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One of the big four has made a free credit check available to all Australians, regardless of who they bank with – a first by an Australian bank.
NAB chief customer experience officer, Rachel Slade, said the initiative is intended to empower consumers to better understand their financial position.
“For many people, logging on to see their credit score can be overwhelming and daunting as they don’t know where to start or what their score means,” Slade said.
“We wanted to remove the fear factor and have created a solution that will not only give Australians access to their score for free, but also provide tailored insights on how to improve it.
“This is all about changing the way we feel about our finances and making checking your credit score something that is positive and empowering.”
NAB has partnered with illion-owned Credit Simple to provide the service which can be accessed at: nab.com.au/credithealth
“No matter who you bank with, you can jump on the secure website today and check your score as often as you want, free of charge and see it change in real time,” Slade said.
“Our hope is this will help Australians no matter their circumstances. From those saving for a home to wanting to borrow for the dream family holiday or just wanting to know where they stand with their finances – this is a gamechanger.”
According to Credit Simple CEO David Scognamiglio, credit scores have become increasingly important following the expansion of Comprehensive Credit Reporting (CCR) this year.
“Until the take-up of CCR, banks could only judge how much to lend based on ‘negative’ credit score – for things like missing a credit card repayment. Being on top of your finances by paying credit cards or car loans on time were never included, but they have been from September,” he explained.
“Australians can be assured that accessing NAB Credit Health won’t negatively impact their credit score, that signing up won’t provide NAB access to their credit information and that all data is protected using industry best practice technology and processes.”
“NAB’s Credit Health Tool will give consumers the power to change this and we congratulate NAB on becoming the first major bank to roll this out nationally - it’s a big deal.”
