About Credit Files -
What is a credit file?
Sample Report
Does everyone have a credit file?
What is on my credit file?
Who starts my credit file and how?
Should I have a copy of my credit file?
How do I get my credit file?
Once I have a copy of my credit file, is it easy to understand?
Why was I declined credit?
What do I do if there is information on my credit file that needs updating or amending?
Veda’s Dispute Resolution Process

Need Help Understanding Your Credit File? -
How long is the information held in my credit file?
What is my credit rating/score?
What do I do if the information on my credit file is incorrect or needs to be updated?
How long does it take for information on my file to be updated?

Overdue Accounts (Defaults) -
What is an Overdue Account (default)?
What is a clearout?
What does "current" mean?
What happens to the record of an overdue account on my credit file once the account has been brought up to date or paid?
Can I have the record of an overdue account on my credit file removed?

Credit Fraud -
What is credit fraud?
What should I do if someone has used my identity to obtain credit?
Can I protect myself against credit fraud?

About Credit Providers -
Do all credit providers that I make applications to check my file?
Is a credit check related to the amount I want to borrow?
Is the credit provider the only person to add information to my file?
Who can access my credit file?
Can credit providers access my file without my permission?

General Information
Who is Veda Advantage?
Is Veda Advantage the only source of credit file information?
Update your details!
Why is Veda Advantage permitted to hold credit files on people?

What is a credit file?

Please click here to view a pdf version

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Sample Report
Please click here to view a pdf version.

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Does everyone have a credit file?
No. Only people who are, or have been, credit active in the last 7 years will have a credit file.

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What is on my credit file?
Information about you and your credit history including:

• Personal details such as: name: residential address: date of birth: drivers licence number:
• Credit applications and enquiries you have made during the past five years
• Records of some current credit accounts
• Overdue Accounts (Defaults) which may have been listed against your name
• Bankruptcy information,
• Judgments
• Public record information such as Directorships and Proprietorships.

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Who starts my credit file and how?
Your credit file is initiated by the credit provider the first time you apply for credit or information we have obtained from public authorities, eg. Directorships, Proprietorships, Bankruptcy or a default judgment. The credit provider inputs information directly into the Veda Advantage database including your:

• Name
• Sex
• Date of Birth
• Drivers licence number
• Current & previous residential address
• Type of credit applied for
• Amount of credit requested.

Once your initial credit file is set up, subsequent credit providers update your file by adding the relevant credit application details and any change of address information.

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Should I have a copy of my credit file?
Yes, for a number of very good reasons.

• Banks, retailers and credit providers rely on your file when deciding whether to lend you money or not
• Your credit file is about you and your reputation as a borrower. You should know exactly what it contains
• Credit fraud is a growing issue all over the world. If you do not check your file you will not know if someone is using your identity to borrow money – until it is too late.

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How do I get a copy of my credit file?
You can obtain a copy of your file for just $27.00 including GST. This will be posted, faxed or emailed to you leaving our office within one working day, click here to order this now.

You can also take our My Veda Alert Service which includes:

• Your Credit File, which will leave our office within one working day of receiving your membership request.
• Credit Alerts, for 12 months, which is an email notification of any changes to your credit file as soon as they are made.

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Once I have a copy of my credit file, is it easy to understand?
Yes. Click here to view a sample report.

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Why was I declined credit?
The decision to decline your application for credit is made by the credit provider not Veda Advantage. The first step in identifying why you were refused credit is to look at a copy of your credit file.

You may discover:

• you have overdue accounts (defaults) you had forgotten about
• the information on your credit file is incorrect
• someone has been using your identity to obtain credit fraudulently and has defaulted on the payments.

If this is the case, please click on What do I do if the information on my credit file is incorrect or needs to be updated? for advice.

It is also important to understand that a credit provider may decline an application for credit even if overdue accounts, court judgments or bankruptcy information on a file show that they have been paid in full or settled.

Credit providers each have their own lending criteria. They will attach varying degrees of importance to the information provided in the credit file and that which they obtain from you, depending on the amount of risk they wish to take when deciding whether or not to approve credit.

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What do I do if there is information on my credit file that needs updating or amending?

Depending on the entry requiring updating or amending, please refer to the information below. If you are required to advise Veda Advantage of the update or amendment required, it must be in writing. Please forward details to:

Veda Advantage - Investigations

If your Personal Details are not accurate please advise us by completing the Update Details Form and forward along with any supporting documentation to Veda Advantage. If further verification of the supporting documentation is not required, we will amend the entry within 5 working days and forward you a copy of your amended credit file. If verification is required, please allow us 30 days to respond to you. Please note that your address history on your credit file is not a chronological list of addresses you have lived at. Addresses and your Employers name are added to your credit file by a credit provider in conjunction with a credit application you have made with them. Veda Advantage does not add addresses or current employer to credit information files.

