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Category: Business, Economics and Finance / Consumer Finance / Consumer Protection

Ever been knocked back for credit? It may not be your fault

Wednesday, 25 May 2016 12:32:16 | Pat McGrath

Credit reporting company, Veda, has been accused of providing incorrect information and not being slow to correct it. (PA)

Australia's biggest credit reporting bureau, Veda Advantage, has been accused of providing incorrect information and refusing to fix errors on consumers' permanent financial records — often with disastrous consequences.

Key points

  • Veda accused of providing incorrect credit details
  • Company holds credit information on 20 million Australians
  • Privacy commissioner receives 500 complaints per year about incorrect details

Although most people have never heard of them, nearly everyone in the country will have dealt with Veda.

The company keeps a detailed file on every Australian who has ever applied for a loan or credit card, or signed up for a utility or phone service.

According to its most recent annual report, that's 20 million people.

Credit reports enable banks and other credit providers to check potential new customers' repayment records.

However, errors and misleading information regularly creep onto consumers' personal credit files.

"I'm extremely concerned about Veda's care as the custodian of this information," said Katherine Lane, principal lawyer at the Financial Rights Legal Centre and chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation.

Ms Lane regularly sees cases of people being denied credit because of incorrect information on their files.

Do you know more about this story? Email 7.30syd@your.abc.net.au

Bad credit rating sent to wrong person: Veda never apologised

Ann Nguyen.jpg Photo: Mistaken identity: Ann Nguyen had difficulty getting a mortgage, because of an error on her credit report

Ann Nguyen had never even heard of Veda until she was refused final approval on a mortgage from ANZ two years ago.

Ms Nguyen had applied for the loan to buy her dream home in Shellharbour, south of Sydney.

But the bank said it could not approve the loan because there was a default judgement for unpaid owners corporation fees on her personal credit record.

"I was shocked," Ms Nguyen told 7.30.

Upon further inspection, she discovered that the debt belonged to a complete stranger.

"My full name is Thi Hong Hanh Nguyen and the person that didn't pay their debt is Thi [H**n] Nguyen," she said.

Even when Ms Nguyen presented Veda with a letter from the creditor confirming the debt was not hers, the agency refused to immediately remove the information.

They said she would have to wait 30 days.

"I said I don't have 30 days because I need my loan to be fully approved so I can get the house," she said.

Luckily, Ms Nguyen was able to negotiate with the property's vendor to wait a month for the full payment.

She says Veda never explained how the incorrect information ended up on her file, and it never apologised.

Privacy commissioner receives 500 complaints a year

Veda, which was bought by the US credit reporting giant Equifax for $2.5 billion earlier this year, declined an interview with 7.30.

In a statement, it said it does not comment on individual cases for legal reasons.

"If there are mistakes on a consumer's credit report Veda has strict timelines to respond," the statement said.

"If consumers are not satisfied with our findings they, can demand a reinvestigation, or external dispute resolution, or go to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to lodge a complaint."

Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim told 7.30 his office received about 500 complaints every year relating to Veda and its competitors, which include Dunn and Bradstreet, Experian and the Tasmanian Collection Service.

"There's an obligation on all credit reporting bodies to ensure that their information is correct," he said.

"So I would be hoping that there are systems in place to make sure, to the greatest extent possible, that the information credit reporting bodies are collecting through credit providers is accurate and up to date.

"Because, if it's not, it can have serious ramifications on people when they go to seek credit for, say, buying a house."

7.30 has spoken to several other consumers who say Veda has refused to remove incorrect information from their records.

Some have taken legal action against the company, while others have taken their complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

A 2013 survey by the office of the information commissioner found that 30 per cent of people who accessed their credit reports discovered errors in them.

AustraliaPlus


 

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