Credit Check FAQ
Credit Check FAQ
About credit checks
What is the difference between credit score and credit report?
A credit score is a numerical value which shows your creditworthiness as a single number. The credit score uses information from your credit report and turns it into a number, which is the credit score.
A credit report contains detailed information, including your credit score, personal information, current consumer credit providers, consumer credit enquiries, consumer credit accounts, consumer defaults, consumer serious credit infringements, commercial credit history, public information, personal statements, file access record.
What is a credit report?
A credit report shows your financial behaviour. It includes things like your credit history, the credit accounts you hold and your credit score. Lenders use this information to help them decide whether to give you credit. But they’re not the only ones who can benefit.
You can use your report too. Understanding your report may help you improve your credit score, which could mean access to lower rates of interest.
What comes up in the credit check?
Information on your Experian Credit Report has been provided from credit providers as a result of your application for credit, and publicly available information from government departments or agencies. This may mean Experian doesn’t have your latest residential address or employer listed. This is quite common. It may be the case that you have not applied for credit while residing at your new address or with your new employer, or the information hasn’t been shared with us.
The information in your Experian Credit Report may include:
| Personal information | Consumer credit accounts |
| Consumer credit enquiries | Public information |
| Consumer Serious Credit infringements | Consumer credit history |
| File access record | Consumer defaults |
| Your Experian Credit Score | Personal statements |
Why check your Credit Report?
- Identity theft. Check if someone is using your identity to ask for credit.
- Correct personal information. Check your details are stored correctly (Name, Family Name, Address, Date of Birth).
- Check your debts are stored correctly. Check your debts are listed correctly, They may be wrong or duplicated.
- Apply with confidence. Apply for your loan, or for your next job with confidence of knowing what others will be likely to know about you.
- Denied credit. You have been denied credit. Find out what information is on your credit report.
- Improve your credit reputation. Improve how lenders see your credit score.
Lodging credit checks
How to apply for credit check?
Go to Backy Check website at backycheck.com/background-check-services
- Select the check you want. You can also bundle with other checks you may want, as police check.
- Pay, and you will receive a link. Where you can complete online the request by verifying your identity online, and upload your documets.
- You will then receive your credit check.
What documents do you need to apply for your credit report?
- ONE (1) document from Group A, and
- TWO (2) document from Group B
At least ONE (1) document, from any Group, must be a PHOTOID type.
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
|
|
Why do I need to give you my personal details and document numbers?
We need these details from you to verify your identity and give you the correct credit report information.
Rest assured we take the security of your private details very seriously and have stringent security policies and technologies. We also store all of our data in Australia for added security.
Credit score
How do I check if I have bad credit?
You can check your credit report and credit score through us and keep monitoring it. We use Experian as serice provider. An Experian Credit Score represents its view of how a credit provider may see the information on your Experian Credit Report. Your Experian Credit Score is a number between 0 and 1,000. The higher your score, the healthier your report is.
Your Experian Credit Score can be useful guide. It gives you an idea of how credit providers may view your Experian Credit Report and the information contained in it when assessing your application for credit. Remember, your Experian Credit Report is only a portion of what is considered in assessing your credit application.
Your credit score isn’t set in stone. Therefore, it can goes up or down. It is important to monitor it and know how it is calculated.
| Excellent | 800-1,000 | Indicates an excellent credit score and is well above the average | |
| Very good | 700-799 | Indicates a very good credit score and is above the average | |
| Good | 625-699 | Indicates a good credit score and is in the average | |
| Fair | 550-624 | Indicates a fair credit score | |
| Below average | 0-549 | Indicates a below average credit score and is likely to be considered a poor credit score by credit providers |
How is Credit Score calculated?
We use as service provider Experian. And they calculate their credit score by applying a statistical algorithm that uses past events to predict future behaviour. Each credit bureau uses a slightly different algorithm and does not disclose in detail how this is calculated.
There are however key attributes that are used to generate your credit score such as the type of credit provider who have made enquiries on your report, the type of product you have applied for, your repayment history, the credit limit of each of your credit products and number of credit enquiries, the number of credit enquiries and any negative events.
Learn more on how credit check is calculated on our blog post here.
What could have a negative impact on my credit score?
There are a few things that could have a negative impact on your Experian Credit Score:
- Large number of credit applications in a short space of time
- Open accounts with debt collection agencies
- Short term credit (e.g. pay day lenders)
- Defaults
- Missed payments
- Bankruptcy actions
- Court judgements
What information is not factored into my credit score?
A credit bureau must not include on your credit report any personal information recording your:
- Political, social or religious beliefs or affiliations
- Criminal record
- Medical history or physical handicap
- Race, ethnic origins or national origins
- Sexual preference or practices
- Lifestyle, character or reputation
- Bank balances
- Dependants
Does ordering a credit report affect my credit score?
No. Checking your own Credit Report creates a special kind of enquiry, commonly known as a soft enquiry, which is recorded in the Access Record portion of your credit report. This type of enquiry has no effect on your credit score.
Checking your credit report regurarly it is actually a good way to ensure your information is accurate, and may help detect potential identity theft.
Requesting a credit report or check your credit score is considered a "soft enquiry". Soft enquiries do not affect credit scores and are not visible to potential lenders that may access your credit report.
Requesting a loan or a credit card is considered a "hard enquiry". Hard enquiries do affect credit scores. However, if you make multiple hard enquiries because you are shopping around to borrow a large amount of money, for example to buy a property, this will be considered as one hard enquiry, usually if they are made between 14 and 45 days.
How often does my Credit Score change?
Your score may change, increase or decrease, over time for several reasons including but not limited to:
| New information reported to Experian | This could be additional information from existing financial institutions and or / new financial institutions that begin supplying information to Experian. |
| Old information has dropped off your file | Experian can only hold credit information for prescribed periods of time and once that time is up, the information is automatically removed from your file. |
| The information on your file ages | The age of a piece of information may impact your score. So, you may not see any change to the data on your file but see a shift, a decrease or increase, in your score. |
| Periodically Experian will update the algorithm used to calculate credit scores | As the data reported to credit bureaus changes, we occasionally need to fine tune the algorithm to ensure it continues to be relevant. |
A score may go up or down because of new information, but this is not always the case. For instance, if you already have a very low credit score, a new default may not lower your score any further; similarly, if you already have a very high credit score, continuing to make your payments on time may not always increase your score.
How do I improve my credit score?
The higher your credit score the healthier your credit file. This is because a high score indicates you have a history of managing your credit sensibly and making repayments on time. It pays to proactively manage the health of your credit score.
When you apply for credit, the credit providers will use your credit score to help them decide whether to lend to you. Each credit provider may have a different approach depending on the information they have access to and their lending criteria. The higher your credit score, the better your chances of getting approved for credit so it’s smart to look after it.
Visit our tips section on how to improve your credit score by clicking here.
How long does it take to improve my credit score?
The length of time it takes to improve your credit score depends on a number of things such as the number of missed repayments, how recently this happened and the type of product you missed repayments on. It’s important to note that you won’t see an improvement overnight, it’s something that takes time which is why it’s really important to keep your credit score healthy.