If Court Judgement or Writs & Summons information is not up to date on your credit file, please advise us by completing the Update Details Form and forward along with evidence of payment so we can update the entry to reflect "paid in full" or "settled". If a writ or summons was defended, we will remove the entry from the file if we are provided with a copy of the notice stamped by the court. If a court judgement has been set aside, struck out, discontinued or dismissed and we receive documented proof of such, also stamped by the court, we will remove the judgement from the credit file. If further verification of the supporting documentation is not required, we will amend the entry within 5 working days and forward you a copy of your amended credit file. If verification is required, please allow us 30 days to respond to you

If Bankruptcy Act Information is not up to date on your credit file, please advise us by completing the Update Details Form and forward along with supporting documentation. If further verification of the supporting documentation is not required, we will amend the entry within 5 working days and forward you a copy of your amended credit file. If verification is required, please allow us 30 days to respond to you.

If an Overdue Account on your credit file has been paid but has not been updated to reflect it is finalised, then contact the credit provider listed and ask them to contact Veda Advantage to update their entry. Your credit file will be updated within five days of the credit provider notifying us that the account is finalised. If you are unable to make contact with the credit provider, please advise us by completing the Update Details Form and forward along with evidence of payment so we can update the entry. We will verify the information with the credit provider and advise you of the outcome within 30 days along with providing you with a copy of the amended file. Even when an overdue account has been brought up to date, paid in full or settled, it will remain on file. However, its status is updated to current, settled or paid. The fact that an account has become overdue and has since been paid becomes part of your credit history.

If a Credit Application or Credit Enquiry on your credit file is inaccurate, please contact the credit provider listed and ask them to contact Veda Advantage to amend their entry. Your credit file will be updated within five days of the credit provider notifying us of the amendment required.

If public record information such as Directorships or Proprietorships is not up to date please advise us by completing the Update Details Form and forward to Veda Advantage. We will verify the information with the source and advise you of the outcome within 30 days along with providing you with a copy of the amended file.

If you dispute any information on your credit file, you have the right to have a note placed on the file stating your reason for dispute. This note will be made available to all subsequent enquirers who access the disputed listing.

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Veda’s Dispute Resolution Process

VISS actively solicits feedback from customers and acknowledges a customer's right to complain. To assist us in helping you, we ask you to follow a simple three-step process.

Step 1 – If the complaint is in regards to information contacted in your credit file, obtain a copy of your credit file so you can check the accuracy of it. If your complaint is not in regards to your credit file, please contact our Customer Service Centre on 1300 762 207.

Step 2 - Next, follow the directions in "What do I do if there is information on my credit file that needs updating or amending?"

Step 3 - Once you receive a response from Veda Advantage, if the matter hasn’t been resolved to your satisfaction, please contact our Customer Relations Team.

Customer Relations

You may contact Customer Relations by writing to:

Veda Advantage – Customer Relations

A complaint can be lodged with Customer Relations orally or in writing via letter or email. Veda Advantage will acknowledge all complaints received within 5 working days of receipt. Acknowledgement will be in the way of phone call or letter, and you will be provided with the name and contact details of the officer who will investigate your case.

Our aim is to respond to your complaint within 10 working days, however in some instances we ask you to allow us 30 days for our decision. Where is has not been possible to complete the complaints review process within 30 days, we will notify you by phone or in writing of the reasons for the delay and provide an extension target date for resolution.

If you are not happy with the decision Veda Advantage has made about the complaint, then you may choose to take the matter to an External Dispute Resolution (EDR):

Banking & Financial Services Ombudsman (BFSO)

Further details of the BFSO scheme are available at www.bfso.org.au. Their contact details are as follows:

GPO Box 3, Melbourne Victoria 3001

Tel: 1300 78 08 08, Fax: 03 9613 7345

Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC)

Customers may choose to raise a complaint directly with the OPC. Contact details are as follows:

GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

Tel: 1300 363 992, Fax: 02 9284 9666

www.privacy.gov.au

How long does it take for information on my file to be updated?

The amount of time taken to update information on your credit file can vary.

If a credit provider is updating an entry they have placed on your credit file, the maximum delay will be five working days from the time they notify Veda Advantage of the required update. Depending on the method used by the credit provider, the update may be completed much more quickly.

If you need Veda Advantage to update an entry for you, we will need you to notify us in writing. It is a good idea to also provide us with any documentation that may assist us eg proof of payment.

Once we receive your written request, our Public Access team will verify the information you have provided to us and then update your credit file accordingly.

Legislation allows us 30 days in which to complete this process; however most times a response is issued much earlier.

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What is my credit rating/credit score?

Veda Advantage does not hold a score or credit rating on your credit file.

Some credit providers may score or rate an application as part of the process to assess the risk involved in providing credit to you.

