Lenders use your credit score (or credit rating) to decide whether to give you credit or lend you money. Knowing this can help you negotiate better deals, or understand why a lender rejected you.
Your credit score is based on personal and financial information about you that’s kept in your credit report.
You can access your credit score and credit report for free.
If you want to fix something in your credit report, see credit repair.
Get your credit score and report for free
If you’ve ever applied for credit or a loan, there will be a credit report about you.
You have a right to get a copy of your credit report for free every 3 months. It’s worth getting a copy at least once a year.
Your credit report also includes a credit rating. This is the ‘band’ your credit score sits in (for example, low, fair, good, very good, excellent).
Usually, you can access your report online within a day or two. Or you could have to wait up to 10 days to get your report by email or mail.
Contact these credit reporting agencies for your free credit report:
Since different agencies can hold different information, you may have a credit report with more than one agency.
Some credit reporting agencies may provide your credit score for free — check with them directly.
Alternatively, you can get your credit score for free from an online credit score provider, such as Credit Simple, Finder or Canstar. This usually only takes a few minutes.
Typically, you agree to their privacy policy when you sign up, which lets them use your personal information for marketing. You can opt out of this after you sign up.
Avoid any provider that asks you to pay or give them your credit card details.
How your credit score is calculated
Your credit score is calculated based on what’s in your credit report. For example:
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the amount of money you’ve borrowed
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the number of credit applications you’ve made
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whether you pay on time
Depending on the credit reporting agency, your score will be between zero and either 1,000 or 1,200.
A higher score means the lender will consider you less risky. This could mean getting a better deal and saving money.
A lower score will affect your ability to get a loan or credit. See how to improve your credit score.
What’s in a credit report
As well as personal information — like your name, date of birth, address and driver’s licence number — your credit report will include all of the following information.
To see how a repayment deferral may impact your credit report see The Australian Retail Credit Association’s (ARCA’s) information sheet.
Credit products
For each credit product you’ve held in the last two years:
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type of credit product (such as credit card, store card, home loan, personal loan, business loan)
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credit provider
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credit limit
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opening and closing dates of the account
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joint applicant’s name, if any
Repayment history
For each credit product you’ve held in the last two years:
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repayment amount
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when payments were due
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how often you paid and if you paid by the due date
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missed payments (not made within 14 days of the due date), and if and when you made them
Defaults on utility bills, credit cards and loans
Your service provider may report your non-payment of a debt (called a ‘default’) to a credit reporting agency. They must notify you before they do so.
This may include defaults on your utility and phone bills.
A service provider can report a default if:
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the amount owed is $150 or more, and
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your service provider can’t contact you (called a clearout), and
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60 days or more have passed since the due date, and
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the service provider has asked you to pay the debt either by phone or in writing
A default stays on your credit report for:
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five years
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seven years in the case of a clearout
If you pay the debt, your credit report will still list the default, but it will also show that you’ve paid it.
Credit applications
If you’ve applied for credit before:
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number of applications you’ve made
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total amount of credit you’ve borrowed
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any loans you’ve guaranteed
Bankruptcy and debt agreements
Any bankruptcies or debt agreements, court judgments, or personal insolvency agreements in your name.
Credit report requests
Any requests for your credit report that have been made by credit providers.
Fix mistakes in your credit report
When you get your credit report, check that:
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all the loans and debts listed are yours
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details such as your name and date of birth are correct
If something is wrong or out of date, contact the credit reporting agency and ask them to fix it. This is a free service.
Some companies may try to charge you to get all negative information removed from your credit report. The only thing they can ask the credit reporting agency to remove is wrong information. And you can do that yourself — see credit repair.
Source: moneysmart.gov.au
Reproduced with the permission of ASIC’s MoneySmart Team. This article was originally published at https://moneysmart.gov.au/managing-debt/credit-scores-and-credit-reports
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