The Importance of Your Credit Reputation

Impact of Your Credit Reputation

Part of everyday life involves managing your finances. This could range from administering an investment portfolio to clipping coupons. Yet very few people take the time to manage a very important part of their financial situation – their credit reputation.

Your credit reputation – your experience in borrowing money will impact the likelihood of getting a credit approval in any type of loan - real estate loans, car loans, credit cards, installment loans, and so on. A person with a poor credit reputation will pay thousands of dollars more in interest payments and insurance premiums than a person with a good credit reputation.

Is Your Credit Information Correct?

The first step in managing your credit reputation is making sure the information in your credit file is accurate. This involves obtaining a credit report. CBS credit bureau report entails information of your credit facilities obtained with the banks and financial institutions.

CBS is the only Consumer Credit Bureau in Singapore that has a full-industry upload by all card issuing banks and financial institutions in Singapore. Today, CBS, which is an associate company of The Association of Banks in Singapore, has 30 member banks and financial institutions.

An additional benefit of obtaining your credit report is spotting “identity theft”. As this becomes more common, reviewing your credit file on a frequent basis is a must. And if you are an identity theft victim, finding the theft early is the best way to stop this event from getting out of hand.

There are numerous ways to obtain a credit report. The fastest and easiest way is to simply log into www.creditbureau.com.sg with your SingPass ID and password to purchase your credit report at $6.42 (including GST).

Once you have obtained your credit report, there are two areas within the report to review carefully. First, look to see if there any derogatory items on incorrect payment patterns or credit facilities being uploaded. Second, review the report for any open accounts that do not belong to you. These form part of the determining factor in your credit reputation.

If you do have any incorrect derogatory information that needs to be disputed, do speak with our Consumer Services team to investigate on this matter. The team will raise this matter with the relevant bank and revert within 10 working days. Once the dispute is resolved, a new credit report with the correct information will be sent to your attention and as well the other bank members who have recently requested for your credit file.

In order to improve your chance of obtaining your next loan, be sure that you have kept your credit reputation in check.

Here are some tips which you can adopt to enhance your credit reputation:

Enhancing Credit Reputation

1. Payment conduct – Payment history is a very important factor in determining your credit score. Since recent history carries more weight than what happened five years ago, getting in the habit of making on-time payments is an incredible powerful way to improve your credit rating.

2. Number of credit facilities owned – Avoid multiple sources of credit. It is more manageable to keep track of 2 credit cards than 10.

3. Outstanding account balances – Lenders like to see plenty of breathing room between the amount of debt reported on your credit cards and your total credit limits. The more debt you pay off, the wider that gap and the better your credit rating.

4. Record of bankruptcy proceedings – Bankruptcy is the most catastrophic impediment to your good credit reputation, far worse than delinquencies, loans or collections. Its impact, however, is dependant on how many defaults you made on your credit before you filed.

Important Contact Information

Credit Bureau Singapore Hotline Number: 6565 6363

Credit Bureau Singapore Email Address: [email protected]