Financial Inclusion: 1.5 million Australians now have a credit history
The move towards including positive credit data in Australian credit reports, on the cards since 2014, is finally in full swing. The latest Equifax State of the Industry statistics for July 2018 show that 7.3 million individuals now have comprehensive credit data (CCR) in their Equifax credit reports. This includes 1.5 million Australians that previously had no credit history at all.
The swift shift into gear to get comprehensive data, which includes two years of repayment history and credit types and available limits, was triggered by the November 2017 announcement that the regime would be mandated.
From 1 July 2018, the Big Four were required to share 50% of their comprehensive credit data to credit bureaus. They would have 90 days to share the required data. According to Equifax’s statistics, 40% of their open accounts now have CCR data loaded.
The numbers also show that Australians with comprehensive data on their credit reports have seen an improvement to their credit scores. For those that have applied for credit in the past three months, individuals have higher credit scores if they have comprehensive credit data included in their reports. This is true whether they applied for car loans, credit cards, mortgages or personal loans. The graph below breaks this down in more detail.
Source: Finder
