Credit reports
Reading repayment history
Understand payment records, dates and what deserves further checking.
Read repayment history with its month labels and the report’s own legend. A history code is not an outstanding balance, a monthly instalment or a settlement amount.
Read across the dates first
Find the reporting date and the order of the months. Some layouts place the latest month first; others arrange information differently. Locate the account row and read the legend before attaching a meaning to a number.
For CCRIS, reported repayment history covers the past 12 months. A later payment may not yet appear in the report you downloaded. Compare the account’s reporting period with the payment date, not just the date you opened the PDF.
Separate history from today’s position
- An older late-payment entry tells you about that period. It does not by itself establish current arrears.
- A latest zero code, where the legend means no months in arrears, does not mean the loan balance is zero or that the account is closed.
- A missing column, cropped page or unclear code remains unknown. Do not turn unreadable information into a clean-record conclusion.
Fictional example
- April · code 0
- No months in arrears under this fictional legend
- May · code 1
- One month in arrears for that period
- June · code 0
- No months in arrears for that later period
Fictional illustration: assume these codes count months in arrears and June is the latest shown month. May records a past delay; June shows a later improvement. Neither entry tells you the outstanding balance or proves the account was fully settled.
If a payment was made in July, this June history cannot confirm it. A July statement or the institution’s confirmation may clarify the current position. The example’s legend is stated deliberately; do not apply it to every provider’s report.
What to do next
Check whether the account label, dates and legend all belong to the same table. Keep the entire relevant row readable.
For an unexpected entry, ask the reporting institution to explain the period and payment status. Keep payment receipts and statements; send them only through its verified channel.
Continue the agreed scheduled payments while a query is being clarified, unless your provider formally confirms a different arrangement. Reading history is a check, not permission to stop paying.