How do I fix a mistake on my credit report?
What the law says when your credit report is wrong, how to get it corrected at no cost, and where to escalate if the lender or bureau refuses.
You can have the mistake corrected, and it costs nothing. Under the Privacy Act 1988 the lender or credit reporting body you ask must investigate, consult anyone else involved and fix the record within 30 days, or write to you with reasons for refusing. If they refuse or go quiet, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority or the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner decides.
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Ajust writes to the business, tracks the deadline and escalates if they don't fix it.
Are you entitled to have the mistake corrected?
Yes. If an entry on your credit report is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, you have a legal right to have it corrected, and nobody can charge you for asking.
The right sits in Part IIIA of the Privacy Act 1988: section 20T covers credit reporting bodies and section 21V covers lenders, which the Act calls credit providers. The Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code 2025 adds the detail. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) regulates both.
Whoever you ask must correct the record within 30 days, or a longer period you agree to in writing.
Two credit reporting bodies hold consumer credit reports in Australia: Equifax and Experian. illion is now part of Experian, so a report from each of the two covers everything. You can ask either a bureau or the lender that supplied the entry. The OAIC calls this "no wrong door": the one you ask must consult the others and cannot send you away.
A free copy of your report is yours every 3 months, within 90 days of being refused credit, and after any correction.
Which mistake you are looking at decides what you argue:
- A default that was never valid. A lender can only list a default if the payment was at least 60 days overdue, the amount was $150 or more, it sent a notice of the overdue payment to your last known address, sent a second notice at least 30 days later warning it would report you, then waited at least 14 days. Miss any step and the listing must come off.
- A debt you paid or a loan you never took out. Wrong amounts, duplicate listings, accounts opened in your name by someone else and loans closed years ago are all correction requests, not arguments.
- A default listed while you were asking for hardship help. A lender cannot list a default while it is deciding a hardship request, or for 14 days after it refuses one.
- A "missed" payment you made within 14 days of the due date. Repayment history only records a payment as missed if it was more than 14 days late.
- Information that is simply too old. Defaults stay 5 years, repayment history 2 years, credit enquiries 5 years and financial hardship information 1 year. Anything older must be removed.
A valid default stays for 5 years. Paying it does not remove it; the entry is marked paid.
Financial hardship information cannot be used to calculate your credit score and drops off after 12 months, so an agreed arrangement should not appear as a string of missed payments.
If you asked your lender for hardship help, check the dates on the listing. A lender cannot list a default while it is deciding a hardship request, or for 14 days after it refuses one, and since 1 July 2022 an agreed arrangement is recorded as financial hardship information, which cannot be used in your credit score and comes off after 12 months. A default or a run of missed payments dated inside a hardship request or arrangement is a correction request in itself; say so, and attach the lender's hardship letter.
What should you do first?
Step 1: Get your report from both bureaus
Order a free copy from Equifax (13 8332) and from Experian (1300 783 684). They hold different data, so an error can appear on one and not the other. Note the exact entry, the lender named against it and the dates.
Step 2: Ask in writing and set a deadline
Write to the lender that supplied the entry, or lodge through the bureau's own channel: Equifax's corrections portal or Experian's correction request page (creditreport@au.experian.com). Attach your evidence: statements showing the payments, the hardship arrangement, a police report for identity fraud, or proof the notices went to the wrong address.
Subject: Correction request under the Privacy Act 1988, account [number or reference]
My credit report from [Equifax/Experian], dated [date], shows [describe the entry: a default of $[amount] listed on [date] / a missed payment in [month] / an account I did not open].
This is incorrect because [reason: the payment was made on [date], see attached statement / I never received the two notices required before a default can be listed / a hardship arrangement was in place from [date]].
Under section 21V of the Privacy Act 1988 (section 20T for a credit reporting body) and the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code, please correct this entry within 30 days of this request and confirm in writing, including that you have notified any other bureau or lender you disclosed it to.
If the entry is not corrected within 30 days, or you refuse, I will lodge a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Step 3: Keep the proof and hold the deadline
Keep the sent email or portal reference, every reply and the report showing the error. If they ask for more than 30 days, agree only in writing and only to a fixed date. The OAIC says 30 days is a maximum, not a target, and that needing to consult another lender or bureau is no excuse for missing it.
