AmEx Reporting Consumer Credit Liability and Accessing Credit File Every Month

LFirstWizard on 28/01/2017 - 12:25

Every year I use the free service from Veda to retrieve my credit file and do a quick sanity check for peace of mind.
However, this time when I got my credit file, the section named Consumer Credit liability information (which used to be empty in all my old reports) AmEx had made an entry, in which, the section "credit provided" date is one from two months ago, and the "last updated" date is a date from last month.

Furthermore, in the other section of the credit file, there are five access entries from "AMEX CREDIT DEPARTMENT - Account Management - Credit Access" from the month I joined AmEx until to months ago, dated the last day of each month.

I've had a Commbank Credit card for 5 years, 28Degrees card for 2 years (which I cancelled and replaced with a Bankwest Zero Platinum last year), and an AmEx essentials card for a little more than 6 months. I always pay these accounts in full before the due date to avoid fees and interest and never missed a payment. I've also had many mobiles phones on plan (currently hold one too) and pay them off using direct debit.

I'm wondering why only Amex is doing this and if it would reflect badly on my score. None of the other cards I've had/has ever done anything like this.
Hope anyone there who works in the credit industry can shed some light on this issue.

PS:
According to the Veda website:

'Consumer Credit Liability Information' is displayed when a credit provider with whom you have an existing credit account e.g. a charge card, credit card, mobile phone or loan, notifies Veda. The credit provider must notify Veda when your agreement or contract with them ceases.

Other Access: This is a record of disclosures made by Veda of consumer credit information, commercial credit information or publicly available information that is not recorded elsewhere.
Please note that this information can only be seen by yourself and Veda. Credit providers and others who access your information do not see this information. When you appoint a third party to act on your behalf and obtain a copy of credit information Veda holds on you, this disclosure is recorded under 'Other Access'. Similarly, when Veda accesses your credit information, for example, as part of investigating a dispute, this will be shown here.

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Comments

  • chumlee on 28/01/2017 - 12:52

    What did the terms and conditions state when you applied?

    • FirstWizard on 28/01/2017 - 13:03

      do you mean for the AmEx card ??

      American Express credit approval criteria applies.

      Didn't say anything about doing a credit file access every month.

      • chumlee on 28/01/2017 - 13:05

        You would have checked a box to say you agree to the T&C's. One line doesn't cut it with ASIC it would be very lengthy worded document if you clicked on it

        • FirstWizard on 28/01/2017 - 13:10

          Maybe.

          But I'm sure I'm not the only one with an American Express essentials credit card. Just wondering if anyone else had noticed an issue like this and if it would look bad on one's credit file.

        • bloomer on 28/01/2017 - 23:01

          @FirstWizard: I got my first ever credit report last week and noticed exactly the same thing. An entry for Amex every month for the last 11 months.

        • FirstWizard on 29/01/2017 - 13:31

          @bloomer:

          Sweet, so I am not the only one. Hopefully as @phat-dave mentioned those are "positive credit reports".

  • chickenchipsgravy on 28/01/2017 - 13:46
    +3

    It's mostly only the second tier lenders that are constructively adding to positive credit reporting - Amex/HSBC/Latitude to name a few. The larger (Big 4) are not proactively reporting positive credit information, they add some component and confirm whether an account is active but not necessary adding valuable facility information.

    To answer your question, Amex (or whomever) are only accessing your file for changes that may adversely affect their risk position - ie: known aliases, change of addresses, judgements/defaults, increased credit enquiries - the list goes on. The important part here is they are only accessing your file, not hitting you for another enquiry - this will not adversely affect your ability to borrow, it's actually one of the positive changes with ironically "positive credit reporting".

    • FirstWizard on 28/01/2017 - 13:55

      Thats reassuring :D, Cheers!

      • chickenchipsgravy on 28/01/2017 - 14:04
        +1

        it's also important to note that the likes of Veda aren't designed to aid consumer or make your life easier - they're merely a commercial data collection entity for marketing purposes. They collect literally every piece of information about you and banks/finance companies can buy this info (not specifically names/addresses obviously) but enough to create sizable geographic & demographic marketing campaigns. This is main reason the Big 4 won't contribute to positive credit reporting, they are effectively "Big Data" competitors.

        Banks sell similar data to customers based upon their spend/transactions from credit cards - a great example I saw was with a betting agency. They were able to use the data to determine that males between 22 & 35 typically spent $125 each Friday and the 3 transactions leading to that bet were fast food (think Pizza/take away), alcohol purchases (Think Dan's/1st Choice), convenience store purchases (think Ciggies/Coke/Snacks).

        Based upon the info, where do you think the betting agencies will advertise?

        • FirstWizard on 28/01/2017 - 14:30

          That's actually interesting. And yes, these bodies are not at all designed to make the lives of the consumer easy.

          One other thing I noticed with these bodies is the system they expose to the public to obtain their credit report.
          For example, Experian which is one of the newer bodies wants customers to fill, print, sign, and scan their form which contains all the information, attach 100 points ID and email (or post) it to them. Anyone who knows a little about how email works know that it is a highly unsecure medium to transmit confidential data such as that unless you use encryption, which no one really does currently. Things like this make one question about how actually secure their databases are, or if they are actually using any specialised methods to secure these.

        • chickenchipsgravy on 28/01/2017 - 14:38
          +1

          @FirstWizard:
          Experian and Equifax are the two largest in the world, the latter are the ones who purchased Veda last year. They can't believe how easy it is in Australia make a killing from this form of marketing, they're also in the debt collection business naturally. So many bad debts and folks "skipping" - these reporting agencies know everything about you, they buy these debts for pennies and collect 40-50cents on the dollar, all using your own data against you.

          Aussies… debt junkies… we make it too easy.

  • Mad Max on 26/04/2017 - 09:19

    Is there another way of obtaining the report or at least the details Veda has on you without providing them with a lot more of your personal information (driver licence number, Medicare number, mobile number, current and 2 previous addresses, employment details, etc)?

    • FirstWizard on 26/04/2017 - 21:59

      I don't think so. Those 3rd party sites like credtsavvy, getcreditscore, etc. only needs a subset of the info that Veda requires.

      On the other hand, if your name and DOB was sufficient to get the score, everyone's credit reports may be public knowledge.
      Unfortunately, there's no universal way(that I know of) to definitively verify someones identity online without asking for 100 points ID. Still someone with all your info(e.g. your rental agent :-S ) maybe able to impersonate you online.

      • Mad Max on 27/04/2017 - 18:52

        Still someone with all your info(e.g. your rental agent :-S ) maybe able to impersonate you online.

        And everyone else in the real estate agent office that has access to the "very secure" database maybe able to impersonate you online.

        But then again these days everyone seem to need all your personal details (banks, airlines, reward schemes, gym membership, travel agents, pubs scanning your id, etc). And they all want to store your personal details in their supposedly "safe" online computer systems ready to be hacked.

  • CheapskateQueen on 27/04/2017 - 23:46

    I noticed Amex was doing this to me as well when i got my last report. Thought it was weird cos I've been with them for like 6 years, the card i use most and pay my balance in full every month. Meant to question why but guess it's low on my priority list. They only started doing it relatively recently.

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