Credit Defaults
Held five years — paid or unpaid
The debt and the listing are two separate things: you can genuinely owe the money and the listing can still be disputable. Paying a default updates its status; it does not remove the listing. Before a default can lawfully be reported, the provider has to have done a series of things properly — and our investigation checks every one of them.
How defaults end up on a file
Most defaults are not about someone refusing to pay. They usually come out of a change in life that nobody planned for, and the listing often arrives months later, at a time you were dealing with everything else.
A relationship breakdown, where a joint account or bill stays in your nameMoving house, when a final bill or letters go to an address you have leftFalling into hardship through job loss, illness, injury or a drop in incomeA dispute with the provider over the service, the charges or a final billAn account you closed that kept on billing, or fees you never agreed toA debt sold on to a collector, then chased and listed by someone newIdentity theft, or an account opened in your name without your knowledge
These are only very limited examples.
What we look at
▶ What We Remove — The Four IssuesHow and when you were notified, and where those notices were sentWhat information was contained within each of those notices sentThe time between the first notice and the second notice sent to youThe time between each notice and when the listing was actually listedThe age of the debt, and whether the amount recorded was the fullaccelerated debt or only the amount you were behind at the timeIf it was the full accelerated debt, what notices were providedHardship provisions, where the listing arose from events beyond your control
These are only very limited examples.
How it is worked: a default can be challenged with the credit reporting body and with the credit provider, and beyond them through the relevant external dispute scheme. Which door, in which order, and on which grounds is the judgement we bring to each file.
Credit defaults explained
Paying does not remove it
The five-year rule
Credit Enquiries
Held five years from the day you applied
Recorded each time you apply for credit. An enquiry is only as good as the process behind it — and that process has rules.
How enquiries build up
Every application leaves a mark, even one you never went ahead with. Lenders see a cluster of recent enquiries as a sign of financial pressure, so they can hurt even when every one of them was innocent.
Shopping around for a car or home loan with several lenders at onceA broker or comparison site lodging more applications than you expectedPhone plans, store cards and buy now pay later sign-ups at the checkoutPre-approvals and applications you started but never went ahead withApplications made in your name by someone else, or after a data breach
These are only very limited examples.
What we look at
What you were told at or before the credit check, and if you were declinedWhether the enquiry was recorded once, correctly, under the right name,the right type of credit, the right amount and the right purposeWhether you are recorded as a guarantor or as the principal borrowerWhether it is listed in the commercial section instead of the consumer oneWhether it belongs on your file at all — enquiries you never made,made in your name after a data breach, or when you could not lawfully apply
These are only very limited examples.
How it is worked: enquiries are taken up with the credit provider first, then the credit reporting bodies, then the external dispute scheme where needed.
Credit enquiries explained
Court Judgements
A genuine judgement can still be set aside
Held five years from the day the judgement is made, paid or unpaid — and a judgement for money you genuinely owed can still come off your file.
How judgements happen
Many people only find out about a judgement when a lender turns them down. A court claim can run its full course without you ever seeing the paperwork.
A claim sent to an old address, so the judgement was made without youA collector suing years later over an old debt you thought was finishedA personal guarantee given for a business that later ran into troubleA phone, utility, finance or trade account debt that ended up in court
These are only very limited examples.
What we look at
How the claim reached you, and whether you had a real chance to respondWhether the judgement was entered when and how it should have been enteredWhat was agreed with the creditor beforehand, and whether it is the kindof judgement that lawfully belongs on a credit file in the first place
These are only very limited examples.
How it is worked: there are court processes that can set a judgement aside, with or without the other side’s agreement. Setting a judgement aside and having it removed from your file are two separate steps, and we handle both.
Court judgements explained
Repayment History
Held two years, month by month
Each monthly payment on a credit account is recorded — on time, or a number of months behind.
How late payments get recorded
A single late month can sit on your file for two years. It is often the result of something administrative rather than a missed bill.
A direct debit that failed after you changed banks or moved your moneyA payment made only slightly late that was still reported as a missed monthA hardship request or payment pause that was not recorded properlyProcessing errors on the lender’s side, or delays during a refinance
These are only very limited examples.
What we look at
Whether the sequence of months recorded against you is even possibleWhether multiple payments were recorded against a single monthWhether an arrangement you had with the lender was reflected as it should beWhether the account is one that is allowed to report repayment history at all
These are only very limited examples.
How it is worked: repayment history is generally corrected rather than deleted, because the account itself stays on your file.
Late payments explained
The Investigation
What sits behind every dispute
Across all listing types our investigation runs several separate instruments and hundreds of structured questions, built on the legislation that governs credit reporting in Australia.
The honest limits
Many of the grounds we run apply even where the information is genuine. We only take a matter on where the investigation identifies a number of potential issues — where the grounds are not there, we tell you.
We are not the credit reporting body. The final decision sits with the provider or the bureau, so no outcome is promised in advance. A removed listing can occasionally be re-listed by a provider, and disputed again.
Our Removals Ledger
What we actually remove
Across our entire trading history, our work has removed more than $300,000,000 in bad credit and more than 45,000 negative items, adding more than 10,000,000 points to our clients’ credit scores.
Lifetime results
10M+
Points added to credit scores
Recent results
Our recent removals, recorded listing by listing, across more than 500 clients.
990+
Credit default removals
650+
Credit enquiry removals
90+
Court judgement removals
How they came off
Through direct correction requests to providers and bureaus, through AFCA and the telecommunications and energy ombudsmen, and through the courts by way of consent orders, rehearings and set-asides.
Creditors we deal with most often
Credit Corp, Panthera Finance, Latitude, PRA Australia, Pioneer Credit, Complete Credit, ANZ, Westpac, Humm, MoneyMe, Zip, Vodafone, Telstra, Optus, Amex, Pepper, Bank of Melbourne, St George, Klarna, Cash Converters, CBA and Toyota Finance, among others.
Recent removals are counted per credit file: a listing removed from Equifax, Experian and illion counts as three removals. All figures are a record of past work, not a prediction. Every case is assessed individually and outcomes vary.
This page is general information about how credit reporting works in Australia, not legal advice about your circumstances.
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