The Bankruptcy Amendment (National Personal Insolvency Index) Regulation 2015 aligns the period of time that debt agreement information is retained on the National Personal Insolvency Index (NPII) with the period of time that the same information is recorded on credit reports under the Privacy Act 1988.

Currently, information about debt agreements and debt agreement proposals is recorded permanently on the NPII while the Privacy Act provides for information about debt agreements and debt agreement proposals to be stored for a finite period of time on credit reports.

Unlike bankruptcy which is recorded permanently, information on debts agreements will now only be stored on the NPII for a fixed period of time as follows:

• If a debt agreement ends on discharge of the debtor’s obligations under agreement, the Official Receiver must remove information relating to the debt agreement from the Index within 1 month after the later of the following days:
  (a) 5 years after the day on which the debt agreement was made;
  (b) the day on which the debt agreement ends.
• If a debt agreement is terminated following acceptance of a proposal, the Official Receiver must remove information relating to the debt agreement from the Index within 1 month after the later of the following days:
  (a) 5 years after the day on which the debt agreement was made;
  (b) 2 years after the day on which the debt agreement is terminated.