The ABCs of clearing your credit record (Part 1)
At Libertine Consultants, we receive questions about credit records every day. We are often contacted by people who have taken out many loans and made a lot debt and are now unable to get any credit because of a poor credit record or blacklisting. But what does it mean when you have bad credit or a low credit score? And what can you do when you have a negative listing on your credit record and want to clear your name?
To make it as simple as possible, we’re going to break this rather complicated matter down into four questions and provide answers to each one in a series of four separate articles:
What is a credit bureau & what do they do?
What is a credit report & why do I have one?
What does a good credit report look like?
What causes a low credit score & what can I do to improve mine?
What is a credit bureau?
A credit bureau is a business that monitors and records individual consumer credit activities. It is sometimes called ITC, because that was the only credit bureau in South Africa for a long time. Today there are four main credit bureau that have been approved and registered with the National Credit Regulator (NCR) in South Africa. They are:
TransUnion Credit Bureau (based in America)
Experian Credit Bureau (based in Europe)
Compuscan Credit Bureau (based in SA)
XDS Credit Bureau (based in SA)
What does a credit bureau do?
These businesses provide credit providers or potential lenders with an idea of how you manage your credit. They do so by calculating your credit score based on a variety of factors. In short, they capture, update and store your credit history based on your financial activity. If you've managed your debt well, i.e. you pay it off consistently without missing payments, your credit score will be good. To lenders, you will seem like a safe borrower. On the other hand, you appear risky and credit providers are less likely to provide you with credit if your payment history shows that you often miss a monthly payment and fall into arrears.
The good news is that you can change your credit score by improving the way you handle your money. There are ways to show the bureau that you have become more responsible. It takes some time, but if you do it right, your credit report will look a lot better and you will eventually be able to get credit again. At Libertine Consultants, we will give you advice on how to do this.
More about your credit report
Look out for our next three articles that will take a closer look at your credit report, what a good credit report should look like and what you can do to improve a negative credit score. In the meantime, feel free to contact a Libertine Consultant representative directly if you have any questions about credit clearance. We're happy to provide any assitance and information you may need!
