Glossary of Terms

Commercial Credit:

Commercial credit is credit obtained for business purposes.  This includes credit sought by companies and businesses, as well as company directors, sole traders, partners and business proprietors for commercial purposes.  

Consumer Credit:

Consumer credit is credit obtained wholly and/or predominately for family, domestic, and household purposes. This includes credit cards, mortgages, personal loans etc.

Coverage – Breadth & Depth:

Breadth refers to the proportion of the credit-active population held on a credit bureau.

Depth refers to the amount of information held on each credit file.

Credit-Active Identity:

People who apply for credit using different identity details (such as married and maiden names) will have more than one credit file. Veda Advantage stores these separately and links them via a cross-reference.

Credit Application:

Credit applications are a record that an individual or an organisation has applied for credit.  Applications are held on file for five years from the date of the application.  The information recorded includes:

  • who the application was made to;
  • the date of the application;
  • the amount applied for;
  • the account code (which is a general indication of the nature of credit being sought);
  • a reference number for the application; and
  • the association code e.g.: joint, guarantor, principal or co-borrower with spouse.

Credit File:

Files are kept for people and businesses which have (generally) been credit-active during the past seven years. Details include:

  • when credit was applied for;
  • in whose name it was sought;
  • from what body or institution;
  • the amount sought; and
  • the type and purpose of the credit sought.

It also includes information necessary to identify applicants, as well as information of relevance for credit assessment purposes, such as:

  • personal details (e.g. name, current and previous addresses, sex, date of birth, drivers licence number, employer and occupation details)
  • overdue accounts (defaults) , such as bankruptcy details, court judgments, and details of directorships or proprietorships.

No credit provider is allowed to access a consumer credit file without the specific permission of the applicant/individual. Veda Advantage records and stores information on credit files in strict accordance with all relevant legislation, including the regulations of the Federal Privacy Act 1988 and the NZ Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2004.

Cross-Reference:

A cross-reference on a credit file shows that an individual has more than one file on the Veda Advantage database. This may occur when:

  • an individual changes their name through marriage
  • an individual changes their name through a registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages
  • details are changed in order to obtain credit falsely or as an act of fraud.

Data Quality:

Data quality is defined as data that is ‘fit for purpose’. In effect, this means that high quality data is complete, accurate, current, and facilitates our customers’ business needs.

Default:

A default is an overdue account, which is usually a debt of over $100 that has owed for a minimum of 60 days. Defaults may only be listed once steps have been taken to recover the whole, or any part of the amount. The credit provider must have requested the borrower, either in person or in writing, to pay the outstanding amount. Once the account is paid, or brought up to date the credit provider is obliged by law to amend the credit file to show that the overdue account has been paid. Overdue accounts (default) remain listed on the credit file for five years, unless an investigation proves the overdue account was listed in error.

Matching & Retrieval:

Matching and retrieval are the processes used to find the correct candidate as the result of a credit enquiry. In Australia and New Zealand, this involves comparison of a range of non-unique identifiers.

Public Record Data:

Public record data is data held on a credit file that is readily available to the public at large. This data includes:

  • judgement and writ/summons information obtained from the various courts around Australia (except ACT)
  • Bankruptcy Act information obtained from the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia (ITSA)
  • directorship information obtained from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).