I know it has been discussed before but this provided some details I have not heard/seen before and maybe others haven't as well.
Having a read through I can't make my mind up on whether this is going to make it harder for those of us that churn CCs for FF points or not. They are planning on adding things like account open dates, which seems slightly different to the credit application statements that mark our credit report currently. I guess at the moment banks can see those and say oh they might have only taken 1 of those 4 offers, so we can approve this CC for them. Whereas with the new system they can see we have 4 new open CCs in the last 3 months and by some 'government standard' (not sure if this is a thing) be forced to deny our application?
I am not exactly sure what I am talking about, just thinking out loud.
Email from WBC.
Hi Knobbs,
We want to update you on a proposed legislative change that may affect you.
The Australian Government has proposed a change that mandates Comprehensive Credit Reporting (CCR) from 1 July 2018.
Also known as positive credit reporting, the proposed CCR legislation mandates the reporting of positive, as well as negative, credit history - from Australia's largest financial institutions.
What this means for you
Today your credit history includes credit enquiries (applications for consumer credit and credit contracts) and negative information (significantly overdue accounts including defaults and serious credit > infringements, and public record information).
The proposed change means that additional information, including account open dates, credit limits and up to 24 months of repayment history, will be supplied to our three credit reporting bodies for all open > consumer credit accounts.
Protecting your credit history
It's important to know that from April 2018, we’ll record your comprehensive credit information to comply with the changed legislation and report this to the credit reporting bodies from 1 July 2018.
This means it's now as important as ever to pay your bills on time, and if you do, this will appear favourably on your credit report.
Setting up automatic payments, such as Card Autopay, can take the hassle out of remembering to pay your bills on time and help you to keep your payments on track.
You can find out more about CCR at the Australian Retail Credit Association (ARCA) by visiting the CreditSmart website.
https://www.creditsmart.org.au/
If someone is borderline able to pay back 1 credit card, like 70% of Australia who has less than $1000 cash on hand, they certainly shouldn't be getting a third card in as many months.