When it comes to your credit, it’s important to be proactive and stay informed. Luckily, you can get a free credit report from a number of sources. In this credit repair article, we’ll tell you how to get your free credit report and what to do with the information once you have it. Stay in control of your finances by learning all you can about your credit report and credit score!
What is a credit score?
Whenever you talk to a lender or broker about possibly taking out a loan, they may bring up the term creditworthiness. Creditworthiness is essentially how likely lenders think you are to repay your loans. Even if you don’t ask them, though, you can find out yourself by getting a free credit score report from any of Australia’s three credit reporting agencies.
Not only do lenders rely on these agencies and reports to determine your creditworthiness, but checking your credit score doesn’t affect the score itself. In other words, you can check your credit score absolutely free of charge once every twelve months.
Why are credit scores important?
Although you don’t necessarily need a free credit score every year, it can help to stay informed. Track the yearly impact of financial transactions on your credit rating by getting an annual free report.
Your credit score is a commonly accepted measure of your creditworthiness, so it’s important to keep track of it. The three main credit reporting agencies in Australia are Experian, Equifax and Illion. All compute and rate your credit score differently. They collect information about you from banks and other lenders who comply with the comprehensive credit reporting rules. In short, every time you borrow or repay money to any kind of lender, they update the relevant agency.
How to get a free credit report.
There are three main credit reporting agencies in Australia. These agencies include:
- Equifax
- Illion
- Experian
When you request your free credit report, you’ll need to supply some personal information to these companies. This information can include your name, contact details, and drivers license number. If you don’t have a drivers license, there are other identity documents you can submit. If you have questions about your credit score, you should look at ordering a full credit report. However please be aware that these companies may charge for detailed copies of your credit reports and credit scores.
You can get a free copy of your credit report from these companies by giving them a call or simply visiting their websites.
It’s important to know which transactions will help or hurt your credit score, so you should check your credit report every year. This way, if there are any errors in your file, you can identify and correct them.
