Consumers will have a grace period before their credit providers can report late payments to a credit bureau, under the terms of the new Credit Reporting Code of Conduct, which was released on Friday.When disclosing repayment history information to a credit reporting agency, a credit provider must take reasonable steps to ensure that it only discloses that the individual has failed to make a due payment if at least five days have elapsed since the payment was classified as being in arrears.Another consumer protection contained in the new code is that a credit provider must not disclose a consumer credit overdue payment to a credit bureau as default information if the consumer has made a financial hardship request.The Australian Retail Credit Association has released the draft of a new code, which will guide industry practice under the new comprehensive credit reporting regime. ARCA has called for submissions on the draft.The new reporting system takes effect in March next year. The code is not voluntary and will have regulatory force. Breaches will attract penalties of up to A$1.7 million.Under the current credit reporting rules, a credit reporting agency can include the following information in a credit file: payment on a credit contract is at least 60 days overdue; a cheque for $100 or more has been dishonoured twice; a bankruptcy order has been made against the individual; a credit provider considers that the individual has committed "a serious credit infringement"; the individual's current credit provider status; and details of recent credit inquiries.Following amendments to the Privacy Act (which covers credit reporting) last year, the new scheme will allow credit reporting agencies to add the following information: the date a credit account was opened; the type of credit account opened; the date a credit account was closed; the current limit of each open credit account; and re-payment performance history.In relation to re-payment performance history, late payments that are not yet defaults will start to show up in credit reports. Under the code's provisions, lenders using credit reporting agencies must be members of external dispute resolution schemes. Some lenders that are not currently required to be members of an EDR scheme will need to join an EDR scheme to gain access to credit information.Credit reporting agencies will be obliged to audit the compliance of credit providers, with the focus on credit providers that pose the greatest risk. Credit reporting agencies will be subject to regular review by an independent reviewer.Credit reporting agencies and credit providers must take reasonable steps to inform employees who deal with credit data of the requirements of the code.When an individual's credit application is refused, the refusal letter must contain general information about credit reporting - it will not have to spell out the particular factors that led to credit being refused. A free credit report will be available to anyone whose credit application has been refused.A free credit report must also be provided in situations where a credit provider has agreed to a correction request. The corrections policy applies