're eligible to. Checking your own credit report has no impact on your credit report or credit score when viewed by a credit provider.

You can access your credit report from the following organisations:

• Illion - Check Your Credit 
• Experian - Australia Credit Services 
• Equifax

If you want to access your credit report more than once per year you can also choose to pay for an additional one from some of these organisations.

Financial hardship arrangements entered into are required to be reported on. This information will be listed under financial hardship information in your Credit Report. The credit reporting system will now be much clearer and will accurately reflect your credit history.

Financial hardship arrangements help to prevent missed payments from being recorded on your credit report and negatively impacting your credit score during a financial hardship event. This is to protect you while we work together to get you back on your feet.

Financial hardship assistance must be applied for and is subject to assessment and approval.

We use the following Credit Reporting Bodies (CRB's):

Equifax
PO Box 964
North Sydney NSW 2059
Tel: 1300 762 207
Illion
PO Box 7083 
Sydney NSW 2001
Tel: 13 23 33

You may obtain the privacy policies of each of these CRBs dealing with their management of credit-related information, by contacting them via the details above.

Your credit-related information cannot be used by a CRB for direct marketing. However, credit providers can ask CRBs to use your credit reporting information to pre-screen you for direct marketing purposes. You have the right to inform a CRB not to do this using the contact details above.

If you believe on reasonable grounds that you are, or have been or are likely to be, a victim of fraud you can ask the CRB not to use or disclose your credit reporting information for an initial period of 21 days

Your credit score is a summary of your credit report. It’s a number that indicates how healthy your credit report is – generally, the higher the number, the better you’re managing your credit. Your credit score can change as well, and under Comprehensive Credit Reporting (CCR), things like on-time repayments will positively affect your score.

There are a number of ways to find out your credit score, however the score that matters for your next credit application may depend on which reporting body the credit provider uses.

You can find out more about obtaining your credit score on the CreditSmart website.

Find out more about how to improve your credit score

Your information is protected by the Privacy Act 1988 and the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012, and the information we can share is mandated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

We will share comprehensive credit information with other banks and lenders. The 'big four' banks are currently participating, with other financial institutions progressively coming on board.

Find out the credit reporting bodies we use

Credit providers are looking for the following key indicators on your credit report to show that you are a good prospective customer:

• Good payment history – credit providers want to see that you’ve made your payments on time. Don’t worry if you’ve missed the occasional payment by a few days. One of the good things about the credit reporting system is that each payment you do make on time will make you look better to credit providers. If you think you’ve missed (or will miss) more than an occasional payment, it's best to speak to your lender about it.
• Stability – for example, credit providers want to make sure that you haven’t moved house too many times over a short period.
• Not too much credit – this includes credit that you’ve taken out, but also credit that you’ve simply applied for.
• No negative entries – this includes defaults, bankruptcy information and court judgments. These types of things will make it harder for you to get credit (at least until they fall off your credit report in 5-7 years).

Your privacy and the privacy of your information is important to us. Your data will be protected at all times by the Privacy Act, and we’ve recently updated our Privacy Policy to ensure your continued protection.

You can review our Privacy Policy at any time on our website to find out how we collect, share and manage your data, or request a copy by calling us on 1300 228 228.