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In Australia, your credit records are not collected and maintained by the Government – instead they are collected by credit reporting companies.

Two of the main credit reporting agencies are Veda Advantage (http://www.mycreditfile.com.au) and Dun and Bradstreet (http://dnb.com.au/). The information that these companies can hold is limited by the Privacy Act (1988) (Commonwealth).

The information in this article is for general advice only. If you have any specific or particular questions you should check the Privacy Act, or make enquiries with the Privacy Commissioner, or your local solicitor.

Access to Records
The Privacy Act limits the provision of the personal information contained in the credit information file. The credit reporting agency must not disclose the personal information unless it is contained in a credit report given to a provider of credit who has requested the report for the purpose of assessing an application for credit.

You can obtain a copy of your own credit record and this service is usually provided to you free of charge.

Type of Information
The Privacy Act sets out the type of information that can be contained in the credit information file. In addition to information that identifies you, this information includes:

• Credit Inquiries. This means that if you have a history of shopping around for credit it may look bad on your record.
• Payment Defaults (in respect to credit), where payment is 60 days overdue and the credit provider has taken steps to recover the amount outstanding.
• Dishonoured Cheques, where the amount is not less than $100.
• Court Judgments against the individual.
• Bankruptcy Orders against the individual.
• Serious Credit Infringements.

Alteration of Information
According to the Privacy Act, the credit reporting agency, or a credit provider in possession of a credit report must take reasonable steps to make sure that the information contained in the credit report or file is accurate, up-to-date, and not misleading.

If you require amendment to your credit file you may submit a request to the particular credit reporting agency. The agency must within 30 days either amend the file or refer the matter to the Privacy Commissioner.

Provision of reports that contains false or misleading information is a criminal offence.

Time Limitation
The Privacy Act also limits the number of years that the credit reporting agency can keep your records. The number of years that the agency can keep your records relate to the type of information that is being kept. For example, the agency can only keep records relating to Payment Defaults for a maximum of five years from when the agency was informed of the overdue payment.

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