Access to your credit file is governed the Privacy Act 1988 (the Act). This legislation prescribes to whom, and for what purpose, a credit reporting agency can disclose information held in your consumer credit file. The Australian Privacy Principles of the Act governs other types of personal information held by organisations, including Equifax.
In certain circumstances, Equifax can disclose information in your credit information file (consumer credit) to various organisations, such as:

If the entire listing is incorrect, such as an overdue debt that is inadvertently listed on your credit report by a credit provider e.g. the debt is statute barred, Equifax, after investigating your complaint or on the advice of the credit provider, will remove the listing.

In addition, there are certain circumstances when you can request information be deleted from your file, these are:

This all depends on the type of data. Identity information including your name, date of birth, gender, driver’s licence and address history is held for the life of the credit report. For other information on your credit report, here are some of the typical timeframes.

Two years
Repayment history information

Five years
Any credit enquiry
Overdue accounts listed as a payment default
Overdue accounts listed as clearouts
Writs and summons
Court judgments

We’ll create a credit file when we first receive information about you, such as an enquiry made to a credit provider, a business directorship, or default judgement information.

Your consumer credit report can be updated on a monthly basis with account repayment information such as if you have paid a credit card, or other personal credit, on time.  If it has not been paid on time this will also be recorded. Your credit report may also be updated whenever you apply for credit, open or close an account, change your credit limit or agree to act as a guarantor for someone else.

What can be in the consumer-credit section of a credit file?

• Loan enquiries made in the past five years for household, personal or family purposes or to purchase, re-finance or renovate a residential investment property, or where you have gone guarantor for someone else with respect to consumer credit
• Details of any debts including serious credit infringements and debts that are overdue by 60 days or more

The following information can also be included in credit reports:

Your Equifax Score is calculated based on the information held in your credit report at a given point in time. It is a number between 0-1200 and in simple terms, a higher credit score is considered better as it indicates lower risk. Your Equifax Score is dynamic and will change as information is added to and deleted from your credit report.

If you've got a low Equifax Score, your credit applications may only be approved by lenders that charge a much higher interest rate or you may have difficulty gaining access to credit at all.

Your Equifax Score is displayed as a number as well as a percentile range, showing where your Equifax Score sits in relation to other credit-active Australians held in our credit reporting database. Our Equifax Scores (which you’re compared to) are reviewed regularly, and the algorithm adjusted where necessary to account for population and economic changes. To provide you with an understanding of where your score sits compared to others, we use a risk grade:

Ordering a copy of your Equifax credit file, will not negatively impact your Equifax Score. In fact, it may help you improve your score by identifying whether information needs correcting on your credit report or if you’ve been the victim of identity theft. If this is the case, you can contact the credit provider for more information and, if necessary, seek an investigation.

To find out what your Equifax Score is, as well as track it over time sign up to our Equifax Plus or Equifax Basic annual subscription packages.