If you are looking at your credit file and something does not make sense, you are not alone. Australian law sets clear rules for what can be reported, how it is shared, and what must happen when it is wrong.
This guide explains how the system works behind the scenes and where people usually succeed when they challenge credit reporting mistakes, so you can focus your energy on the parts that matter most.
Key takeaways
- Credit information moves from lenders to credit reporting bodies in controlled data feeds, limited to defined categories such as applications, account status, repayment history and serious negatives.
- Lenders must keep information accurate and current before they report it, and they are expected to correct errors once they become aware of them.
- Law sets the boundaries for what can appear on your file; lenders and credit reporting bodies work inside those limits rather than inventing their own rules.
- Repayment history is usually updated monthly, and a payment is normally marked late for reporting purposes only when it is more than 14 days overdue, with hardship arrangements taken into account.
- Credit reporting bodies must protect your data, control who can see it, and respond to access and correction requests within clear timeframes.
- Responsibility for errors is shared: lenders control the content they send, credit reporting bodies control how they store and pass it on, and both are pulled into correction processes.
- Wrongful defaults, mixed‑up identities, and hardship not reflected properly are common dispute areas where consumers often succeed.
- Systemic or repeated failures in reporting can attract investigations, enforceable undertakings and civil penalties, which gives you extra weight when you raise well‑documented complaints.
Introduction
Why credit reporting feels complicated
Most people do not read about credit reporting for interest. They arrive here after a loan rejection, a surprise default, or a sudden score drop. At that point, the system can feel vague and stacked in favour of lenders and bureaus.
Behind that confusion is a structured set of rules that govern what can be reported, when it can be updated, and how disputes must be handled. The rules are not perfect, but they are clear enough that you can use them to question entries, demand evidence, and push for corrections.
Credit law versus reporting rules
Two groups of rules are at work:
- Credit rules
- Cover how credit is given and managed, including responsible lending, hardship rights and contract enforcement.
- Credit reporting rules
- Cover how information about your credit use is collected, stored, shared and corrected, mainly through privacy and credit reporting obligations.
You can have a problem in one area, the other, or both at once. For example, a loan may have been irresponsible at approval, and the default that followed might still fail the reporting rules. Knowing this split helps you target your complaints and talk more clearly to lenders, complaint bodies and regulators.
Who this guide is for
This guide is written for people who want more than simple score tips. It is most useful if you:
- Have a listing you think is wrong or unfair.
- Want to understand who can change your file and how
- Are you thinking about making a formal correction or complaint?
- Want to know where others commonly succeed when they push back?
The focus here is on mechanics, obligations and practical pressure points, not budgeting tips or general financial advice.
How credit information is reported in Australia
From lender records to your credit file
When you open a credit account, your lender records your details in its internal systems. Once you give consent for credit checks, that lender can send certain information to credit reporting bodies such as Equifax, Experian or Illion using standardised data feeds.
In broad terms, this process looks like:
- You apply and consent to checks.
- The lender collects identity and account information.
- The lender sends permitted items to one or more reporting bodies.
- The reporting body links that data to an existing file or creates a new file for you.
Permitted items include things like:
- Identity details
- Credit enquiries
- Account open and close dates
- Limits and some account types
- Repayment history on eligible products
- Defaults and serious credit infringements
- Public record events like bankruptcy and certain court outcomes
Items outside these categories, such as day‑to‑day bank balance details or general spending habits, are not part of standard credit reporting.
Who controls what appears on your credit file
Three layers shape what ends up in your file:
- Law and codes
- Decide what categories of information may be used in the system, and how long they can stay there.
- Lender choices
- Decide what to report within those categories and when to start or stop reporting, subject to their own obligations.
- Reporting body systems
- Decide how to store, match and display the information that arrives from multiple sources.
When you see an entry you do not recognise, it is usually because a lender has chosen to report within a permitted category, and the reporting body has mapped that to your file. Your dispute options then focus on whether the lender’s data is correct, whether the category rules are met, or whether the data was linked to the wrong person.
Legal checks lenders must complete before reporting.
Accuracy and verification before the data is sent.
Lenders are expected to take real steps to avoid sending wrong or misleading information. In practice, that means checking:
- That the customer identity matches the account and contract
- That balances and limits are up to date.
- That account status (open, closed, in arrears) reflects internal records.
- That repayment dates, overdue days and amounts are correct.
Common problems that point to weak checks include:
- Payments are not applied before the data is sent.
- Old closed accounts are still reported as open.
- Accounts are mixed between people with similar names or shared addresses.
These are exactly the types of errors that consumers often manage to get corrected, because they can be tested against statements and internal records.
