Your credit report holds information relating to your credit history. If you've ever applied for credit or a loan it is likely you will have credit information held by a credit reporting body like Equifax. Credit can come in many forms. Along with credit cards, personal loans and mortgages, credit also includes mobile phone, electricity and gas contracts as well as store and rental finance.
Your credit report can help lenders, phone and utility companies get a clearer picture of your credit worthiness. It helps them understand your current credit commitments and how likely you are to be able to make repayments on future loans.
Getting a copy of your Equifax credit report can help you understand where you stand when it comes to applying for credit. It is important to check your credit report regularly to ensure it is accurate.
Your business credit report includes:
- Details of credit enquiries that have been made on your for commercial credit. Examples of commercial credit
- Details of any overdue commercial credit accounts and other debts
- Public record information like:
- Court judgements and writs
- Directorship details
- Proprietorship details
- Bankruptcy, debt agreement and personal insolvency
- File access information is also included. This outlines who has accessed your credit report. Only credit providers, suppliers and Equifax can access your report, with your permission.
Your Equifax credit report contains information about your history with credit. There are different sections to your credit report:
Identification information
This includes information like your name, date of birth, address history as well as your driver’s licence number and employment history.
Consumer credit information
The consumer credit information section includes:
- Details of credit enquiries that have been made on you when you have made an application for consumer credit. Consumer credit relates to loans for household or family purposes as well as for the purchase, renovation or re-financing of a residential investment property. Obvious types of credit include credit cards and loans like mortgages, personal and car loans as well as credit contracts such as telephone, electricity, gas and internet. Other forms of credit include interest free store finance and store cards.
- Consumer credit liability accounts – this is an account that you currently have open or may have had in the past. It includes the type of account, the open and/or close date as well as the credit limit.
- Monthly repayment history on credit accounts such as mortgages and credit cards. This reflects whether you have paid the minimum amount required on time each month or not. Please note that not all credit providers supply repayment history information to credit reporting bodies like Equifax
- Overdue accounts such as defaults and serious credit infringements
- Public record information like:
- Court judgements
- Directorship details
- Proprietorship details
- Bankruptcy, debt agreement and personal insolvency
Commercial credit information
- Details of credit enquiries that have been made on you for commercial credit. Examples of commercial credit include a mobile phone contract or credit card for business use or a business loan.
- Details of any overdue commercial credit accounts and other debts.
File access information is also included. This outlines who has accessed your credit report. For consumer credit reporting, only credit providers, affected information recipients, access seekers and credit reporting bodies like Equifax can access your report under the requirements of the Privacy Act.
You can view a sample Equifax credit report here.
A default is also referred to as an overdue debt. A consumer payment default is debt equal to or more than $150 and is more than 60 days overdue. For example, if you have a telephone bill of over $150, and it was due more than 60 days ago, it could be listed on your credit report as a payment default by the telco provider.
Before listing a consumer default, the credit provider must take a number of steps such as sending two separate written notices to your last known address requesting payment stating that the debt may be listed with a credit reporting body (like Equifax).
In the case of commercial credit the minimum default amount is $100. Before listing commercial defaults or overdue debts commercial credit providers or their agents must send a notice to your last known address stating their intention to list the default amount with a credit reporting body such as Equifax.
Potential credit providers may look unfavourably on applicants with a history of overdue accounts, so it’s a good idea to avoid defaults getting onto your credit report. To do this, you need to ensure you pay your bills before they become overdue.
Both consumer and commercial payment defaults stay on your credit report for five years, even when you have paid the overdue amount. The status of the default is updated to paid which can be looked upon more favourably by lenders but it will remain as part of your credit history.
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The term serious credit infringement relates to consumer overdue debts where an individual owes a debt to a credit provider but has left or appears to have left their last known address without paying that debt and without providing the credit provider with their new or forwarding address. A serious credit infringement can be listed on a credit report in this case if the individual has not had contact with the credit provider for six months or more despite attempts by the credit provider to contact them.
Consumer serious credit infringements remain on a credit report for seven years from the date they're listed. However, if they have been paid they revert back to a default and will remain on the report for five years. The fact that an amount has become overdue and then been paid becomes part of your credit history.
In the case of commercial credit clearouts, if you can't be contacted and it appears to the credit provider that you have left your last known address and you have not provided the credit provider with a forwarding address, they can immediately list the debt on your report as a clearout, even it hasn't been overdue for 60 days or more. These commercial clearouts will remain on your credit report for seven years regardless of whether they are paid or not.
If you believe information on your credit report is incorrect you can have it investigated by the credit provider or Equifax for free. Search our list of common creditor contacts or you can use the corrections process from Equifax.
If you wish to submit a correction request with Equifax, you will require specific details of the entries you are disputing such as the date the entry was listed on your credit file, account/reference numbers and amounts. Please ensure you have the details of all dispute entries before proceeding with the submission of a correction request. If you do not have a current copy of your Equifax credit report or the specific details of the disputed entries, you may not able to complete the correction request form.