Credit bureau wants to enhance role through changes to law
The National Credit Bureau (NCB), the only such agency in Thailand, plans to propose the revision of laws relating to credit scoring, cheque usage information, statistical information and the provision of credit records.
Niwat Kanjanaphoomin, CEO of the bureau, said yesterday that such revision would enhance its role in the credit industry. "Revising the law would benefit customers. For example, with credit scoring, customers may be able to negotiate with financial institutions. Financial institutions would also be exposed to fewer risks. "In the United States, credit scoring has successfully helped the credit industry," Niwat said. Under current laws, the NCB can only collect and sell credit information about individuals to institutional and individual customers. Credit scoring conducts credit ratings for individual debtors. Information on the use of cheques would allow the NCB to provide better-quality information to reduce the risks involved in cheque usage for both financial institutions and individuals. Statistical information, meanwhile, would provide more details of individuals' debt-payment behaviour. The NCB will also propose revising the law to allow it to provide credit-record information to individuals free of charge once a year. Currently, individuals are charged Bt200 per time for their own credit data. Niwat said there were about 13 million borrowers in Thailand who together have 45 million credit accounts, of which 30 million are in effect active. Categorised by loan types, there are 11 million credit-card accounts, 9 million personal-loan accounts, 3.4 million automobile hire-purchase accounts, 2.6 million accounts for housing/mortgage loans, 2 million overdraft accounts and 1.5 million accounts for other hire-purchase activities. About 250,000 borrowers have legally registered 3 million credit accounts with the NCB, of which 1.1 million are active. Categorised by loan types, there are 300,000 accounts for domestic bills, 350,000 accounts for import and export bills, 100,000 accounts for packing credit, and 75,000 accounts for clean bill discounts. Out of this total, about 4,000 borrowers have checked their credit reports as filed with the bureau. "The credit bureau's mission is to create an opportunity for consumers to be able to contact the source of funds," said Niwat. The NCB will be an exhibitor at Money Expo at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre from May 10-13 and the Housing and Condo event from May 17-20, providing information to the public regarding personal credit. Siriporn Chanjindamanee The Nation
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