Site Changes

On 1 November 2010 the Office of the Privacy Commissioner was integrated into the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and a new website established at www.oaic.gov.au.

Note 1: Major changes to the Privacy Act 1988 will come into effect in March 2014. Agencies, businesses and not for profits need to start preparing for these changes. For more information go to our privacy law reform page at www.oaic.gov.au
Note 2: From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date. For new privacy content visit the www.oaic.gov.au website.

Why isn`t an overdue payment removed from my credit file after I`ve paid the default?

Credit

The Privacy Act does not require a credit reporting agency to physically remove from your file information about an overdue payment (a default) when you've paid off the debt, as long as the default was correctly listed in the first place. The agency must however:

if it has been advised by either you or the credit provider concerned that you are no longer in debt - attach a note to your credit file saying that you have paid off the debt
after 5 years since the date on which the debt was reported, remove the debt from your file.

(Note that a credit reporting agency can keep information about you on file for 7 years if it is about a 'serious credit infringement'.)