How to check your credit report for free before you borrow

Looking at your own credit report before you ask for finance is like reading the menu before you order. It takes a few minutes, it’s free, and it stops you being surprised at the counter.

Where do I get my credit report?

Credit reports are held by credit reporting bodies. Moneysmart names the two main ones as Equifax and Experian. Each keeps its own file on you, built from the credit providers that report to it.

To get your report:

1. Go to each bureau’s website and look for the free credit report option. Some pages push paid monitoring products first; you don’t need them.
2. Verify your identity, usually with your licence details and some personal information.
3. Download or receive your report.

The OAIC confirms you can access your credit report free once every three months. Doing this before a loan application is exactly what that right is for.

Does checking my own report hurt my score?

No. Accessing your own report is a soft check. It isn’t shown to lenders when they look at your file and it doesn’t affect your score. You can check as often as the free allowance lets you without worrying about how it looks.

If you’d like the full picture on the two kinds of checks, see soft vs hard credit checks.

What should I look for before applying for business finance?

Work through the report with this checklist:

Look for	Why lenders care	What to do
Your name, date of birth, addresses, licence number	Mismatches can stall identity checks	Ask for corrections
Defaults (overdue debts of $150 or more reported by a provider)	They’re kept for five years and weigh heavily	Check they’re accurate and marked paid if paid
Credit enquiries	Several recent ones can look like credit-seeking	Note dates; confirm you recognise each one
Repayment history	Shows whether recent payments were on time	Check any late marks are correct
Court judgments or insolvency information	Significant for any lender	Be ready to explain the background
Accounts you don’t recognise	Could be an error or identity misuse	Contact the provider straight away

The OAIC lists how long each kind of information stays: enquiries and defaults five years, repayment history two years, financial hardship information one year.

I found an error. Now what?

Fix it before you apply if you can. The OAIC says you can ask either the credit provider that listed the information or the credit reporting body to correct it, and the service is free. If they’re satisfied it’s wrong, they must take reasonable steps to correct it within 30 days (or longer if you agree).

Be cautious of companies charging to “repair” your credit. Moneysmart warns that some will try to charge for something you can do yourself at no cost. Our guide on fixing errors on your credit report sets out the steps and a simple letter structure.

If the error can’t be fixed in time, don’t hold off enquiring. Just mention it. A real person can factor it in, and you can tell us about it in the enquiry without any check being run.

What if the report is accurate but not pretty?

That’s more common than you’d think, and it’s not the end of the road. Plenty of business owners have a default from a hard year, a string of late payments during a slow season, or an ATO debt that went on longer than planned.

What helps:

• Know the dates. An old default reads differently from a recent one.
• Have the story ready. One or two sentences about what happened and what changed.
• Show recent conduct. Clean bank statements for the last few months carry weight.
• Consider security. Property-secured options can sometimes look past older credit issues.

Bad credit and ATO debt are considered case by case, so the aim is simply to be upfront.

Should I check the company’s credit file as well?

If you trade through a company, the company can have its own commercial credit file, separate from your personal one. Lenders often look at both, particularly the directors’ personal files. We explain how the two interact in business loans and your personal credit file.

Illustrative example: the unfamiliar enquiry

Illustrative only.

An electrician checks both reports before seeking $80k for a second van and tools. The Experian report shows an enquiry from a phone company he never applied to. He contacts the provider, who confirms it was a data entry error and has it removed. He then enquires about finance knowing his file is accurate, and the only enquiry that appears later is the one for the loan he actually chose.

Know your file, then ask with confidence

Once you’ve looked at your report, the next step doesn’t need to add anything to it. Our enquiry takes about a minute, there’s no credit check when you first enquire, and your details go to our own lending team rather than a queue of lenders. A real person calls to talk it through in plain English.

Tell us what you found, good or bad. Accurate answers on the form mean we can suggest something that will hold up when a check is eventually run.

Enquire now, file untouched →