Australian residents are as mobile as ever, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), but an advocate for accurate credit reporting warns every time your clients move, they run the risk of damaging their credit rating by not tying up loose ends on their accounts.
CEO of MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs, Graham Doessel, says it’s important that consumers have a strategy for making a clean break at each residence to maintain the integrity of their credit rating. “Time and again we have the situation where clients apply for a home loan and are refused because they have “surprise bad credit”, which when we track it back for them, is due to the fallout of accounts sent to their previous address.”
Doesell says there are five things to help ensure your credit rating remains in check when you move house:
- Let your creditors know you will be moving and give them a forwarding address…
- If ending an account with a provider, request a final account….
- Don’t assume your account is finalised until you get it in writing….
- Cancel any direct debits……
- Redirect mail….
Doessel says Australian who have moved and have now been lumbered with surprise bad credit need not put up with it for 5 or 7 years. “If your creditor has an incorrect address for you and they have placed a default or Clear-out on your credit file then you should dispute your credit listing and insist your credit file reads accurately.”
