Not sure I understand what your question is, but when you sign a storage agreement there will be a default clause which outlines how long unpaid fees may accrue before the owner can forcibly enter your unit and dispose of the goods to recoup the debt. I think 6 weeks of unpaid fees is the usual minimum in Australia before they start the process.
5 years generally but if I recall correctly some items (bankruptcy, defaults) can stay on for 7. When you say credit do you mean a default on credit ? If so yes that notation stays on files and "drops off" 5-7 years after being reported. If you mean you had credit (ie a loan) it neither improves nor deteriorates on your credit file - there would simply be a notation that on such and such date you applied for $YYY for a loan/credit card/mobile contract. That's pretty much it. When I was in credit reporting and finance some 20yrs + ago and you applied for a loan it was common for the bank or company considering the loan to phone the other banks/companies/landlord with whom you had business and ask for details - how much, when are payments made, how much pm/pw, and how well do they pay (how often are payments early, how often late, do they pay extra, are you always chasing etc etc). AFAIK it is very rare these days for one credit provider to contact another at all. Most credit "ratings" are done automatically by formula and are only quickly checked by a person after the computer says yes or no You can contact Veda Advantage and fill in the details
I am surprised that Joe-Loan and Jane-Credit out there don't know how the 'bad debt' market works. There is a set of "Debt collection guideline for collectors and creditors: joint publication by ACCC and ASIC", a joint publication by ACCC and ASIC. http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/733222 It may not be a legally binding set of regulations, but the code does refer to relevant provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974 and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 apply to debt collection conduct. Personally I've never defaulted on a payment before, even when I was disputing the amount I'd make a minimum payment to keep the issue off my credit file. All the same, I've had to deal with debt collectors before. Turns out there was someone with a not-so-similar name in the next suburb.You wouldn't believe the type of threats they made. In the end I had to involve law enforcement to settle the issue. All in all its an unpleasant and unsavoury business.
Veda Advantage is the main consumer credit bureau in Australia. There is also Dunn & Bradstreet (D&B). Its more likely you have entries on D&B if you've been a loan/credit signatory as a sole trader or partnership. https://www.checkyourcredit.com.au
Back in the UK I lived in a shared house and the electricity bill was in my name. I left the house and settled up with the rest of the house and got them to put the bills in their name. They didn't get around to paying the bill and just dumped any mail that came for me. About a year or so later some collection agency started phoning/harassing my sister and threatening to send repossession people around to her house to recover the debt. They just looked in the phone book and figured that we had the same surname so if they threatened enough people eventually one of them would give them my contact details. My sister wouldn't give them my contact details but let me know about the bill, which I just paid because it really wasn't that much. It saved her boyfriend from punching out a bailiff so it was worth it.
I'd highly recommend checking out this series of books: http://theclassifiedfiles.com/ I have a copy of all the books. From memory either in book one and/or book four Thomas Anderson writes about how to deal with debt collectors. I haven't had a need to use the methods he describes but he provides some evidence of success. He also advises to complain to ASIC if you are being unlawfully harassed. Essentially you have no contract with a debt collector so no obligation - and they cannot soil your credit record. BUT BEWARE - when you sign agreements there may be a clause agreeing to a use of a third-party debt collector.
As Clawhammer elegantly pointed out in the OP there may well be a contract with the debt collector - most loan agreements contain a provision allowing the debt to be sold or assigned to another party. So in the example Clawhammer outlined, there IS a contract with the debt collector. It is also not uncommon for businesses (not banks etc, just normal businesses which trade for a living) to sell their debtors for say 70-80cents in the dollar or their bad debts for maybe 40-60c/$ - the business gets cash and does not have to use up resources chasing debts. Again in this situation it is very very likely that the debt collector themselves owns the debt and has the right to recover payment from you. Now the alternative to this is the debt collector who is hired by the client (bank/business etc) to recover funds - usually they work on a percentage recovered. In this case it is arguable (depending on the arrangement with that debt collector) whether the debt collector is an agent of the person chasing payment (which usually means your original contract under which the funds are owed is still in place and the debt collector is acting as the agent of the lender/business and effectively has all/most of the rights of the lender/chaser and acts in their name) or as a contractor in which case there are different rights and obligations. But in either of these cases, and certainly the latter, you are correct that the contract you signed usually contains provisions allowing that debt collector to pursue you for the debt.
