Credit Bureau Monitor
The information reflected in this edition of the Credit Bureau Monitor covers the period from the quarter ended March 2012 to March 2016, and is based on data held by registered credit bureaus in terms of the National Credit Act No 34 of 2005.
Summary
Credit bureaus create consumer credit profiles based on credit information received from credit providers, courts and utility service providers. The National Credit Regulator (NCR) regulates and monitors registered credit bureaus and the quality of their data.
Credit standing of consumers: March 2016
As at the end of March 2016:
• Credit bureaus held records for 23.88 million credit-active consumers, an increase of 0.6% when compared to the 23.74 million in the previous quarter. Consumers classified in good standing increased by 460,000, to 14.33 million consumers. As a percentage of the total number of credit-active consumers, this reflects an increase of 1.6% quarter-on-quarter and 5.0% year-on-year.
• The number of consumers with impaired records decreased by 320,000 to 9.55 million, from 9.87 million in the previous quarter. • The number of accounts increased from 83.55 million in the previous quarter to 84.96 million. The number of impaired accounts decreased from 19.99 million to 19.92 million when compared to the previous quarter, a decrease of 67,000 quarter-on-quarter and 2.45 million year-on-year.
• A total of 391.78 million enquiries were made on consumer credit records, a decrease of 6.4% quarter-on-quarter and an increase of 16.6% year-on-year. Enquiries initiated by consumers accounted for 16.99 million of all enquiries, an increase of 8.6% quarter-on-quarter and 33.1% year-on-year.
• Of the total enquiries made on consumer records, enquiries from banks and other financial institutions accounted for 73.6%, enquiries from retailers accounted for 6.8% and enquiries from telecommunication providers accounted for 3.7%. Banks and other financial institutions’ enquiries increased by 3.3% from the previous quarter, retailers decreased by 1.4% and telecommunication providers increased by 30.9%.
• The number of credit reports issued to consumers decreased to 129,458. Of the total credit reports issued, 72.6% (93,977) were issued without charge, and the remaining 27.4% (35,481) were issued with charge.
• There were 29,558 disputes lodged on information held on consumer credit records for the quarter ended March 2016, an increase of 18.6% quarter-on-quarter and 29.0% year-on-year.
