The Australian Retail Credit Association is developing a website that it hopes will help consumers better understand credit reporting. The organisation that led the lobbying for the change to a comprehensive credit reporting regime, which starts next March, concedes that consumer awareness of the issue is low.Credit reporting agencies will be able to collect a lot more information about consumers under the new rules. The changes could have a significant impact on the relationships that consumers have with their credit providers.However, research commissioned by ARCA shows that 59 per cent of people had not heard of the term "credit reporting".Research by credit reporting company Veda shows that 80 per cent of people have never checked their credit history and 53 per cent were not aware that they could ask for a copy of their credit file.Very little has been done to address this low level of consumer awareness - nothing at all by the government and not much by industry.ARCA's chief executive, Damian Paull, said the new website, which he hopes to launch in the New Year, will explain the changes to the credit reporting system; explain how people can get access to their credit files; go through the issues that contribute to a good or bad credit report; and detail the financial hardship obligations of credit providers.Paull said ARCA members would be encouraged to provide links on their websites to the new site. ARCA will keep the site free of product marketing material and will work with consumer groups on the content plan.