Reporting standards for updates and negative events
When a lender sends updates, it must work within the standards for:
- Timing
- Updates should occur within a reasonable period, especially for corrections and status changes after hardship agreements or settlements.
- Consistency
- Different credit reporting bodies should hold broadly consistent information about the same account, aside from short delays between feeds.
- Legal triggers for negative listings
- Defaults and serious credit infringements can only be listed when clear conditions are met, including minimum amounts, notice steps and timeframes.
Disputes often succeed when a default is listed too early, without proper notice, for the wrong amount, or while an active hardship arrangement was in place. These are factual questions where lenders can be pushed to provide records.
Repayment history reporting rules explained.
How often do lenders update repayment history?
For eligible consumer credit products, such as many credit cards and personal loans, repayment history can be reported month by month. Each month’s entry shows whether you were up to date or, if not, how late the payment was.
Key points:
- One entry per month per eligible account
- Up to two years of repayment history can normally appear on a file.
- Repayment history sits alongside, but separate from, defaults and public record events.
Where people often get caught out is when they assume only defaults matter. A long run of late marks, even without a default, can make future approvals harder, so it is worth watching this part of your file, not just the obvious black marks.
What must happen before a payment is marked late?
A payment is usually counted as late for reporting when it is more than 14 days after the due date. Before recording that, the lender should:
- Check the contract due date for that instalment.
- Check for any agreed hardship or variation that changes what is required that month.
- Confirm whether a payment has been received but not yet fully processed.
Disputes about repayment history often come down to three issues:
- Hardship was not applied correctly in the system.
- Payments made close to the cut‑off date but processed late.
- Incorrect due dates or amounts used in the reporting file
Where you have bank statements or receipts that contradict the way the month is marked, you are often in a stronger position to have those entries reviewed and, in some cases, corrected.
Obligations of credit reporting bodies
Operational and compliance rules they must follow
Credit reporting bodies are central hubs, not bystanders. Their obligations include:
- Only collecting and using information for credit‑related purposes.
- Taking reasonable steps to keep the file accurate, current and complete before passing it to a lender
- Entering into agreements with lenders that set minimum data quality and correction standards
- Monitoring who accesses reports and looking for unusual or improper use
If a lender confirms an error or a regulator requires a change, the reporting body must correct the file, not only for future requests but across existing stored data.
Privacy obligations specific to credit reports
Because credit data is sensitive, reporting bodies must:
- Give you access to your own credit report.
- Offer clear channels for you to request corrections.
- Publish policies that explain how they handle, store and correct information.
- Limit non‑credit uses, instead of treating your file as a general marketing database.
If a reporting body does not respond to access or correction requests, or uses your data for unrelated promotions, that quickly moves from poor service into breach territory and can be grounds for a complaint.
Responsibility for accuracy and errors
How legal responsibility is divided
When there is a mistake in your file, you do not need to play the blame game before you act. Responsibility is shared:
- Lenders control what they send.
- They are responsible for the truth and completeness of their data, and for fixing their own records when something is wrong.
- Credit reporting bodies control how they hold and distribute it.
- They are responsible for matching, storage, disclosure and correcting their databases when notified of an error.
This means you can start your correction request with either party. The law expects them to coordinate behind the scenes rather than bounce you back and forth.
How shared responsibility works in real disputes
A typical correction path looks like this:
- You contact the lender or the reporting body with a clear description of the error and any supporting documents.
- The recipient checks its records and, if needed, liaises with the other party.
- If an error is accepted, both the lender and any reporting body that holds the data must update their systems.
- You receive a written response, usually within a set time window, explaining what was done or why no change was made.
Where consumers often succeed is when they have:
- Concrete evidence such as statements, letters or emails
- Clear mismatches between that evidence and what appears in the file
- A written record of earlier attempts that were ignored or brushed off
Those ingredients make it harder for either the lender or the reporting body to dismiss the issue lightly.
Correcting, withdrawing, and updating credit information
What should happen when you ask for a correction?
When you request a correction or removal, both the lender and the reporting body must treat it as more than a casual query. Standard steps include:
- Recording your request and acknowledging it
- Assessing whether the entry is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date, irrelevant or misleading
- Correcting or deleting the entry if it fails that test
- Notifying other reporting bodies or parties that hold the same information, where required
- Responding within a reasonable period, often around 30 days, or explaining why more time is needed
If they decide not to change the entry, you are entitled to a reason, not just a one‑line refusal. You can then decide whether to accept that or escalate through a formal complaint pathway.
When information should be withdrawn rather than just marked
Some situations call for full removal, not just an update. Common examples include:
- A default is listed without the required notices.
- A default was listed for the wrong person.
- A serious credit infringement that does not meet the strict legal meaning
In these cases, simply marking an entry as “paid” or “settled” does not fix the core problem, because the listing should not have been there at all. Consumers often succeed when they focus on these legal thresholds rather than arguing only about outcome fairness.
