RATIONALE AND INDEX CONSTRUCTION

The data includes aggregate data on: z The number of open mortgage accounts, credit card and personal loan accounts and the number of accounts 30-days or more past due. z Coverage of all credit providers, including the big four banks, regional banks, mutuals, international banks, fintechs, alternative lenders, and large non-bank lenders. z Account level data reported by geographical area – specifically, by the ABS (2016) Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4), which is comprised of eighty-nine geographical regions covering the whole of Australia.3

One of the CRBs also provided estimates of the number of mortgage accounts from the big 4 banks which were ‘deferred’ under temporary repayment deferrals. While there was no credit reporting flag for ‘deferred’ accounts in the period covered by this report, ‘deferred’ accounts were inferred by the Body as accounts whose repayments had been paused and were not therefore overdue. The estimate does correspond to the scale of temporary loan repayment deferrals reported by the banking regulator APRA.

Whereas the APRA data reported total deferrals from all ADI’s, this report shows estimates for the change in deferrals over time and their breakdown by ABS Statistical Area (SA4). Deferrals were concentrated specific geographic areas.

FOOTNOTES:

1 See, for example: Andersson, Fredrik, Souphala Chomsisengphet, Dennis Glennon, and Feng Li. 2013. ‘The Changing Pecking Order of Consumer Defaults’. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 45 (2–3): 251–75., Fulford, Scott, and Joanna Stavins. 2021. ‘Does Getting a Mortgage Affect Consumer Credit Use?’ Review of Economics of the Household, February. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150021-09550-1.

2 The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). 2020. ‘Temporary Loan Repayment Deferrals Due to COVID-19, July 2020’. APRA. September 2020. https://www.apra.gov.au/ temporary-loan-repayment-deferrals-due-tocovid-19-july-2020/

3 ABS. 2021. ‘Statistical Area Level 4’. Australian Body of Statistics. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/ standards/australian-statistical-geographystandard-asgs-edition-3/jul2021-jun2026/mainstructure-and-greater-capital-city-statistical-areas/ statistical-area-level-4.