This technique involves building a score or credit rating based on the information you provide on the application form and the information held on your credit file.

Information supplied by you on your application form to the credit provider may, on its own OR in conjunction with the information that is held on your credit file determine that you did not meet their lending criteria.

Each credit provider applies their own rating or score to each item of information used in the credit decisioning process, so one credit provider may approve your application whereas another will decline it.

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How long is the information held in my credit file?

• Credit applications and enquiries and overdue accounts are held on your file for five years
• Overdue accounts listed as a payment default are held for five years
• Overdue accounts listed as a Clearout are held for seven years
• Bankruptcy Act Information is held on your file for seven years (prior to January 1998, Bankruptcy Act Information was held for five years)
• Court Judgments are held for five years
• Writs & Summons are held for four years
• Identity information, which includes name, date of birth, sex, drivers license, address history, and linked names (if any) are held for the life of the credit file. This information is used to distinguish the credit file from others held in the database
• Purge dates are calculated on the date the information was added to the file, and are based on the time limits provided in the Privacy Act 1988
• Files are scanned each month and out of date information is automatically purged to ensure the files are accurate.

NB: Even when an overdue account or clearout has been brought up to date or paid in full, it will not be removed from your file.

All payment default listings remain on file for five years from the date of listing. All clearout listings remain on file for seven years. The fact that an account has become overdue, and then been paid becomes part of your credit history.

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What do I do if the information on my credit file is incorrect or needs to be updated?
There are a number of situations that you could wish to rectify:

Overdue Account Details

• If you have an Overdue Account (Default) on your file that has been paid but has not been updated, then contact the credit provider listed and ask the credit provider to contact Veda Advantage. Your file will be updated within five days of the credit provider notifying us that the account is paid
• Should you discover an Overdue Account (Default) on your file which is not yours (you may not recall having an account with that company). Contact the Credit Provider and give them the reference number on your credit file so they can investigate the matter for you. If the credit provider confirms that the account is not yours, they will inform us so that we can remove it from your file.

Overdue Account Disputes

If you have an Overdue Account (Default) that you are currently disputing with the credit provider, complete and return your fully completed File Update Form plus full details of the dispute to our Public Access Team. The entry can then be marked ‘disputed’ until the matter is resolved.

Public Record Information
Your file may contain items on the public record such as:

• Judgement and Writ/Summons information obtained from the various Courts around Australia
• Bankruptcy/Part X/Part IX information obtained from the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia (ITSA) in each state
• Directorship information obtained from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).

Should any of this information be incorrect, your reputation could be at risk.

You should complete and return the File Update Form provided with your credit file, plus proof to support your current situation, to our Public Access Team, who will update your file within 30 days.

Correcting or Updating Identity Information

If there is any information that is incorrect, such as an address or your date of birth, simply complete and return the File Update Form included with your credit file. We will ensure your details are updated.

Correcting Inaccurate Details

If you believe there are inaccurate details on your credit file, please contact the credit provider and give them the reference number on your credit file so they can investigate the matter for you. In addition you should also contact Veda Advantage’s Public Access Team on 1300 762 207.

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What is an Overdue Account (default)?

• An Overdue Account reported as a payment default is a debt of over $100 that is 60 days or more overdue.
• Payment Defaults may only be listed once steps have been taken to recover the whole, or any part of the amount. The credit provider must have requested the borrower, either in person or in writing, at their last known address to pay the outstanding amount
• Once the account is paid, or brought up to date the credit provider is obliged by law to amend the credit file to show that the overdue account has been paid. Payment Defaults remain listed on the credit file for five years, unless an investigation proves the overdue account was listed in error
• Potential credit providers may not look favourably on customers with a history of overdue accounts.

NB: Even when the overdue account has been brought up to date or finalised, it will remain on file. All payment default listings remain on file for five years from the date of listing. The fact that an account has become overdue, and then been paid becomes part of your credit history.

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What is a clearout?
A clearout is defined as a “confirmed missing debtor”.

• A credit provider must have made reasonable efforts to contact the debtor in person or in writing.
• The debt can be reported immediately – in these cases credit providers do not have to wait until payment is 60 days or more overdue before listing the debt on a file.
• These debts remain on file for seven years from the date of listing.

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What does "current" mean?
If you have an overdue repayment that you bring up to date, the credit provider may update the status of listing to “current”. What this means is that although you still have a balance outstanding with them, your payments are now up to date.

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What happens to the record of an overdue account on my credit file once the account has been brought up to date or paid?
Once the account is finalised, or brought up to date the credit provider is obliged by law to amend the credit file to show that the overdue account has been paid. Overdue Accounts recorded as a payment default remain listed on the credit file for five years while Clearout listings remain on the file for seven years.

