Does my New Zealand credit rating go with me to Australia?

I am planning to move to Oz too, and researched a little on credit rating from one country to another. At Expatforum.com a lady asked the same question and the response was "you get a fresh start in OZ with your credit, but that you would need to provide information at the time you apply or need to use it, my sister has just moved to Perth and they were required to produce evidence of: identity, pay slips or evidence of income ( to confirm servicablility), a bill with an address of where they were living. Voila!!!.
Hope this helps. If any other knowledge different to this hope someone posts it. Excited mover...

It may be the case that moving from the UK, your credit history may not follow you- but moving from NZ to Aussie, it will (and visa-versa). Your credit file it actually maintained by the same entity either side of the Tasman- Veda Advantage (previously Baycorp Advantage/ Baynet). In my work a few years ago working as a credit analyst with a bank in Melbourne, several times I had customers declined loans due to defaults on their credit file that were incurred in New Zealand, prior to them arriving. Whilst credit defaults are not neccessarily grounds for a decline immediately (it may be possible to explain if for example it was a dispute relating to the usage of a mobile phone), usually it would require a very good (and plausable) explanation.

Credit files function differently in different countries- for example in the US it's a 'scoring' system where you can actually get a 'good' credit rating. In Australia and NZ however, a 'good' credit rating pretty much means that firstly you have one (have applied for credit at some stage in the past), and that nothing 'bad' has happened on it. Your credit file also lists instances where you have applied for credit, and address changes. A high frequency of either of those factors can bear negatively on a lenders' decision (ie- if you apply for say 3 credit cards in a month, it may not look good (regardless of whether those applications were even approved- which I still don't believe is tracked in the credit file yet).

With the exception of some government jobs that require security clearances, I can not really think of any jobs where your credit rating is relevant to the application process or must be provided (note- the government roles I refer to above would require you to be an Australian Citizen also, therefore are likely not be be relevant under your circumstances). I have even sofar worked in 3 banks in Aussie and never heard of your credit file being required for a job application.

Even with a bad credit file, you can open an account and conduct your day-to-day life without a problem, provided you don't need credit. Australian banks are more-and-more offering Credit Card alternatives, such as Mastercard and Visa Debit cards, linked to your normal transaction/current account. For these there are no credit limits, and no credit being extended, hence your credit file *should* be irrelevant (however I can't speak for all institutions).

Remember that in Australia, Banking and Finance is MUCH more strictly regulated than in NZ, as is Privacy legislation. Banks alone in Aussie are regulated by FOUR different government bodies. If you are applying for anything at all (job, account, or whatever), you will have to sign a consent for the company to conduct a credit check on you. With a bank this will usually be one or more paragraphs at the back of the application form, with jobs it would have to be a seperate consent form.

Hope some of this helps...

i had a loan acct and bank acct in melb and then moved back to nz and then stopped paying my monthly fees..i havent had any contact with baycorp here..I am moving back shortly to nsw am i able to open another bank acct?

Moving from NZ, your credit history stays here. So you can start fresh in australia

Thank you StuInSyd for the very helpful info. marvelous!

We had to wait for 3 months before we could apply for any credit. One of us were working and I wouldn't even try to get credit until you have been working for at least 3 months. We are with the ASB and went to the Commonwealth Bank that owns the ASB and they weren't even interested in our history with the ASB. Be warned though, if you stuff up your payments and get a bad mark against your name, that's it!! If you are coming over and are going to self employed you will need to trade for 12 months before they will even look at giving you finance for a car or a house.

my sister-in-law moved from NZ to aussie to get away from her VERRY bad credit. they tried to get a loan to buy a car and were turned down WHY... because NZ had baycorpe and it is an aussie company... and thing you do in NZ WILL affect you in aussie.... not everone will get caught. but you should. if you have stuffed up you credit it should follow you

My husband has bad credit back in NZ, and when he moved here like a month later he got a loan (even though he had bad credit back in NZ) but when my Mother n Law applied for a loan for a car she was turned down because of her credit history back in NZ (she has terrible credit history)
Some Loan places check your credit history back in NZ and others dont.... depends on who you deal with.

Bad credit in NZ and now living in australia and I want to clear my debts. How do i go about paying my debts.?

Does anyone know what banks wont check nz rating? I have very bad credit from stupid mistakes years ago but still haunts me in nz.

Hi im a Kiwi i lived in Aussie 17 yrs i had an accident at work couldnt work for a while but never on any benifits after a while i moved back to NZ started business worked hard but my condition has caught up with me i can still work but for how long i dont know im considering bankruptcy i have bad dept here now i have been stuck here i hate it here New Zealand so much but dont know what to do i so much miss Aussie. Anyone out there with some good advice? what if i change my name im prepered to do anything.

Regards Poor-kiwi

Hi Poor Kiwi

Have you heard of a non-asset procedure? As long as your debt is under $40k and you don't own property or any assets worth alot of money - this maybe an option for you. Have a look into it. I did. After a year you will be debt free and not bankrupt.

www.­insolvency.­govt.­nz/­cms/­personal-­insolvency/­what-­is-­the...

http://www.lawlink.co.nz/articles.php?articleid=127

Good luck.

Thank you to everyone on here for the questions and answers. Oh my! This is a huge help on my hands. :-)

Hi there, i have bad credit history in NZ but i am moving to aussie can i open just an every day bank account no problem? thanks

Yep ses you will be fine. I read a blog online before I moved to Aust and it stated you can apply online through commonwealth bank and when you get here, you pick your bank card up! thats outstanding, and it happened. I suggest to do it in advance like a month, i did a week or two and it wasent ready.

just change your name, credit rating clear voila!!

Your Kiwi credit rating means nothing here in Aussie. We are A+ credit rated in NZ. Get to Aussie, no credit rating, you have to establish one. Companies do not share info as Ive aked Veda and Baycorp. My partner applied for a phone contract thru Telstra, was declined as he had a bad credit rating in Australia???? We had only just moved here. He eventually got a contract as he found the debt was for a person with the exact same name, not same DOB or address. He got his Medicare and Driver Licence CRN and running that theu Telstra system they gave him a phone contract as they realised it was not his debt. He then went for an upgrade phone and was told they had to over ride his bad debt thru a Manager at Telstra. He went nuts, so did I, Ombudsman was informed who got involved. Telstra was told to jam their contract. They did. Beware of things like this happening, totally unfair, although under the Official Information Act you have the right to correct information about yourself, clearly it is not the case. We were intending on buying a house here, but after experincing this, and realising the houses here are too dare for what they are and insurance is ridiculously high, as well as the dumb stamp duty on houses and having to pay the bank to take out mortage insurance we have realised the grass aint that green on this side of the fence.

I have bad credit in Nz (nothing bad in last 4 yrs) I am moving to oz and wonder do employers/ recruitment companies do credit checks and if so can they see Nz credit history or only aust history??
Cheers Will