Benefits from credit bureau

Today, I am scheduled to talk with the 3rd batch of the Philippine Development Education (PhDE) organized by the VICTO National Co-operative Federation & Development Center, this course which started last November 26 will be up to December 1, 2007. As the Senior Manager of CIBI Information, the leading credit bureau in the Philippines, I was asked to present our company’s (CIBI) programs and services that could contribute to the co-ops in achieving excellence and to demo our current technology: CIBI InfoNet On-Line that the co-ops can adapt or utilize.

As a generally accepted “practice” of credit bureaus around the world, the following are some “rights” of consumer regarding his/her credit report: Some however may not be totally applicable here in the Philippines.

1. To know what your credit record says about you.

2. The right to be told by a credit bureau the nature, substance, and sources of the information it collected about you (A credit bureau does not however, have to tell you the sources of the information it used to prepare an investigative report about you)

3. To know the name and address of the credit bureau responsible for preparing a credit report used to deny you credit, insurance, or employment, or to increase the cost of your insurance or credit.

4. To review your credit report in person at the credit bureau. (You may visit the nearest Credit Bureau branches in your locality) 

5. To have a credit bureau investigate information in your credit report that you believe is inaccurate or out-of-date (If the credit bureau deems your request “frivolous or irrelevant,” they may not re-investigate.)

6. To have inaccurate information in your credit record corrected; and, outdated information updated if the credit bureau finds the information to be in error; (After a thorough submission of documents, reference and investigation of the said claims/ reference)

7. To have a brief written explanatory statement added to your credit file regarding information in your credit record that you have disputed, but been unable to change or get updated. Whenever a creditor, employer, insurer, and the like tells the credit bureau that it wants to review your file, the written statement must be included with the rest of the information in your credit file. 

Speaking of credit bureau, according to Mr. Melito S. Salazar, Chairman of Capital Market Development Council (which was printed in The Philippine Star last October 31), “it may be worthy to note that in a World Bank study of 51 countries, it was determined that with the presence of a credit bureau, (a) financing constraints for small firms decreased by 22 percent and (b) the probability of small firms to access credit increased by 12 percent. Similarly, a comparison of jurisdictions with and without credit bureaus showed that (a) without a credit bureau, 49 percent of small firms reported high financing constraints while with a credit bureau, only 27 percent of small firms reported financing constraints and (b) without a credit bureau, there was only 28 percent probability for a small firm to obtain a bank loan while this figure considerably increased to 40 percent for areas with a credit bureau.” Incidentally, Mr. Melito Salazar is also a Past President of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX). Likewise, a fellow Rotarian.

(Mr. Ed F. Limtingco can be reached at 0917-7220521 or at [email protected])