Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

PRIVACY ACT 1988 - SECT 20R

Access

  (1)   If a credit reporting body holds credit reporting information about an individual, the body must, on request by an access seeker in relation to the information, give the access seeker access to:

  (a)   the information; and

  (b)   if the body is a corporation to which paragraph   51(xx) of the Constitution applies, and the credit reporting business of the body involves deriving CRB derived information about individuals in the form of a rating (a credit rating ) of the individuals on a credit score scale or range--the information referred to in subsection   (1A).

  (1A)   The information is:

  (a)   the credit rating of the individual, as derived by the body after the request is made; and

  (b)   information that identifies the particular credit information that is held by the body and from which the credit rating was derived; and

  (c)   information about the relative weighting of the credit information described in paragraph   (b) in deriving the credit rating; and

  (d)   information about what the other ratings on the scale or range are, and how the individual's credit rating relates to those other ratings.

Exceptions to access

  (2)   Despite subsection   (1), the credit reporting body is not required to give the access seeker access to the credit reporting information to the extent that:

  (a)   giving access would be unlawful; or

  (b)   denying access is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order; or

  (c)   giving access would be likely to prejudice one or more enforcement related activities conducted by, or on behalf of, an enforcement body; or

  (d)   for information referred to in subsection   (1A)--the credit information about the individual that is held by the body is insufficient for the body to be able to derive the credit rating of the individual in the ordinary course of its credit reporting business within the period referred to in subsection   (3).

Dealing with requests for access

  (3)   The credit reporting body must respond to the request within a reasonable period, but not longer than 10 days, after the request is made.

Means of access

  (4)   If the credit reporting body gives access to the credit reporting information, the access must be given in the manner set out in the registered CR code.

Access charges

  (5)   If a request under subsection   (1) in relation to the individual has not been made to the credit reporting body in the previous 3 months, the body must not charge the access seeker for the making of the request or for giving access to the information.

  (6)   If subsection   (5) does not apply, any charge by the credit reporting body for giving access to the information must not be excessive and must not apply to the making of the request.

Refusal to give access

  (7)   If the credit reporting body refuses to give access to the information because of subsection   (2), the body must give the access seeker a written notice that:

  (a)   sets out the reasons for the refusal except to the extent that, having regard to the grounds for the refusal, it would be unreasonable to do so; and

  (b)   states that, if the access seeker is not satisfied with the response to the request, the access seeker may:

  (i)   access a recognised external dispute resolution scheme of which the body is a member; or

  (ii)   make a complaint to the Commissioner under Part   V.