Telecom and Positive Credit Reporting

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jim.cox

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Topic # 114746 1-Mar-2013 14:51

Anyone else notice the advert in yesterday's Dominion Post stating Telecom were about to start positive credit report data sharing with Veda?

What do you guys make of it?

Personally I'm deeply opposed.

Aparently they are supposed to have your consent - which I am absolutely refusing to give.

There seems to be no official way to do this, so I've used the make a complaint form

http://www.telecom.co.nz/helpandsupport/helpandsupport/other/makeacomplaint/

to let them know.

Naughty Telecom, Bad Telecom.

Klipspringer

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Reply # 772309 1-Mar-2013 14:56

I don't see a problem with this. Pay your bills on time and you have nothing to worry about.

They already report you for bad credit so don't see why this should be any different.

PS: Is there a link to the article?

jim.cox

194 posts

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Reply # 772312 1-Mar-2013 15:02

Klipspringer: I don't see a problem with this. Pay your bills on time and you have nothing to worry about.

Sorry I dont buy into the 'nothing to worry about' argument - past experience suggests it to be flawed

Klipspringer:PS: Is there a link to the article?

It was a paid advert - still trying to find an online link to it

Klipspringer

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Reply # 772316 1-Mar-2013 15:10

jim.cox:
Klipspringer: I don't see a problem with this. Pay your bills on time and you have nothing to worry about.

Sorry I dont buy into the 'nothing to worry about' argument - past experience suggests it to be flawed

The same can be said about the bad credit reporting. What I don't really agree with here is that Telecom is not a credit provider. So therefore this should not apply for companies offering a service. I have no objections though to this being applied for homeloans, personal loans etc ... But for services?

jim.cox:It was a paid advert - still trying to find an online link to it

Found it on the telecom webpage.

http://www.telecom.co.nz/whatsnew/changestothecreditreportingprivacycode/

Kyanar

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Reply # 772572 2-Mar-2013 09:33

If you really have a problem with it, feel free to exercise your right to early termination for significant modification of the contract.

As to whether they are supposed to have your consent, the Code does not require that at all. It requires that they notify you only. It does still, however, qualify as a significant modification in my view that would permit penalty-free termination of the contract.

wanghou168

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Reply # 773568 2-Mar-2013 10:28

it is not just a telecom thing
The whole financial industry including banks will soon start to adopt positive credit reporting

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scorpiworld

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Reply # 774201 4-Mar-2013 11:30

From what I have read this is much better than negative reporting.

I would much rather a lender knows how good I am at paying bills and loans, instead of that one time I missed a payment and will be fore ever held against me!

This give my credit report balance and the more people adding to it the better.

If it helps to stop people getting access to products and services they can't afford, the better the economy will be.

Kyanar

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Reply # 774279 4-Mar-2013 13:52

scorpiworld: From what I have read this is much better than negative reporting.

I would much rather a lender knows how good I am at paying bills and loans, instead of that one time I missed a payment and will be fore ever held against me!

This give my credit report balance and the more people adding to it the better.

If it helps to stop people getting access to products and services they can't afford, the better the economy will be.

Except that empirical evidence suggests that this isn't what will happen. Under the old system, the only time anyone would see that you missed a payment is if you missed it for so long that the creditor lodged it as a default, which usually took up to about 6 months (and had a minimum threshold). Under the new system, it can be seen straight away. Positive credit reporting is actually probably worse for you in that respect.

And it won't stop people getting access to products and services they can't afford, it simply allows - in the words of the Privacy Commissioner - "allow credit products to be tailored to individuals on the basis of their creditworthiness, reducing the costs of credit for some" (and the bit that's left out, increase the costs of credit to others - see the "APR" mess that's prevalent in America, where a person with good credit will get a 12% interest rate, but a person with bad credit that probably shouldn't even get credit gets a 25% interest rate. In this case, you are actually penalised more for occasionally missing a payment than under the old system).

Basically, positive credit reporting despite the name is actually bad for everyone except Veda, D&B, and the Finance Companies.

Klipspringer

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Reply # 774302 4-Mar-2013 14:32

Kyanar:

Except that empirical evidence suggests that this isn't what will happen. Under the old system, the only time anyone would see that you missed a payment is if you missed it for so long that the creditor lodged it as a default, which usually took up to about 6 months (and had a minimum threshold). Under the new system, it can be seen straight away. Positive credit reporting is actually probably worse for you in that respect.

And it won't stop people getting access to products and services they can't afford, it simply allows - in the words of the Privacy Commissioner - "allow credit products to be tailored to individuals on the basis of their creditworthiness, reducing the costs of credit for some" (and the bit that's left out, increase the costs of credit to others - see the "APR" mess that's prevalent in America, where a person with good credit will get a 12% interest rate, but a person with bad credit that probably shouldn't even get credit gets a 25% interest rate. In this case, you are actually penalised more for occasionally missing a payment than under the old system).

Basically, positive credit reporting despite the name is actually bad for everyone except Veda, D&B, and the Finance Companies.

I disagree.

Remember when signing up for new services or credit you are commiting to making your payments on time. Not doing so is a breach of your credit agreement (And I think its fair that other credit companies are informed about it) Don't miss your payment dates and there is no issue.

slightly off topic but I have noticed that in NZ it seems to be the done thing to hold off bill payments for as long as possible. Maybe this is the reason why so many are not so happy about it.

Kyanar

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Reply # 774345 4-Mar-2013 15:47

Klipspringer:

I disagree.

Remember when signing up for new services or credit you are commiting to making your payments on time. Not doing so is a breach of your credit agreement (And I think its fair that other credit companies are informed about it) Don't miss your payment dates and there is no issue.

slightly off topic but I have noticed that in NZ it seems to be the done thing to hold off bill payments for as long as possible. Maybe this is the reason why so many are not so happy about it.

And the bit that'll do your head in is that end customers aren't the worst culprits. Businesses routinely hold their payments until 90 days past the due date, and government is even worse at paying its bills. So when a company like Telecom gets uppity at you for being 2 weeks late, you might be forgiven for thinking it's a bit rich when Telecom likely pays its own suppliers 6 weeks late.