Repayment history
A credit provider can list information about your repayment history on your credit report, including whether you have made payments on time or missed any payments.
The information appears on your credit report as a number (from 0 to 7) showing the age, in months, of your oldest missed payment. This information remains on your credit report for 2 years.
Any financial hardship information about a financial hardship arrangement (which is recorded against your repayment history information) remains on your credit report for one year.
You are considered to have missed a payment if you make the payment more than 14 days after the due date.
A credit provider isn’t required to send you a written notice before listing a missed payment on your credit report.
Defaults
A credit provider can list a default on your credit report if:
- the payment has been overdue for at least 60 days
- the overdue payment is equal to or more than $150
- a notice has been sent to your last known address to let you know about the overdue payment and requesting payment
- a second notice was sent at least 30 days later to let you know that if you don’t make a payment the credit provider intends to disclose the information to a credit reporting body
- the credit provider must wait at least 14 days after issuing the second notice before listing the default.
A credit provider can’t wait more than 3 months after issuing you with the second notice to list the default.
A credit provider is considered to have complied with the notice requirements if they can show that it was sent to your last known address. They may email the notices if that's the usual way they write to you.
If a credit provider mistakenly sent the notices to an old address that was not your last known address then the default listing may not be valid. However, if they sent the notices to an old address because you failed to update your contact details then the credit provider is likely to have met the notice requirements.
If you paid the overdue amount after the credit provider listed the default, the listing remains on your credit report but the credit provider will update it to show the payment was made.
What if you request hardship assistance?
If you make a request for hardship assistance a credit provider isn’t allowed to list a default on your credit report:
- while they are in the process of deciding the hardship request
- until 14 days after they have told you of their decision to refuse your request.
However, the credit provider may list a default if they reasonably believe that you made the hardship request on the same basis as a hardship request you made during the previous 4 months.
If you've entered into a financial hardship arrangement with your credit provider this information is handled differently. For more information, see financial hardship information.
To find out what’s on your credit report, ask for a copy of it.
