Welcome to Credit Simple. If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’ve found your way here after asking a search engine if our business is legitimate. Indeed, we’ve had some pretty bad reviews on sites such as ProductReview.com.au. So we thought we’d give you the low-down on myths and truths about our business, credit scores, and your rights and privacy.

I think your business is a scam and you’re ‘phishing’, or conducting identity theft

None of the above. Credit Simple is owned by illion, a data analytics company, and we adhere to all relevant legislation. Credit Simple is not a scam and never engages in ‘phishing’. As a credit score business, we take your privacy extremely seriously and we’re also big on consumer rights. Our parent company is a credit reporting agency, and credit reporting is an area that’s tightly regulated, and the industry has to toe the line at all times. Your information is kept secure and we don’t sell your information to anyone. Only you can see your credit report and if a credit provider wants to check your credit, they have to advise you that they intend to do so, and you need to agree to the credit provider doing so. We have lots of information about rights and privacy on our blog under the ‘FAQ’ tag here and you can read our privacy policy here.

I can’t believe you’re using my star sign to calculate my credit score!

That’s a common myth. Your star sign isn’t used to calculate your credit score at all. When you’re in the Credit Simple dashboard, you’ll see stats about how you compare by age, gender, star sign and so on. This is simply a comparison tool for your interest – a novel way of looking at how you measure up to other people like you.

If I check my credit score with you, will it lower my score every time I look?

Not at all. You can check your own score as often as you like and it will never affect your score. A credit provider checking your credit file is called an ‘enquiry’ but if you check your credit, it’s called an ‘access’ and that doesn’t affect it. However, if you apply for lots of credit with a credit provider (e.g. a credit card or loan) within a short space of time, your credit score can go down for a while, as it makes you look ‘desperate for credit’ to credit providers. It’s best to shop around for credit first and figure out what suits you best before applying for anything.

The credit score you gave me is different to the one I got from another service

Yep, that can happen. In fact, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll have the exact same credit score from any two providers. Each credit reporting agency has its own way of calculating credit scores, and each company also has a slightly different set of data. To add to that, our credit score range is 0-1,000, whereas other companies have ranges that run higher than 1,000. In an ideal world, consumers would be able to see a credit score that pulls on all possible/available credit scores, but as yet, this service doesn’t exist.

I own a mortgage-free property and have cash in the bank, but my score is really low

Credit scores are calculated based on credit you’ve accessed, rather than assets you own, so your mortgage-free house or your savings account aren’t put into the calculation. Credit reporting agencies simply don’t have access to information about your assets. While this information would be beneficial when applying for credit, it’s not information held by a credit reporting agency.

Has the credit reporting system changed?

Credit reporting has recently changed from a ‘negative’ system (where you got penalised if you did something naughty, but otherwise were treated much like the next person) to a ‘comprehensive’ system (where your ‘positive’ payment information is now being put into your credit score calculation). In February 2018, NAB became the first major Australian bank to contribute positive payment data, so it’s still a very new system in practice.

Someone else’s information is on my credit file!

In a very small number of cases, there can be mistakes on your credit file. We’ve built in a way for people to question something if they think it’s incorrect (you can see this within the dashboard – look for the button that says ‘question this’). To date we’ve had less than 1% of Credit Simple users query something. If you need help getting something sorted out, email us on creditsimplesupport@illion.com.au or call 1300 414 170.

Still got questions? Check out the FAQ content on our blog. Talk to us. Email us on creditsimplesupport@illion.com.au. We’re happy to help. Not signed up yet and want to check  your credit score? You can do that right here – it’s easy, instant and free (forever).

The post Is Credit Simple legit? Our response to reviews on ProductReview.com.au appeared first on Credit Simple.

Once upon a time bank robbers needed guns and balaclavas. Today a mouse and keyboard can be more dangerous. Every year too many Aussies are defrauded by cyber criminals, resulting in annual losses of more than $2b, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology.

One common fraud method is ‘phishing’, where the victim clicks on what looks like a genuine email from a company such as their bank, an online trading site, or another organisation. Except that it’s not their bank, and their keystrokes are captured revealing their username and password. The phisher then logs into the genuine bank account doing what’s called an ‘account takeover’ and helps themselves to your money.

Fortunately there’s money in security, and as the fraudsters get cleverer so too are the programmers working for good developing increasingly sophisticated technology to thwart criminals.

Here’s a taster of what the fields of biometrics, artificial intelligence, and computer science are doing to help protect us against increasingly clever cyber-attacks.

Big data and analytics

Back in the day banks were very manual and their information was siloed, but they accept that they need to move forward to counter fraudsters. These days banks and financial institutions are learning to manage and analyse terabytes of historical and third-party data in real time. Combined with other technologies, this analysis of big data can often spot a fraudster in action and  may be able to stop them in their tracks.

Biometric authentication

Biometrics uses statistical analysis of online behaviour to authenticate customers. In short, the software analyses things such as the speed and rhythm of your keystrokes and mouse use online. A fraudster will have a different rhythm and with the right software can be prevented from emptying your bank account before any damage is done. Companies offering this type of technology include BioCatch and Behaviosec, which can pick up anomalies in data entry patterns. These systems can mutate as threats change.

360 degree view

Think of this as a holistic approach to protecting you. As banks evolve for the digital world they can access a 360-degree view of your buying behaviour, banking operation, and trading patterns providing them with a holistic view of your behaviour. If, for example a clone of your card is being used in Argentina in an unusual way, the transaction could be flagged very accurately by sophisticated software. Currently there are a lot of false positives with this approach, but it is improving rapidly.

Blockchain

Have you heard of Bitcoin? It’s electronic currency that aims to be super secure. Don’t try to get your head around that in one go. But suffice to say that the ‘blockchain’ technology behind it can help protect banks against hacks. Blockchain is a huge decentralised database that’s much more secure than old banking systems because fraudsters would have to hack into every single computer containing copies of the same data to get your money. As organisations such as banks move to using blockchain, you’ll hopefully get better protection.

Fingerprint recognition

The password is dying and methods of fingerprint and other identification such as voice, face and irises are expected to become more common. Banks are already using some of this technology in Australia.  As well as fingerprints, face, eyeball selfie, or voice recognition can be used instead of passwords. In the future you can expect to use your fingerprint to authorise purchases or transactions. It’s not failsafe, however and even your fingerprint can be hacked.

As a consumer you also need to play your part in preventing fraud by everything from avoiding clicking on unsolicited emails, using secure PINs, changing passwords periodically, never revealing your PIN to anyone, and just keeping your wits about you.

The post Fighting fraud: How biometrics and artificial intelligence are helping to keep you safe online appeared first on Credit Simple.