Changes to the Privacy Reporting Code
As you may be aware, recent changes to the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2004 mean that certain organisations like banks, finance companies, telecommunications and energy providers and insurers may, from 1 April 2012, report additional information about your credit history to credit reporters, and access such information from credit reporters to assist with determining your creditworthiness.
What this means for you
Up until 1 April 2012, these kinds of organisations have accessed information from creditor reporters about things like the number of credit enquiries you have made, payment defaults, court judgements and insolvency, when assessing your finance application. The new changes mean these organisations can access additional information to assess your creditworthiness, such as:
- The type of credit account(s) you hold (i.e. credit card, home loan etc);
- The amount of credit extended to you (i.e. the limit);
- Your repayment history including whether payments were made on time;
- The status of account (with date the account was opened /closed); and
- Details of the credit provider.
Following receipt of this letter, Finance Now, as a credit provider, may supply this additional information, including information about your repayment history, to credit reporters on a monthly basis, who will use this information to form part of your individual credit report. Your repayment history includes both positive and negative information about your repayments, including details such as whether you have missed any payments on your loan(s) with Finance Now. Finance Now will not supply to credit reporters any repayment history which predates this letter.
Comprehensive information about what these changes mean for consumers can be found at the website of the Privacy Commissioner at www.privacy.org.nz.
Finance Now’s Privacy Act declaration which you have previously entered into has been updated to reflect these recent changes and can be viewed here. This declaration applies to you, and to all customers who have an account with Finance Now, and it forms part of the terms and conditions on which you agree to continue being a customer of Finance Now. This declaration authorises Finance Now to report your repayment history information to, and access such information from, creditor reporters. If you have any questions, please contact us immediately on 0800 40 50 70.