Talking to one of my clients, we discussed how people get burned by giving credit to a terrible risk. So it brought up whether there is any way of getting someone's credit score to determine risk.
A credit score is what credit bureaus calculate based on your credit history information. This gives them a feel of how likely the people are to be reasonable risks. One problem is that these scores frequently change over time.
One general rule often stated by credit officers that is misleading is that, on average, women have higher credit scores than men. That is true, but the difference is minimal. In practice, there is no difference.
Without a paid account with a credit bureau, I have no idea how to get this score. As a person who had such an account, I doubt you would find it helpful if you did have it. It's a lot of trouble to use, the number of bad debts is fortunately small, and the costs are more than the value unless you are big. Plus, there are three major credit bureaus in Australia. I have no idea which one is the best, but I know that all the big four banks in Australia tend to check credit reports from all of them. So to do it properly, you need three accounts.
Yet, here is a tip, I can tell you how to get your score for free.
If you go to Equifax, you can download a copy of your credit history once per year for free.
Many people choose to pay for a regular report or alert service but if you want regular reports on your credit score for free, I recommend these people.
* GetCreditScore which uses Equifax data.
* CreditSavvy uses experian data.
* CreditSimple uses illion data.
You will need your Medicare card and a car license or passport to open an account.
The best thing to do is to try all three and see which one works best for you. Some of these will email you regularly with your score if you request it.
See how you go.
