Comprehensive Credit Reporting
Understanding your credit history
Comprehensive Credit Reporting (CCR) is a system where credit providers are required to share customers’ credit histories. It was introduced to help financial institutions to make more informed decisions when assessing credit applications. In effect, CCR helps us to get a more complete and accurate view of a potential customer’s credit history.
How CCR is used
At Hume Bank, we have implemented CCR in our assessment of future loan applications. This not only brings us in line with elevated industry standards, but helps us fulfill our commitment to responsible lending for all our customers.
We use the following information provided by our credit reporting agency when considering loan suitability:
- Late or overdue payments
- Number of credit enquiries
- Defaults
- Date an account was opened or closed
- Type of credit
- Credit limit
- Repayment history information
- Financial hardship information.
How CCR benefits you
Comprehensive Credit Reporting is not just important for financial institutions. It also plays an important role in ensuring that customers like you can access fairer, more detailed, and transparent information about their credit score and credit history. This means you can:
- Know the score used by most lenders in Australia
- Understand the key factors that may be driving their score up or down
- Access information about how they can improve their credit score
- Ensure information used by lenders to assess their credit application is up-to-date and complete.
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Armed with this information, you can not only understand the factors that influence loan suitability, but can also make improvements to your credit score over time. You can access information a Credit Reporting Body (CRB) or Hume Bank holds about you at any time – all you have to do is ask.
Preventing identity fraud
If you think you’ve been a victim of fraud or have transactions you don’t recognise, you should contact us straight away. You can also inform the credit reporting body that you’re a victim of fraud. For more information about this, you can read our Privacy Policy or visit CreditSmart to learn more about CCR.
Give us a call
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we’ll find someone in the team to talk you through.
Frequently asked questions
What is a credit report?
A credit report is a summary of someone’s credit history, personal information and relevant public records created by a credit reporting body and supplied under the Privacy Act to credit providers. Each credit reporting body produces its own version of a credit report which may be used by a credit provider to inform their credit decision and the amount of credit offered. You can view a sample credit report from CreditSmart.
What are credit reporting bodies (CRB)?
Credit reporting bodies are businesses that give credit reports to credit providers to help them decide whether to lend money. Each credit reporting body will have a privacy policy on its website which outlines how your information is used. The three main credit reporting bodies include: Equifax, illion, and Experian.
What is a credit provider (CP)?
Credit providers are organisations or businesses that supply credit, for example:
- Banks
- Building societies
- Finance companies
- Credit unions
Hume Bank is classed as a credit provider.
What is repayment history?
Repayment history information (RHI) is a number listed each month on a credit report that indicates whether someone is up-to-date or late with their repayments. It is an important indicator of someone’s management of their credit accounts.
What is Financial Hardship?
Hardship Assistance might sound like something scary but really it just means helping you get back on top of your finances. This might look like us setting up a payment plan, altering loan repayments or varying a loan to support you in during a tough time.
You might need help with your credit card repayments, personal loan, car loan or home loan.
If you’ve hit a rough patch, or feel like you might soon, give us a call on 1300 004 863 to discuss your options or if you’d prefer, you can also email us on customercare@
humebank .com .au This is a free service. Click here to find out more about how we can help.
What is a credit score?
A credit score is a number that summarises the information held on a credit report and is calculated by that credit reporting body (CRB). Each CRB has its own method for calculating the credit score so you may want to see how they compare by getting a free copy of your credit report from Equifax, illion and Experian. The score is one indicator of how likely you are to pay back the money you owe to a credit provider and demonstrating good credit management with consistent and timely repayments will help improve your credit score.
How do I get a copy of my credit report?
You can contact any of the credit reporting bodies (Equifax, Experian or illion) to ask for a copy of your report. You can get one free copy every 3 months. It is important to know that not every Credit Reporting Body will have information on you, and not everybody will have the same information about you.
What if I find a mistake on my credit report?
If you find a mistake on your credit report, you can ask to have the information removed or changed at no cost. If you think a mistake has been made about a product you have with Hume Bank, please contact us. If you think a mistake has been made by another financial institution, you can contact them directly or contact the credit reporting body where you obtained the report.
How do I improve my credit score?
Take a look at the CreditSmart website for more information and tips to help improve your credit score.
How does Hume Bank use my credit information?
Our Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, share, and protect your information.
Is it legal to share my data?
Yes, it is legal to share your data according to both the Privacy Act and Hume Bank’s Privacy Policy.
Want more information?
To understand more about CCR, you can visit the CreditSmart website.