It has recently come to vision that credit companies would be able to gain more access to the financial details of people who are seeking to borrow money under a proposal being investigated by privacy watchdogs.

Under this proposal, the credit companies would be able to find out whether previous credit applications had been approved, what they were for, who lent the money, what the credit limit was, and whether the account was still open.

As of now, they can only scrutinize how many times an individual has applied for credit and any negative details.

Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff reported, "A reference group made up of government agencies, credit reporting agencies, credit providers and consumer advocates is reviewing the Credit Reporting Privacy Code."

Once the group reports back in May, members of the public will be asked for comment.

"New Zealand and Australia were among a handful of countries that still use a negative system of reporting," said John Scott, New Zealand general manager of Dun and Bradstreet, a credit reporting agency.

He added that via the positive credit reporting, those people would be prevented who were overstretched from being given more credit and would better reward people with a good credit history.