Historically, the information that could be shared about you to the New Zealand credit bureaux was limited to how many credit applications you had made, and how many (if any)…
Historically, the information that could be shared about you to the New Zealand credit bureaux was limited to how many credit applications you had made, and how many (if any) defaults you had – this was known as 'negative' credit reporting.
This all changed on the 1st of April 2012, when New Zealand followed Australia’s lead in changing the law to allow for Comprehensive Credit Reporting (CCR), or ‘positive’ credit reporting. This now means that information, such as how well you meet your repayments, can now shared with New Zealand’s Credit Bureaus.
So now, you aren’t simply judged for the bad (e.g. a default) but you can also be rewarded for the good (e.g. paying your bills on time every month). And this isn’t limited to just financial institutions. Utilities and other services (e.g. power companies, telecos, ISPs etc) are all now taking part in CCR.
The benefits of CCR to Harmoney Borrowers is that by making regular, up-to-date repayments you can improve your overall credit score held in New Zealand’s Credit Bureaus. But, the converse is also true. Delinquent repayments can now negatively affect your credit score in much the same out defaults do.
Harmoney was one of the first companies in New Zealand to start using positive credit reporting in our application process – so if you’ve kept a good repayment history with us, and with other providers in NZ, there’s a chance that if you Top Up your loan you could receive a better rate than you have right now.
You can find out more about Comprehensive Credit Reporting here.
Next up in Credit Score Bootcamp:
What your credit score says about you
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