A guide to credit reports

Your credit report, plainly

A credit report is a file about how you have handled credit. A credit reporting body builds it from what credit providers tell it, and lenders read it, often with a score worked out from it, when you apply for a loan.

A guide to credit reports and scores in plain words, published by Dotto from the official sources linked on each page. General information, not financial advice.

Specimen cardNo details shown

A drawn dial with five shaded bands and no numbers. Its needle rests on the stop pin below the left end of the scale.
The needle rests on its stop pin. Each credit reporting body uses its own scale, from zero to either 1,000 or 1,200, so this dial carries no numbers.

What the file holds

The law lists the kinds of information a consumer credit report can hold, and a credit reporting body may not handle anything else about your consumer credit. Each line below carries the code we use for it across this guide.

Consumer credit reportPart IIIA, Privacy Act 1988

  1. ID

    Who you are

    Your full name, date of birth and sex, your current or last known address and the 2 before it, your current or last known employer, and your driver’s licence number.

  2. CP

    Credit you hold

    The names of the credit providers that have given you consumer credit, the type of credit, the day it started and (if it has) ended, and its limit.

    Kept 2 years from the end of the credit.

  3. RH

    Repayment history

    Whether each consumer credit payment was made on time or missed.

    Kept 2 years.

  4. FH

    Hardship

    Financial hardship information, recorded against your repayment history when you have a hardship arrangement with a credit provider.

    Kept 1 year.

  5. EQ

    Enquiries

    Each time a credit provider asks for your report because you applied for credit, with the type and amount you asked for.

    Kept 5 years.

  6. DF

    Defaults

    A consumer credit payment of $150 or more that is at least 60 days overdue, and a later statement if you paid it. Also any credit provider’s opinion that you have committed a serious credit infringement.

    Defaults are kept 5 years. A serious credit infringement is kept 7 years.

  7. PR

    Public records

    Court judgments that relate to credit, and certain information from the National Personal Insolvency Index, such as bankruptcy and debt agreements.

    Court judgments are kept 5 years.

  8. SC

    A score

    A number a credit reporting body works out from the information above, as its view of your eligibility for consumer credit.

Your income is not on the list. A credit provider may ask about it when you apply and use it to decide, but it can’t pass it to a credit reporting body for your report.

Six guides

Each one takes a part of the file and explains it from the OAIC’s and Moneysmart’s own pages.

A fan of blank ruled index cards, each with a red line across the top, on a dark timber desk.
Blank index cards, the stock this guide’s file is drawn on. Photo by AnnasPhotography on Pixabay

Three things that cost nothing

How long each entry stays

From the OAIC’s table of what stays on a credit report.

Retention periods
EntryStays for
Repayment history2 years
Current consumer credit2 years from the end of the credit
Financial hardship information1 year
Credit enquiry5 years
Default5 years
Court judgment5 years
Serious credit infringement7 years
BankruptcyThe later of 5 years from the day you became bankrupt, or 2 years from the day you were no longer bankrupt

Debt agreements have their own rule, set out on the OAIC’s page.

Who may see it

A credit reporting body may give your consumer credit report only to certain organisations, and only for certain purposes, such as assessing an application you have made.

Allowed, for set purposes

  • A credit provider
  • A mortgage or trade insurer
  • Another Australian credit reporting body
  • A debt collector working for a credit provider

Not allowed

  • A real estate agent
  • A landlord
  • An employer
  • An insurer other than a mortgage or trade insurer

Your report also keeps a log of who has looked at it, which you can see when you ask for a copy.

About this guide

checkcreditscore.com.au is a guide published by Dotto. Every rule on it comes from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, the regulator people can complain to about credit reporting, or from Moneysmart, and each page links the exact pages it was written from.

It explains how credit reports work in general. For your own situation, the OAIC’s credit reporting pages and Moneysmart’s guide to credit scores and reports are the places to check, and Moneysmart lists free financial counselling if you would like to talk it through with someone.