Australian Tips for Resolving Your Bad Credit History

You’ve had a great day at work, there was no traffic on the way home and your girlfriend’s cooked you your favorite meal. Typical, you open the usual array of bills and find something you don’t expect, but isn’t surprising – a whopping $4500 on your credit card which you know you won’t be able to pay off without being late.

How long do bad marks on my credit history last?
For Australians, this will come back to torment you on your credit history for up to seven years. It sounds awful, but the reality is that many people believe that your negative past will remain concrete forever.

Although, they’ll only last up to seven years, the complications for the time being can be more than a bother. Consolidating your debt may not even be possible as financial providers will not accept your application for funding. Bad credit isn’t simply limited to a few repayments incredibly late or unpaid – if you are systematically late on your payments, this can be dashed as a bad mark on your credit history as well.

Is there anyway I can change my credit history?
If you have managed to significantly turn around your debt and financial situation within 5 years, the Insolvency and Trustee Service of Australia may consider clearing your past outstanding debt on your record.

When you register your application, financial providers will have access to analyze your credit reports, which are public for viewing for basically anybody by the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia.

They will be able to see:

• Approval rates of your past credit and loan applications.
• Any serious breach of credit limit and late repayments.
• Your current assets without liability.

If you would like to access your credit history in an online report, you may do so here at 'My Credit File'.

To successfully obtain your report, you’ll need to following:
• Date of birth
• Driver’s license number
• Your signature
• Current and past residential addresses
• Name of your current and past employers

My financial statements don't add up - Have I been the victim of credit card fraud?
If you believe that the amount owing on your statement is false or exaggerated, it is possible you have been the target of identity fraud, which costs the international community in excess of $2 billion a year. If your credit card offers some form of insurance and fraud protection, you may be able to justify the fraudulent expenses.

According to the Australian Payment Clearing Association, credit card fraud increased from 36.9 cents to 44.5 cents for every $1000 spent from 2006 to 2007, which still pales in comparison to the excess of $1:$1000 in the U.K and United States. The main form of fraud was telephone and internet with Eastern European and African countries.

Luckily, credit card fraud is one of your last worries in the land down under as Australia has the lowest relative fraud statistics in comparison to other westernized nations.

However as mentioned, the chance that you have unknowingly been scammed is minimal. It should only be a last resort if all other avenues of justifying your expenses have been exhausted.

My statement is all justified, what are my other options of resolving credit debt?
If after careful analysis your statement’s expenses can all be accounted for, and spending less is not an option, you may need to consider transferring your balance over to a cheaper credit card to suit your spending and lifestyle.

For instance, you may have a ‘no annual fee’ card which is justified by a giant interest rate. Typically, these cards suit only occasional credit card users. Australians in this situation can take advantage of offers such as the Aussie MasterCard and St. George Vertigo Card, which both feature competitively low interest rates and introductory 0% balance transfer rate.

Visit Credit Card Finder, an Australian credit card comparison site to browse the various offers you can considering transferring to.