It includes things like your credit rating, the credit products you hold, and your repayment history. Credit providers look at your credit history to decide whether to give you credit or lend you money. Your credit report includes the following information.
Your debt (past and present), including any problems you've experienced repaying that debt. Loans (and loan enquiries) you've taken out for household, personal or family reasons; or to buy, refinance or renovate a property; or as a guarantor for someone. Your credit cards and store cards. Your current credit limit.
Which credit score do lenders actually use? Most lenders use the FICO credit score when assessing your creditworthiness for a loan. According to FICO, 90% of the top lenders use FICO credit scores.
Companies use credit scores to make decisions on whether to offer you a mortgage, credit card, auto loan, and other credit products, as well as for tenant screening and insurance. They are also used to determine the interest rate and credit limit you receive.
Your consumer credit report includes information to identify you such as your name, date of birth, address and employer. It also includes certain information about how you've handled any past or current consumer loans or debts, and your repayment history.
The information that is contained in your credit reports can be categorized into 4-5 groups: 1) Personal Information; 2) Credit History; 3) Credit Inquiries; 4) Public Records; and, sometimes, 5) a Personal Statement. These sections are explained in further detail below.
A hard inquiry, also called a hard pull or hard credit check, requires your consent. It is triggered when you apply for credit, such as a mortgage, credit card, auto loan, student loan or personal loan. It doesn't happen if you are only looking for pre-qualification to decide whether to apply.
There are three main credit reporting organisations in Australia: Equifax, Experian and illion.
As an Australian credit bureau, it allows lenders, credit card providers and financial institutions to check the Experian credit score and Experian credit report to help lenders better understand the credit risk of their borrowers.
There are three major credit reporting agencies that collect your financial information and compile it into a report — TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. Those reports are a key part of your credit score, and it's what banks and creditors pull when you apply for a credit card, loan or other lines of credit.
Typically they're looking to assess whether you're likely to repay what they lend you. It's worth noting that lenders can only look at your credit report if they have a legitimate business reason. Organisations may also access certain aspects of your credit report to confirm your identity to help prevent fraud.
Although ranges vary depending on the credit scoring model, generally credit scores from 580 to 669 are considered fair; 670 to 739 are considered good; 740 to 799 are considered very good; and 800 and up are considered excellent.
The Equifax 2022 Credit scorecard - combining survey data of 1,016 respondents with credit score information for more than two million individuals - found many Australians are establishing more disciplined spending habits. Average Australian's credit score is 846 according to Equifax.
If your credit score lands between 300 and 579, it is considered poor, therefore lenders may see you as a risk. Here's how the FICO credit scoring system ranks credit scores: Poor: 300-579. Fair: 580-669. Good: 670-739.
If your credit report shows scores out of 1,200 then as a rule of thumb a score above 853 is excellent while above 661 is good. If your credit report shows scores out of 1,000, above 690 is excellent and above 540 is good.
Put simply, Experian will be the more accurate of the two, as it is Experian that lenders use to check your credit score when evaluating a credit application. But Clearscore provides a more intuitive dashboard for tracking trends in your credit score and finding out what factors are impacting your score.
Most negative items should automatically fall off your credit reports seven years from the date of your first missed payment, at which point your credit scores may start rising. But if you are otherwise using credit responsibly, your score may rebound to its starting point within three months to six years.
More companies use Experian for credit reporting than use Equifax. This alone does not make Experian better, but it does indicate that any particular debt is more likely to appear on an Experian reports.
The main difference is Experian grades it between 0 – 1000, while Equifax grades the score between 0 – 1200. This means that there is not only a clear 200 point difference between these two bureaus but the “perfect scores” are also different, which is 1000 as reported by Experian and 1200 as reported by Equifax.
Experian gives a more detailed picture of a person's financial history, including payment timeliness and debt utilization. TransUnion offers more insight into a person's job history, whereas Equifax provides more information about mortgage history.
Lenders and other service providers report arrears, missed, late or defaulted payments to the credit reference agencies, which may impact your credit score. This isn't limited to mortgage, credit card, loan, car finance and overdraft payments.
Payment history, debt-to-credit ratio, length of credit history, new credit, and the amount of credit you have all play a role in your credit report and credit score.