Everyone is entitled to a free credit file report once per year from Equifax, but when I visited their site they're currently offering all reports at no charge even if you don't meet the eligibility requirements. It normally costs you $6.95 per report otherwise.
I get myself a report at least yearly to ensure details are correct and nothing unusual shows up. If you're still stuck in ISO then you'll have plenty of time to go over it in detail and ask them to make any corrections where necessary.
Credit Savvy provides reporting from Experian whereas this one is for Equifax (nee Veda), the different reporting agencies can have different data so it usually worth checking both.
Wisr will show you both for free.
This has always been the case, all they've done recently is made it more obvious that you can access it for free after the ACCC went after them.
I'd recommend getcreditscore for your Equifax credit score and clearscore for your Experian credit score/report.
The most interesting thing is how different the reporting data is from each agency and what information each of them misses. getcreditscore and Equifax seem to be the worst in my experience
Yeah it is. It's just good to be aware of both as you don't know which bureau the lender/bank will use.
Do we know which lender uses which bureau?
@wildstone: Most lenders have two bureaus on the books - a primary (used most of the time for checking an applicants report) and secondary (in case the primary suffers an outage or is unresponsive). Before you press submit on an application if you check the T&Cs, they normally list the primary credit bureau they use.
They don't 'miss' information.
It is just that lenders will (likely) not look at all three of your credit reports when you make an application.
For example, two of my credit reports have an enquiry that the third report does not have. The third bureau did not 'miss' the information. They were just never looked at by the lender.
Thanks for sharing. I use CreditSavvy for Experian and just signed up to Get Credit Score for the Equifax. It seems Get Credit doesn’t have as many features as Credit Savvy, it just shows a score, where CS show all your credit lines, repayment history and any adverse events.
Also, be aware on what you may unknowingly be signing up for!
You agree to Equifax Pty Ltd, its subsidiaries (Equifax Australia Group) and its corporate partners using and disclosing your personal information to contact you about other goods and services, and for direct marketing purposes, including contact by phone, email, SMS or other electronic means.
Yes, that's a tickbox at the bottom of the form. Leave that one UN-checked or you may be agreeing to a lot of spam.
Didn't these guys have a scandal earlier?
If, by scandal, you mean complete dumpster fire of a privacy leak, followed by cover-ups, and no-one being held accountable, and business as normal, then yes, they had a scandal.
Stay the hell away from them, even for a 'free' service.
My understanding is not that we need to stay away. Companies use them for our credit file so they have everything on us anyway. We have to check our file to make sure that it is accurate or there might be some inaccuracies that might stop us from getting a loan etc.
Happy to be corrected.
You can't "stay away" from credit reference agencies. They'd be pretty useless if you could!
The only thing you can possibly do is not use your credit card to pay for a report as many credit card numbers were compromised in the data breach in 2017.
The attack was ultimately benign because it was done by the Chinese military for the purposes of espionage and not to take advantage of anyone individually.
The attack was ultimately benign because it was done by the Chinese military for the purposes of espionage and not to take advantage of anyone individually.
I wouldn't describe it as completely benign myself. Its not know how many people may or may not have been affected post-breach yet. Everything about the motive is just theory at this point and nobody will ever find out otherwise. At the end of the day, the Chinese could hand this data over to a state sponsored group to use maliciously, or they might now. The bad news is your name, date of birth and certain details about you never expire.
You do realise that you cannot really 'stay away from Equifax'.
They collect your information whether you like it or not.
There is possibility some fine print when you sign up to lending product similar to 'I agree with my info being shared with credit reporting organisations (they may not even specify exactly which one)'.
So you have to agree. Otherwise, you are not going to get approved.
I never got my money back from Veda for lieing about how to increase my credit score
Lying?
Maybe because their couldn't comprehend your spellings?
They?
What a mess haha
was trying to make a point..
Yeah………Nah.
spelling really need to be plural?
Yep, there are three credit check companies, not two
Interesting … im still waiting on my report from Equifax.. but this one came up instantly and shows a default. Whats more interesting is that it would have happened like 3 years ago but it's only showing up as having being listed this year.
Anyone got suggestions on who best to contact / resolve ?
It's with Foxtel of all people … :/
Really so what is the one on Illion’s own website?
How do we ascertain which credit file is the one being used by lenders? i.e. do all banks use Equifax, for example?
Equifax is the pre-dominant provider. As in when you actually apply for credit from a lender, the majority reports to Equifax.
Just curious, does it effect your credit rating if you use these? I recently got rejected for optus ipad plan deal apparently due to my credit rating but I don't really know what may have caused (always payed all my credit cards and bills on time)
No, it doesn't affect your credit rating to request a report for yourself from the credit reporting agency. What does affect your rating is every enquiry that's made about you from a lender you apply with. If you have too many enquiries within a short period (even if you don't sign up with them) some lenders won't extend credit to you. This can be a trap for the types who regularly churn to different credit cards to take advantage of offers, even when they don't use that card.
This is one reason to get a regular report, so you can see how many enquiries have been made. The best reason, though, is it's also a good way to spot identity fraud, because the first thing an identity thief does is try to get as much credit as possible from as many sources as they can with the stolen credentials. So, if your report shows a lender you don't recognise it should raise immediately a red flag.
Does this report give you anything that Credit Savvy doesn't give you?