17.08.2010
52.20 At present, there are three main credit reporting agencies operating in the Australian market. These are—in order of market share—Veda Advantage, Dun and Bradstreet and the Tasmanian Collection Service.
52.21 The major consumer credit reporting agency is Veda Advantage (previously named Baycorp Advantage), which states that it maintains credit worthiness related data on more than 11 million individuals in Australia and New Zealand.[13] It has over 5,000 subscribers from a wide range of industries, including banking, finance telecommunications, retail, utilities, trade credit, government, credit unions and mortgage lenders.[14]
52.22 Veda Advantage’s Australian credit reporting business commenced in 1968 as the Credit Reference Association of Australia (CRAA), which was established by the finance industry.[15] As discussed below, the CRAA played a central role in developments leading to the enactment of the credit reporting provisions of the Privacy Act.[16]
[13] Veda Advantage, Frequently Asked Questions—Who is Veda Advantage? (2007) <www.mycreditfile.
com.au> at 11April 2008.
[14] Veda Advantage, Submission PR 163, 31 January 2007.
[15] Veda Advantage, Frequently Asked Questions—Who is Veda Advantage? (2007) <www.mycreditfile.
com.au> at 11April 2008.
[16] The following background to the enactment of the Privacy Act credit reporting provisions is drawn primarily from an article prepared by Roger Clarke, then chair of the Economic, Legal and Social Implications Committee of the Australian Computer Society: R Clarke, Consumer Credit Reporting and Information Privacy Regulation (1989) Australian Computer Society; and from annual reports of the New South Wales Privacy Committee: New South Wales Government Privacy Committee, Annual Report 1984 (1984); New South Wales Government Privacy Committee, Annual Report (1989).