Every name on the letterhead
Read the letterhead and the footer of the first letter slowly and write down each business name you find there, along with the name of the person who signed it.
Keep that list at the front of your folder. Later pages are easier to place when the names on them are already familiar.
A licensee must, as soon as practicable after it becomes apparent to the licensee that it is likely to provide credit assistance to a consumer in relation to a credit contract, give the consumer the licensee's credit guide in accordance with subsection (2). [...] (2) The licensee's credit guide must: [...] (d) specify the licensee's Australian credit licence number; and (e) give information about: (i) any fees that are payable by a consumer to the licensee for the licensee's credit assistance; and (ii) any charges that are payable by a consumer to the licensee for matters associated with providing the credit assistance; and (iii) the method for working out the amount of the fees and charges; and [...]
If a credit representative of a licensee gives a consumer the licensee's credit guide when acting on behalf of the licensee under Part 3-1, 3-2, 3-3 or 3-4, the credit representative must at the same time give the consumer the credit representative's credit guide in accordance with subsection (2). [...] (2) The credit representative's credit guide must: [...] (d) specify the credit representative's credit representative number; and [...]
The credit guide, beside the first letter
Where a credit guide is among the papers from a broker helping with a home loan, add it to the list at the front of the folder by that name, with the date it arrived written beside it in your own hand. Beside it, note the name of the person who sent it, so the list shows who passed on which paper.
Then lay the guide beside the first letter and check that the business name on it is the same one copied from the letterhead. Where the two differ, a pencil note in the margin saying where each name appeared keeps the difference easy to find later.
If the guide came inside a larger bundle, keep the bundle whole and mark the place where the guide sits with a slip of paper. File the guide straight after the first letter rather than at the back, so anyone reading the folder later meets it in the place it arrived, next to the papers it sits with.
Keeping the trail tidy
Store every document in the order it arrived, each one dated, so the sequence of offers and forms reads like a timeline. If a later version of a paper turns up, keep both, with the newer one filed in its own place in the order rather than in place of the old.
Where a page names a business you do not recognise, write a note beside it and ask about it in writing before the next meeting. The note can hold the date, the page, and the words that differed from what was said, written down plainly as they were heard. When a reply comes, it goes beside the page it answers, and the note gets the date of the reply.
If the business name on the papers changes partway through, or a different person starts signing the letters, add the new name to the list at the front with the date it first appeared. The older names stay on the list, crossed through rather than erased, so every name the matter has carried stays readable from first to last.
Where the words come from
- National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth)Compilation No. 52, 1 July 2026. Based on content from the Federal Register of Legislation at 15 October 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government legislation please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au.
- National Consumer Credit Protection Regulations 2010 (Cth)Compilation No. 57, 5 September 2026. Based on content from the Federal Register of Legislation at 15 October 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government legislation please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au.