B.1 · The card
One entry, drawn as a card
The Privacy Act lists what counts as credit information. Two items on that list make up an enquiry: a statement that an information request was made about you, and the type and amount of credit sought in the application behind it. Typed out, one entry looks something like this.
INFORMATION REQUEST
- Asked by
- A credit provider, mortgage insurer or trade insurer
- Credit type
- Consumer or commercial
- Amount
- As sought in the application
- Made on
- The day of the request
A drawing of the parts the Act names, not any body’s real layout.
Asked by
The Act’s wording covers a request made by a credit provider, a mortgage insurer or a trade insurer. The OAIC’s everyday name for it is a credit enquiry.
Credit type and amount
The type of credit, consumer or commercial, and the amount you asked for are recorded only where they come from an application you made to that credit provider, in connection with which it made the request. When the amount sought is unknown or can’t be specified, the credit reporting code lets the body record that an unspecified amount of consumer credit was sought.
Made on
The date matters because the retention period runs from it: five years, starting on the day the information request was made.
B.2 · Counting
Counting the five years
Example only · made-up dates
Two lenders each request a report for the same person, once on Monday 16 March 2026 and once on Thursday 2 April 2026.
- The first entry’s five years start on Monday 16 March 2026, so its retention period ends in March 2031.
- The second entry’s five years start on Thursday 2 April 2026, so its retention period ends in April 2031.
- Between April 2026 and March 2031, both entries are within their retention periods.
The rule applied: the period of 5 years that starts on the day the information request is made. The OAIC’s retention table gives the same 5 years for a credit enquiry.
B.3 · Who may ask
Who may ask for your report, and on what terms
A credit reporting body may disclose your information only to the entities, and for the purposes, Part IIIA sets out. For the checks most likely around a home loan, the terms differ.
| Who asks | For what | Your consent |
|---|---|---|
| A credit provider | A consumer credit related purpose, such as assessing your application for consumer credit | Not part of the condition; you are notified instead |
| A credit provider | A commercial credit related purpose, such as a business loan application | Express consent, in writing unless the commercial application itself wasn’t made in writing |
| A credit provider | Deciding whether to accept you as a guarantor | Express consent, in writing |
| A mortgage insurer | A mortgage insurance purpose | Not part of the condition |
The OAIC gives the same picture in plain words: a credit provider may use your consumer credit report to assess an application for commercial credit, or to consider you as a guarantor, only where you have consented to that disclosure. Getting credit reporting information from a body without being an entity it may disclose to, or an access seeker, is an offence.
B.4 · How it’s used
What an enquiry is used for later
The lender’s notice has to tell you that a record of the information request may be used and disclosed for a credit reporting body or a credit provider to assess your creditworthiness, including calculating a credit score or rating. Moneysmart lists the number of credit applications you have made among its examples of what a score is calculated from.
The code also requires the notice to explain, in general terms, how the information request may affect a score or rating the body calculates. So a lender’s notice is the place to read, in that lender’s own words, how one more enquiry may affect a score.
