CREDIT WHERE CREDIT'S DUE
...1984 style

Larry Pickering
Four-time Walkley Award winning political commentator and Churchill Fellow, has returned to the fray over concern that the integrity of news dissemination is continually being threatened by a partisan media.

Ominous changes to information held on your credit file will come into effect from the 12th of March this year. Now, this won’t affect me because I don’t use credit cards and nor do hold a driver’s licence.
I have not had an accident nor committed a driving offence in 60 years and I never drink and drive. I simply have a personal objection to the State holding information about me that can be misused. But that’s just me and I don’t advise others to do the same.
What is most concerning about these new credit file laws is that credit providers can issue an “opinion” on whether you genuinely intend to repay a loan... and without your knowledge.
That “opinion”, may be arrived at by a snotty nosed kid who doesn’t like the colour of your eyes and that “opinion” may ruin your life without you knowing why.
Information and an “opinion” about you can, and will, be exchanged between credit providers and banks. There is also no doubt that employers, police, lawyers, partners, media, private eyes and the next door neighbour will be able to access that information without you knowing.
“Oh, we promise we will keep the data to ourselves”, say the credit providers. I say, “What a load of frog droppings!”
Forget Dun & Bradstreet, for less than $1,000 I can find out everything I need to know about you right now, and that’s without these new laws!
So, next time you apply for credit, be nice to the snotty nosed kid taking down your details because his/her “opinion” of your future intentions matters. And if you have a bad credit rating, $1,000 could change his “opinion” of you altogether.
Of course credit providers do explain that this new information they will hold on you should lead to overall lower credit card rates.
Wanna bet?
[A reassuring, feel-safe overview is here... don’t believe it!] http://creditsmart.org.au/what-has-changed#included