Your credit history is what the banks and other lenders see when you apply for credit or a home loan. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to be able to check your credit report yourself for your own peace of mind. We explain how you can do that.
Your credit report could be the deciding factor that determines whether your loan application is approved or rejected. Having seemingly trivial financial ‘sins’ like a missed bill payment or a maxed-out credit card can either cost you your credit or home loan application.
If you want to check your credit history, you can request a free credit report from one of the reporting agencies once a year. Your report will usually take 10 days to arrive.
We suggest getting into the habit of doing an annual credit report check, as your credit rating may fluctuate during the year when new information is recorded in your credit report.
Your credit report will usually contain the following information:
In Australia, the following credit reporting agencies gather information from credit providers who enlist their services:
It is also possible that your credit report could be with more than one agency.
Different agencies use different scoring systems to work out your credit rating. As an example, Veda Advantage and a number of other agencies use the below ‘VedaScores’ to determine the chances of your loan application being successful:
Having an above average credit rating means banks will see you in a more positive light than other borrowers with a lower credit rating. Hence, you’ll be more likely to secure a loan after you’ve improved your credit track record. To do this, you’ll need to go through the following steps:
While credit reports aim to be as accurate as possible, they can still contain incorrect information, such a settled debt that was still recorded as being outstanding.
Should you find an incorrect listing on your credit report, you can get it changed for free. All you’ll need to do is contact the credit reporting agency and let them know about it.
In addition, we recommend avoiding debt solution companies and agencies who claim they can ‘fix’ your credit report for a certain amount of money.