Your Credit Score May Be Incorrect. Here’s What to Do…

Your credit score is an important number. It indicates the level of risk you pose to a credit provider when you apply for an overdraft, credit card, personal loan, vehicle finance or mortgage bond on a property. 

The score is based on your credit record, or credit profile – a history of your credit-related transactions that shows, among other things, how diligently you have repaid loans in the past, how much you owe in debt, and any judgments against you if you have defaulted on repayments. 

These records are maintained by the primary credit bureaus in South Africa, which gather the information from banks and other institutions. The bureaus are: Consumer Profile Bureau, Experian, ITC Credit Bureau, TransUnion, VCCB and XDS. 

The bureau converts this data into an overall three-figure score, which you can access directly from the credit bureaus or on apps such as ClearScore, which operate in conjunction with one or more bureaus. 

You are also entitled to a free credit report a year, which is a summary of your credit profile. With this information, you can take steps to improve your credit score which, in turn, will improve your chances of getting credit and negotiating a favourable interest rate on, say, a vehicle loan or mortgage bond.. 

What if my credit profile is incorrect or out of date? 

It’s important to regularly check your credit score and obtain your report. Not only will the report indicate where you can improve in managing your money, but it can show you whether a fraudster has stolen your identity and opened a card or loan in your name. You can also assess whether or not the information the bureau has on you is correct. 

Recently, the National Credit Regulator (NCR), the regulatory body that monitors compliance with the National Credit Act, issued a guideline on what consumers should do if they believe the information on their credit profile is incorrect. 

The NCR guideline says you should proceed as follows in challenging information held by a credit bureau: 

• You must notify the bureau of the inaccurate information either by email, telephone, or via the bureau’s website. 

• You may be required to provide certain information or documentation to facilitate the investigation and resolution of the dispute. This may include identification documents, proof of address and supporting documentation for the disputed information. 

• On receipt of the notification of challenged information, the credit bureau must mask the information and refrain from reporting it until the dispute is resolved. This must be done as soon as possible, but no later than five business days after receiving the challenge. 

• The credit bureau must take reasonable steps to obtain evidence to support the challenged information. If it does so, the evidence must be provided to you, the complainant. The challenged information will then be unmasked and retained in the bureau’s records. 

• If the bureau is unable to obtain credible evidence to support the challenged information, the information must be corrected or removed from the records. 

• The bureau must complete the dispute resolution process within 20 business days from receiving the notification plus all required supporting information and documentation. 

• If you are dissatisfied with the outcome, you may, within 20 business days of receiving the supporting evidence from the bureau, apply to the NCR to investigate the disputed information. This must take the form of a complaint. 

• You need to complete a complaint form (NCR Form 29), which must include a detailed description of the complaint and steps taken to resolve the matter (inclusive of dates), and attach all supporting documents and the reference number provided by the credit bureau. 

• For detailed information on the NCR’s complaints process and to access Form 29, go to https://www.ncr.org.za/index.php/departments/complaints 

• To contact the NCR, call 0860 627 627 or email creditbureaudisputes@ncr.org.za