Baby boomers have had the biggest increase in consumer credit defaults in the past year but it hasn’t put them off taking on more debt, new Veda Advantage statistics show.

Overall consumer defaults listed with Veda Advantage for the year to September were up 6.48% on the previous year but baby boomer defaults increased at a much faster rate, by 19.37%.

In contrast, the supposedly spend-aholic members of Generation X and Y have been relatively frugal.

Credit reporting company Veda Advantage has called for no-asset procedures to remain on credit records for seven years at the same time it released data showing the number of bankruptcy applications remains high.

In July 461 New Zealanders applied for either bankruptcy or no-asset procedure (NAP), which is an alternative for people who owe a modest amount and have not been bankrupted previously.

For more than a year the number of people filing for bankruptcy or NAP each month has been over 400 (except during the Christmas and holiday period).

New Zealand’s largest credit reporting agency Veda Advantage has responded to a critic who said it should be moving to a positive credit reporting regime, that it is prohibited by law from doing so but is working with the privacy commissioner to do just that.

Spokeswoman Leigh Pearson said that under the law “we can only collect negative data on consumers; you can collect positive data in the commercial space which we do as well.”

Veda Advantage’s proposed new credit rating system will provide a narrow and potentially dangerous view of an individual or business’s creditworthiness,another credit rating company claims.

CreditWorks managing director Ronnie Tan believes Veda Advantage’s system is flawed because of its reliance on only ‘negative’ data such as previous enquiries for credit, bad debts and bankruptcy.

Credit bureau Veda Advantage is introducing a new credit scoring system next month, which it says should make it easier for people to understand their creditworthiness.

The new credit scores collate information contained in existing credit reports, including how many times people have sought credit, and if they have defaulted on debts or been bankrupted.

The score scale runs from minus 330 to 1000, although most New Zealanders would have a score above zero, Veda Advantage New Zealand managing director John Roberts said.