What is comprehensive credit reporting?

CCR covers a defined set of data fields: the account type (credit card, personal loan, mortgage) and its open and close dates; the credit limit or facility amount and the current balance; the account status (active, closed, settled, defaulted); a monthly repayment history showing whether each payment was on time or late; formal default listings and serious credit infringements; and the identifiers needed to match records to the right person.

A credit card under CCR, for example, will show when it was opened, its limit, its monthly balances and whether each monthly repayment arrived on time. That positive information helps responsible borrowers, because a lender can tell apart two people with similar past defaults but very different repayment habits.

For lenders, richer data means more accurate assessment and faster, more automated decisions. For borrowers, a visible on-time payment history can mean better terms and easier access to credit, and it rewards good habits over time.

There are risks too. More data held by credit reporting bodies means more exposure if there is a breach. A single misreported late payment can lower your score until it is corrected. Short-term arrears matter, because a missed month appears in the repayment history and can affect the offers you receive. And a lender's model can over-weight recent missed payments and under-value a long positive record.

Credit providers (lenders, card issuers and finance companies) report account data to credit reporting bodies, which collect, store and supply it. Supply is mandatory for large authorised deposit-taking institutions under the mandatory comprehensive credit reporting laws, which is why coverage is now close to universal, while other credit providers may take part voluntarily. Permitted recipients, such as accredited lenders, insurers and service providers, use it for creditworthiness checks, identity verification and risk management, and regulators can access data where the law permits.

The Privacy Act and credit reporting rules set what may be reported and how it must be handled: only specified fields for permitted purposes, prescribed notices and consents, reasonable steps to keep data accurate and secure, retention limits, and a right to access and correct your information. The OAIC oversees the privacy obligations, and Moneysmart publishes the consumer guidance on credit reports and scores.

Get a copy of your report from each bureau and check the account details, balances, limits, addresses and repayment history against your own records. To dispute an error, contact the credit provider that reported it first, with your details, the account reference, the item in dispute and supporting documents such as bank statements. If it is not resolved within the provider's timeframe (typically 30 days), escalate to the bureau with the same evidence. A complaint that is still unresolved goes to AFCA, which both credit providers and credit reporting bodies belong to, or to the OAIC for a privacy or correction complaint.

Where a lender and a borrower agree to a hardship arrangement, that is recorded as financial hardship information, a defined field that sits alongside the repayment history. It is held for 12 months, and a credit reporting body must not use it to work out a credit score, though the missed payments recorded before the arrangement remain on the file.