Step 4: Check the fix landed
When they confirm the correction, order a fresh report from both bureaus; a correction entitles you to another free copy. If the entry is still there, or the 30 days pass in silence, treat it as a refusal and lodge a complaint.
What if they refuse or ignore you?
A refusal must come in writing, with reasons, and must tell you where to complain. Silence past 30 days counts as a refusal. Then take these in order:
- Formal complaint to the lender or bureau. Head it "complaint". Under the Privacy Act they must acknowledge it within 7 days and decide it within 30 days; if they need longer they must ask you before day 30. No cost.
- The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). Every lender that reports to the credit system must belong to a dispute scheme recognised by the OAIC, and so must the bureaus. Equifax and Experian both name AFCA as theirs, as do banks and other lenders. AFCA decides whether the listing stands, and the member must follow its decision. Lodge at afca.org.au or on 1800 931 678 once the firm has had its 30 days; attach the report and your correction request.
- The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman or your state energy and water ombudsman. If the default came from a phone, internet, electricity, gas or water account, that provider's scheme handles it instead of AFCA. The OAIC's register of recognised schemes lists them all. The correction rights are identical.
- The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). You can complain to the regulator in writing if the scheme outcome is wrong, or instead of using a scheme. Use the OAIC's online form, attach the credit report, and lodge within 12 months of discovering the problem or the OAIC may decline to investigate.
A credit report dispute is a privacy matter, so there is no tribunal or chargeback step; the recognised schemes and the OAIC are where the Privacy Act sends you.
Tell Ajust what happened and we do the heavy lifting for you. Emails, calls, escalations until it's resolved. While you get on with your life.
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What doesn't work
- Paying the default and expecting it to disappear. Payment updates a valid listing to "paid" but it stays for 5 years; only an invalid listing comes off.
- Ringing instead of writing. The 30-day clock and the duty to refuse in writing attach to a request you can prove you made.
- Checking only one bureau. Equifax and Experian hold different data, and a correction at one does not reach the other unless the lender is told to notify both.
- Paying a credit repair firm. They lodge the same correction request and the same complaint you can lodge yourself at no cost, and AFCA will not deal with a paid representative any faster.
- Agreeing to an open-ended extension. Agree in writing to a fixed date or the 30-day deadline stands.
- Going to the OAIC first. The OAIC expects you to complain to the lender or bureau and wait 30 days before it will look at it.
Common questions
Do I have to ask the lender, or can I go straight to Equifax or Experian?
Either. The Privacy Act's no wrong door rule means whichever one you ask must handle the request and consult the other. The OAIC says the lender is usually quickest because it holds the account records, but a request to a bureau is just as binding and runs on the same 30 days.
How long does a correction take?
Up to 30 days from the day you ask, unless you agree in writing to longer. The OAIC says 30 days is a maximum, not a target, and that consulting another lender or bureau is no excuse for missing it. Order a fresh report afterwards to confirm the change went through.
I paid the overdue amount. Does the default come off?
No. A default that was validly listed stays for 5 years and is marked as paid. It only comes off early if it should never have been listed, for example because the amount was under $150, the payment was less than 60 days overdue, or the two notices were not sent to your last known address.
Does a hardship arrangement show up as missed payments?
It should not. Since 1 July 2022 an agreed hardship arrangement is recorded as financial hardship information, kept for 12 months and excluded from your credit score. A lender also cannot list a default while it is deciding your hardship request or for 14 days after refusing it. Ask for a correction if your report says otherwise.
Someone took out credit in my name. Who fixes that?
Ask the lender and both bureaus to correct it and attach a police report or statutory declaration. Experian asks for exactly that with fraud corrections. The same 30-day deadline applies, and both bureaus can place a ban on your file while you sort it out so no new credit is opened in your name.
The default is from a phone or energy bill, not a bank. Does AFCA still apply?
No. Telcos belong to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and energy retailers to the energy and water ombudsman in your state, and both are recognised under the Privacy Act for credit reporting complaints. The correction rights and the 30-day deadline are identical; only the scheme you escalate to changes.
- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Correct your credit report
- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Make a credit reporting complaint
- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Repayment history and defaults
- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Access your credit report
- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, What stays on a credit report?
- Federal Register of Legislation, Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code 2025
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