Mortgage and trade insurers
57.38 Part IIIA contains a number of provisions relating to the disclosure of credit reporting information to mortgage and trade insurers;[35] and the use and disclosure of credit reporting information by mortgage and trade insurers.[36] In particular, under s 18K(1)(d) and (e), a credit reporting agency may disclose personal information contained in a credit information …
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Read moreDebt collection
57.47 Credit providers may use credit reports to assist them in recovering overdue payments.[47] A credit provider, in this context, may include a debt collection agency that has purchased debts from a credit provider, or other assignee.57.48 In addition, a credit provider may disclose certain items of personal information from a credit report to a …
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Read moreDirect marketing
57.63 Direct marketing involves the promotion and sale of goods and services directly to consumers. Credit reporting information is a possible source of personal information from which to generate lists of individuals to whom goods and services may be marketed. 57.64 NPP 2 allows organisations to use personal information for direct marketing with consent or, …
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Read moreIdentifying information
56.13 A credit information file may contain information that is ‘reasonably necessary … to identify the individual’.[6] Under s 18E(3), the Privacy Commissioner has determined that credit information files may contain: an individual’s full name, including any known aliases, sex, and date of birth; a maximum of three addresses consisting of a current or last …
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Read moreInquiry information
56.15 A credit information file may include information about an individual having applied to a credit provider for credit and the amount of credit sought in the application.[9] For the purposes of this Report, this information is referred to as ‘inquiry information’. In addition, the Credit Reporting Code of Conduct states that ‘a general indication …
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Read more‘Negative’ information
56.23 The permitted content of credit information files and credit reports includes a range of ‘negative’ information. Stakeholders raised a number of concerns about permitted content relating to: small overdue payments; dishonoured cheques; bankruptcy and similar information; and serious credit infringements.Small overdue payments56.24 Section 18E(1)(b)(vi) permits the inclusion in credit information files of information about …
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Read moreProhibited content of credit reporting information
56.79 Section 18E(2) provides that certain types of personal information must never be included in an individual’s credit information file. This list is similar to, but differs in some respects from, the general definition of ‘sensitive information’ in s 6(1). 56.80 First, the definition of prohibited content in s 18E(2) includes personal information recording an …
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Read moreDebts of children and young people
56.86 There are concerns about credit reporting information about individuals under the age of 18—especially in relation to the listing of debts by telecommunication companies in relation to mobile telephone contracts.[96]56.87 A ‘protective’ approach is reflected in the common law, where contracts are not binding on a person under the age of 18 unless it …
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Read moreNotification of collection
56.96 The ‘Notification’ principle in the model UPPs provides that, at or before the time an agency or organisation collects personal information about an individual from the individual or from someone other than the individual, it must take such steps, if any, as are reasonable in the circumstances to notify or ensure that the individual …
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Read moreOther aspects of the model
55.183 Stakeholders have raised a number of other matters relevant to a move towards more comprehensive credit reporting. For example, concerns were expressed that, if credit reporting information is to include information about credit accounts that have been closed (as recommended above), regulation needs to include a definition of a ‘closed account’ since there is …
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