Your monthly repayment history on credit accounts like loans and credit cards can be recorded on your credit report by a credit provider. If you pay your credit card or loan repayments more than 14 days past the due date this can be recorded on your credit report as part of your repayment history information as a late payment. This repayment history information is recorded on your credit report for a period of two years. While one late repayment, depending upon how late the payment is, is unlikely to significantly impact your credit worthiness, a number of late payments could be an indication you are in financial stress and may negatively impact your credit report.
Equifax has some simple steps to help you keep your credit report healthy:
- Pay your loans and bills on time - Consider setting up direct debits and schedule loan repayments for your pay day.
- Keep track of your credit commitments - Do your homework before applying for credit and keep track of your credit commitments. Making a number of applications within a short space of time will be recorded on your file and is not always looked upon positively by lenders, as it may be an indicator that you're in credit stress.
- If you move house, notify lenders - advise lenders, phone and utility providers of your new address so they can re-direct bills to your new address. If you don't pay these bills, a credit infringement or overdue debt could be listed on your credit report.
- If you are having trouble meeting repayments - talk to your credit provider who may assist.
- Keep track of your credit record - proactively manage your personal credit report by regularly checking your Equifax credit report and Equifax Score. You can even monitor changes through credit alerts. Please note your Equifax Score is available via our other Equifax personal credit and identity monitoring services. Find out more here. You can get also get your free Equifax credit report.
If you believe information on your Equifax credit report is incorrect or inaccurate 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 Equifax corrections process.
Your credit report contains confidential personal information that should not be accessed by anyone else without your permission. In order to help keep this information secure, Equifax has password protected the file.
When you apply for credit either with a phone or utility company or a loan with a bank or finance company, they generally assess both the information on your application as well as information on your credit report against their own lending policies to make a decision on whether they will give you credit.
As part of completing your application, you will have given a lender, phone or utility company permission to view your credit report held by a credit reporting body such as Equifax.
It's important to know that Equifax does not decide who should get credit, however, the information we provide may form part of the lenders' decision making.
The PDF attachment is designed for viewing through your computer. Some mobile devices are not compatible with password protected PDF files. To open your Equifax credit report you may need a PDF reader app which can be downloaded from your app store. The PDF app may provide the ability to open password protected PDF's. There are various apps available depending on mobile operating system. Please visit your app store to determine which app is best for you.