Your credit score on GetCreditScore is powered by Equifax Australia who has launched a new generation of credit scores. 

The new Equifax Score aims to provide a fairer and more transparent credit score for all consumers.

If your credit score has changed, please don’t be alarmed. This reflects more granular information that is being used in our new generation of credit scores, which can also help you have greater control and improve your score faster.

The introduction of Comprehensive Credit Reporting in 2017 has allowed additional data, including your repayment history, to be displayed in credit scores and reporting. This ensures positive credit behaviours are also considered, alongside negative ones, when calculating your score. 

The new Equifax Score will more effectively use your repayment history to assess your ability to pay back credit. Any arrears or defaults will continue to have a negative impact on your score but adopting positive credit behaviours will have a positive impact on improving your score. Positive credit behaviours include paying your bills on time, avoiding short term unsecured loans, and using larger, more reputable lenders.

Your new credit score gives you access to the key factors that influence your score. This information helps you identify what factors you need to focus on to improve your score. You can find these factors on the dashboard in your GetCreditScore account when you log in.

Here are some general steps to help improve your score: 

• Avoid arrears and defaults as they can have a big impact in decreasing your score. Also ensure that you always pay your minimum repayments due on-time.
• Try to limit the number of short-term unsecured loans you have including Buy Now Pay Later services as this may be an indicator of financial stress.
• It’s ok to have credit cards if you’re paying back debt on time, but if you have too many, it can also appear like you’re undergoing financial stress. It’s best to cancel and close any credit card accounts that are not of use anymore, which can help to improve your credit score, rather than hurt it.
• Also make sure you choose more reputable lenders when seeking credit.

Your credit score on GetCreditScore is powered by Equifax Australia, who has launched a new generation of credit scores. The Equifax Score aims to provide a fairer and more transparent credit score for all consumers. Your new credit score reflects more positive credit behaviours on your part. Positive credit behaviours are among the key factors that can help push your score up.

It’s important to keep on top of your repayments to help improve your score, but there are other factors to consider as well.

Some types of data may be removed much faster from your credit file, which can help get your score back up sooner, however others may take a lot longer. This can influence the length of time it takes for your score to be updated based on the financial improvements you make. For example, making your repayments on time will help to increase your score much faster, as repayment history information is only stored on your credit file for up to 2 years. But credit enquiries and defaults remain on your credit file for a period of 5 years, so it’s important to allow time for this data to be removed once it expires from your credit file and for your score to increase.

Other factors to consider and help improve your score overtime include: 

• Avoiding short term unsecured loans such as Buy Now Pay Later services.
• Cancelling and closing any open accounts that you do not use anymore, such as credit cards. 
• Trying to only get credit from large reputable lenders and avoiding smaller lenders and non-banks if possible.

Equifax Australia has launched a new generation of credit scores to drive a new industry standard for fairer, more transparent credit reporting for consumers, so you can better manage your financial wellbeing.

Equifax has made it easier to understand what key factors drive your credit score and how you can improve it. This gives you greater ability to manage your financial wellbeing, as you can easily see the relationship between positive credit behaviours and better financial outcomes.

Your credit score is only ONE element lenders may use to assess your credit application. Depending on the lender and type of loan you apply for, your income, repayment history, assets, spending habits and debts will all be taken into account. Whilst it is important to maintain a healthy credit score and credit history, such other factors will also be considered by lenders when assessing your creditworthiness.

Open credit accounts and repayment history information are some key factors that can have an impact on the outcome of your score. But if you do not have any new accounts listed on your credit file, then previous credit enquiries might be a major or even the biggest factor impacting your score. The types of credit applications you have applied for in the past, the lenders that you have applied to, and the pattern of your credit applications could also determine your worthiness for credit.

You cannot challenge your current score, as it is based on a robust statistical model built on hundreds and thousands of credit files containing application histories, any defaulted loans, as well as current loan(s) and repayment history information. 

Instead, we recommend ensuring that the data on your credit file is up-to-date and that you understand the key factors influencing your score. For example, if you’ve missed payments, make your repayments on time in the future, pay off any outstanding debt, and immerse yourself in becoming more financially literate, so that you can increase your chances of being approved for credit in the future.

There are several factors that can influence your Equifax Score, for example:

• The number and type of credit applications you have made in the last 5 years.
• The types of credit accounts you hold in Australia with different lenders, the open date, type of facility, credit limit, whether it is secured, term of the loan and so forth.
• Repayment History Information - determines whether the account has overdue payments each month for up to 24 months.
• Adverse Events - are any payment defaults or disqualified directorships that you may have.
• Credit Report Age - refers to the length of time that you have had a credit file for. Other information such as company directorships, address changes and employer changes can also influence your score.
• Geo-demographic Data - your score may also be influenced by the area you live in. This type of data will be used only where there is little or no credit data available.