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Can I have the record of an overdue account on my credit file removed?
An overdue account is only ever removed early from a credit file if it has been listed in error. If you do wish to dispute an entry on your file, please contact the credit provider directly. For information on how Veda Advantage can assist you please click on What do I do if the information on my credit file needs updating or amending? for advice.

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What is credit fraud?
One of the most common forms of credit fraud is committed by ‘stealing’ the identity of another individual. Someone obtains your identity details and uses them to obtain credit for themselves, leaving you with the potential liability for this debt, a damaged credit reputation and the inconvenience of amending your credit file.

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What should I do if someone has used my identity to obtain credit?
Credit fraud is a crime. If you believe that information held on your credit file has been caused by another individual fraudulently using your identity details:

• Obtain a copy of your credit file to confirm someone has used your identity
• Contact the police and report the crime
• Contact the credit providers involved and inform them of the fraudulent activity, otherwise they may hold you responsible for any bad debt incurred.

When dealing with credit providers keep notes of all the conversations you have, including names, contact number and the date you spoke. Also ask questions to ensure you understand the process as each credit provider may have their own processes for handling fraud.

The credit providers will then conduct their own investigations and notify Veda Advantage of the outcome. We can then remove any fraudulent information from your credit file.

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Can I protect myself against credit fraud?
Yes. To reduce the chances of credit fraud happening to you follow these simple rules:

• Know what is on your credit file – click here to order
• Use Veda Advantage’s My Veda Alert to monitor your credit file so that you receive e-mail notification every time a credit application is made using your personal details. Click here to order
• Sign all your new credit cards as soon as you receive them
• Store your cards and personal ID items in a secure place
• Shred any paperwork that contains your personal details or account details before throwing it away
• Contact your financial institution immediately if your cards are lost or stolen
• Keep your PIN (Personal Identification Number) confidential and separate from your card
• Don’t disclose your personal identification information to anyone.

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Do all credit providers that I make applications to check my file?
No. However, most credit providers considering applications for credit or the supply of goods and services where payment is deferred choose to do so to ensure their decision to approve or decline an applicant is sound.

It makes good sense that understanding an applicant’s past credit activities, gives credit providers a better assessment of the potential level of risk involved in approving an application for credit.

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Is a credit check related to the amount I want to borrow?
No. There is no dollar limit that triggers a credit file check. In fact applications for services such as electricity or mobile phones may even appear as zero; because the amount of the applicant’s potential monthly bill is unknown.

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Is the credit provider the only person to add information to my file?
No. Veda Advantage also sources information on public record including:

• Bankruptcy information from Insolvency And Trustee Service Australia (ITSA)
• Writs/summons and judgments from courts around Australia
• Directorship information from the Australian Securities and Investment Commision (ASIC)
• Proprietorship information from State Business Registries.

This information is downloaded directly from the database of the information holder directly into the Veda Advantage database.

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Who can access my credit file?
Under The Privacy Act (federal legislation that governs what information can be held and the length of time it can be held for) credit providers who you have applied to for credit, or goods and services where payment is deferred by a minimum of seven days may access your file.

The Privacy Act also lays down requirements for dispute resolution and the Security of information held. The Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner also audits credit reporting agencies such as Veda Advantage to ensure compliance with the Act.

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Can credit providers access my file without my permission?
No.

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Who is Veda Advantage?
Veda Advantage Information Services and Solutions Ltd is a credit reporting agency, and Australia’s leading provider of credit reporting information. Our activities as a credit reporting agency are regulated by Federal legislation, the Privacy Act 1988. Our operations started in 1968 in Sydney, and until recently we were known as Baycorp Advantage and prior to that as Credit Advantage, Credit Reference Association of Australia, or CRAA. We have over 4000 subscribers including banks, finance companies, retailers, credit unions, building societies, credit/charge card issuers, telecommunication providers and a wide range of manufacturing, wholesale and service organisations.

The foundation of our services is our database, the largest single source of credit information in Australia . Our database contains more than 11 million consumer and 1 million commercial credit files. It includes records on the credit activity of Australian individuals, companies and businesses.

The credit data we hold is continually updated and is very detailed. It includes credit enquiries, default reports and available court judgments, writs and summonses, bankruptcy information, as well as information on the structures, directorships and proprietorships of companies and businesses.

It is our objective to keep our database as accurate and up-to-date as possible so that credit providers can make informed decisions based on reliable information.

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Is Veda Advantage the only source of credit file information?
No, but it is the largest. As such we hold records on over 13.5 million individuals and trading organisations in Australia & New Zealand.

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Why is Veda Advantage permitted to hold credit files on people?
As a credit reporting agency, Veda Advantage is permitted to hold credit information files on individuals. Veda Advantage records information in accordance with the Federal Privacy Act 1988, particularly section 18E. For further information regarding the permitted contents of credit files you may wish to visit www.privacy.gov.au.

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