Arca was established in 2006 to provide an industry forum to advocate for improvements to Australia’s credit reporting system; and we have played a key role in the development of the regulatory and governance framework for comprehensive credit reporting (CCR).
Since 2013 Arca has been appointed by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to act as the developer of the Credit Reporting Code (CR Code). The CR Code provides an extra layer of detail under the laws in the Privacy Act, providing certainty for all parties about how credit reporting works.
Since 2013 Arca has developed 8 variations to the CR Code, to address known issues, provide consumers with additional protections and to drive more consistent reporting of data. In this way, the CR Code framework has helped the credit reporting system keep pace with an evolving credit landscape – as definitions and protections are regularly updated by Arca and the OAIC.
Arca develops CR Code provisions through extensive consultation with stakeholders, and is guided in this work by the comments and recommendations from independent reviews commissioned by the OAIC.
Arca prepares guidance for its Members to support the operation of the credit reporting system. Some of this guidance is developed as part of Arca’s role as CR Code developer; this guidance explains the intended operation of particular parts of the CR Code and is made widely available.
In 2026 Arca released guidance on corrections provisions in section 20 of the CR Code, specifically:
Arca takes a leading industry role in ensuring that consumers experiencing financial hardship receive the assistance that they need. It does this by providing a forum for Members to discuss all issues relating to financial hardship and to identify how practices and processes can be improved. A key focus of Arca’s work is in relation to the consistent and accurate reporting of information into the credit reporting system for consumers in hardship arrangements (which therefore enables consumers to protect their credit history while they are experiencing financial difficulty). Arca’s work on ensuring industry provides clear, consumer-friendly messaging to consumers regarding the reporting of hardship-related information was recognised in ASIC’s recent reporting into financial hardship (REP 782).
Credit can be weaponised by perpetrators of domestic abuse. A perpetrator may take out credit in a victim-survivor’s name through coercion or without their knowledge. This financial abuse can lead to defaults, a damaged credit report, and severe hardship, putting victim-survivors at greater risk of poor outcomes including homelessness and bankruptcy. Support from lenders can be vital. Access to credit can help a victim-survivor safely leave an abusive relationship, while correcting credit reports by removing fraudulent or coerced debt can be a crucial step in their recovery. Arca’s work is focused on helping our Members improve support for victim-survivors. To inform our work on domestic abuse we seek the expertise of people with lived experience and advocates who support victim-survivors to create safer, more responsive industry practices.
Arca’s Principles of Best Practice: Domestic Abuse and Credit are available for any participant in the credit industry to implement and for consumers and advocates to refer to. The Principles explain Arca’s view of best practice on supporting customers experiencing domestic abuse and updating credit reports affected by domestic abuse. A credit report should reflect the creditworthiness of a victim-survivor, not their abuse.
Credit repair firms promise to ‘repair’, ‘clean’ or ‘fix’ entries in a consumer’s credit report, often in return for very significant fees. Consumers have the right to have errors on their credit reports fixed free of charge, and the cost of a credit repair firm can be out of step with any benefit provided.
Poor conduct by credit repair firms can slow down dispute handling, reduce the quality of credit reporting data and impose costs on all parties.
Arca engages with stakeholders and Government to explore options for mitigating the effects of poor conduct and uplifting the regulatory framework for credit repair. We support a fit-for-purpose regime, containing substantive rules about conduct and which aligns with consumer expectations that the parties advising them are acting in their best interests.
The regulation of BNPL products has been one of the biggest developments in credit for many years. Arca has a key role in ensuring the meaningful reporting of BNPL-related information into the credit reporting system, and in clarifying how that information should be used by other credit providers. While the reforms came into effect in June 2025, Arca recognises that the full effect of the reforms will continue to become evident over the next couple of years as – potentially – millions of new accounts may be reported in the credit reporting system, including for groups of consumers that have previously been less visible in the system. The additional data in the system will pose both challenges and opportunities for all credit providers, which Arca and our Members will respond to industry and regulators give effect to the reforms.
