New data reveals that 13% of Australians are at risk of a credit default in the next year, which could impact on their capacity to get a loan.
Credit reporting agency, Veda ranked the credit scores of one million Australians from zero to 1,200 and found that the national average was “very good” at 760. Although, the credit agency also found that two million Australians are at risk. Financial strain and laziness in paying bills were the two main reasons for dodgy credit scores.
Veda spokeswoman Belinda Diprose said that she would encourage more Aussies to check their credit history and take steps to improve their score before it’s too late.
“It is important that people know they will be able to seek out a greater range of credit offers based on their credit worthiness, with some lenders already preparing to offer this opportunity based on VedaScores. The extra information will enable credit providers to assess risk levels more accurately, which we have seen benefit consumers overseas. Consumers who know they have a poor VedaScore can gain insights to improve their credit rating and become more attractive to credit providers,” she said.
Independent consumer advocate Christopher Zinn told News Ltd that a bad credit rating could follow anyone around, so it is important that everyone takes this seriously.
“The score is nothing to do with your income so you could be a millionaire who is actually very lazy or poorly organised about paying bills or the mortgage on time and you could have bad marks on your credit report. The people at the bottom are not necessarily living hand to mouth, it’s more your history and ability to build up your repayment history to service debt.”