Enforcement, compliance failures, and penalties
What happens when errors are widespread or repeated
Isolated mistakes happen in any system. The law starts to bite when errors are:
- Repeated across many customers
- Linked to poor systems or processes
- Not fixed after they are brought to the lender’s or reporting body’s attention
Regulators can then step in with:
- Investigations into practices and systems
- Requirements for remedial action and reporting
- Public outcomes that signal where the industry has gone wrong
- Civil penalties in more serious or persistent cases
For large firms, the financial and reputational risk of these actions is significant. That is one reason why a well‑documented complaint, especially if it reflects a pattern that other customers also raise, tends to get more serious attention.
How regulators spot and respond to non‑compliance
Regulators track credit reporting conduct through:
- Patterns in consumer complaints
- Reports from industry and advisers
- Targeted reviews of how the credit reporting framework is working
When they see common problems, such as:
- Defaults are listed without a proper process.
- Hardship not reflected in reporting.
- Data used for purposes outside credit assessment
They can push for code changes, formal agreements, or court actions. Your individual complaint does two things: it helps fix your file, and it contributes to that bigger picture about where the system is falling short.
Frequently asked questions
Where do consumers usually have the strongest case to challenge credit reporting?
People often succeed when they can show clear factual errors, such as wrong amounts, payments applied late, mixed‑up identities, or defaults listed without proper notices or minimum timeframes. Cases built on clear documents and timelines tend to be stronger than general claims that a listing feels unfair.
How does information actually move from my lender to a credit reporting body?
Your lender sends batched data files through secure connections to one or more reporting bodies. Those files contain only certain types of credit information, such as applications, account status and repayment history. The reporting body then matches that data with your existing record or creates a new one.
What checks should my lender do before sending information?
Before reporting or updating your data, the lender should check that you are the right person, that balances and statuses are current, and that dates and amounts match internal records. If those checks are weak, errors such as unallocated payments or old accounts can end up in your file.
Who really decides what gets reported about me?
The law decides what types of information are allowed. Within those bounds, lenders decide what they send, and credit reporting bodies decide how they store and display it. No single party has total freedom to invent new categories or uses outside that framework.
How often can my repayment history be updated?
For eligible consumer credit products, repayment history is generally reported once per month for each account. Each entry reflects whether you were up to date that month or, if not, how late you were. Those entries can remain visible for up to two years.
When is a repayment genuinely counted as “late” for reporting?
A payment is normally counted as late for reporting purposes when it is more than 14 days past the due date, taking any agreed hardship or variation into account. If you have proof that you paid within that grace period, or that the due date was different under a variation, you can challenge late marks recorded against that month.
What duties do credit reporting bodies have with my data?
They must hold your information securely, limit who can see it, and use it only for credit‑related purposes. They also have to give you access to your own report, respond to correction requests on time, and update entries when lenders or regulators confirm that something is wrong.
Should I contact the lender or the credit reporting body first about an error?
Either is acceptable. If the entry clearly belongs to a single lender, starting with that lender often makes sense because they control the underlying records. If you are not sure which lender is responsible, or if there are multiple, starting with the reporting body can help clarify the source.
What happens if my correction request is rejected, but I still think I am right?
You can ask for a clearer written explanation, including dates, amounts and contract references. If the response still does not match your records, you can raise a formal complaint through the lender’s or reporting body’s complaints process and then escalate to an external dispute body or the privacy regulator.
Are penalties only for big, deliberate breaches, or do smaller repeated errors matter too?
Both can matter. A single mistake may just need a fix, but a pattern of similar mistakes across many customers, or ongoing failure to correct known issues, can trigger investigations and more serious consequences. That is why even small errors are worth raising, especially if you see signs that others are affected as well.
Conclusion
Credit reporting in Australia is not a free‑for‑all, but a structured system with clear duties for lenders and credit reporting bodies, and defined rights for you. When you understand how information moves, where it often fails, and which disputes tend to succeed, you are in a better position to read your file critically and push back when something does not match reality.
If you are reviewing credit‑related products for your home or daily life and want to make choices that sit well alongside your credit profile, you can check out our products and see what aligns with your situation and goals.
Disclaimer: This article is based on research and our views only and is not legal or financial advice. If you have questions about your own circumstances, please reach out to us.
About the Author
Kuldeep Singh is the Founder of Easy Credit Repair and an Australian Credit Representative (Credit Representative Number 552536). He is a member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA Membership Number 102217). His work focuses on assisting consumers across Australia with credit report disputes, unaffordable lending issues, defaults, and debt-related complaints, helping individuals understand and exercise their rights under Australian credit law.
