Comprehensive Credit Reporting

Comprehensive Credit Reporting

Recent changes were made to the laws relating to the Australian credit reporting system. Certain credit providers, including Medfin, are now required by law to report to credit reporting bodies the following information:

  • date account opened
  • current limit of account
  • type of credit account
  • date of account closed (if closed)
  • defaults (if any)
  • 24 months account repayment history information, indicating whether you have made your payments on time
  • 12 months financial hardship information (if under an agreed financial hardship arrangement)

If you want to know more details about each of these and how they are recorded on your credit file, visit Credit Smart for more information.

How can I access my credit report?

Credit reporting bodies create and hold credit reports. The credit reporting bodies that we share information with include:

Your credit provider has to tell you who they share your information with. You can find this detail in their privacy policy.

There are a number of ways to find out what is in your credit report. You’ve got the right:

  • to get a free copy of your credit report every 3 months from one of the above credit reporting bodies
  • to get a free copy of your credit report within 90 days of having an application for credit rejected.

How do I get my credit report changed if it is incorrect?

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) states that you’ve got the right to have your credit report corrected if there’s any inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading information, you can take the following steps to have it fixed.

Step 1: internal dispute resolution

Every credit provider and credit reporting body has a free complaint handling process. They are required to deal with your complaint.

If you send a complaint to a credit reporting body, make sure you also send a copy to any relevant creditor. Remember to date, sign and keep a copy of your letter.

If we are your credit provider and you have a complaint or dispute about your credit information, contact us to give us a change to help. If you need us to make a correction our privacy policy explains the process.

If a credit reporting body or credit provider refuses to correct your credit file, they must provide the reasons why and evidence the correctness of the information.

If you’re not happy with the internal dispute resolution process of a credit provider or credit reporting body, you can use external dispute resolution processes including the relevant ombudsman scheme, complaints authority or the Commissioner.

 

Step 2: external dispute resolution 

Credit reporting bodies and credit providers are required to be a members of a free and independent dispute resolution service. Medfin is a member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). You can contact AFCA as follows: