The Credit Bureau and Your Credit Rating
About the Credit Bureau
The Credit Bureau in Malaysia is established under the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 1958. It has been in operation since 1982. Like all other credit bureau in the world, the Credit Bureau essentially collects credit information on borrowers from lending institutions and furnishes the credit information collected back to the institutions in the form of credit report via an on-line system known as Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS).
What’s the role of the Credit Bureau?
The Credit Bureau plays an important role in the area of credit risk management and the promotion of a sound credit culture in the financial system of the country. It is recognised globally that a matured and developed financial sector must have effective and efficient systems to manage credit risks in order to sustain the financial needs of the government, industry and consumers.
The existence of a credit bureau makes it easier for financial institutions to make informed and responsible lending decisions in a more timely manner. Checking with the credit bureau would also help the financial institutions to mitigate any possibility of serious problems such as fraud cases.
Who could request for the Credit Rating Report?
According to BNM, here are the list of entities:
* Financial institutions upon any credit facility application;
* Any individual for his own credit report; and
* Any company for its own credit report.
Application for credit report for individual and company could only be made once in 12 months from the last date of request.
What is the Credit Report being used for?
The credit report is used by the financial institutions as one of the ways to make assessment on the credit facility application. The financial institution is required to inform the applicant, in writing that a credit check is to be conducted under the applicant’s name and the credit facility application will be reported to the Credit Bureau. Reference to the Credit Bureau will be made by the financial institutions periodically to obtain updates on an existing borrower.
The information contained in the credit report is entirely factual and historical. The Credit Bureau does not express any opinion about the information it supplies in the credit report. Different financial institutions employ different lending policies and attach varying degrees of importance to the details given in the credit report. Lending decisions depend on the risk evaluation by the financial institutions. Using the same information from the credit report and other sources, one lender may approve an application while another may not.
How to obtain your Credit Report?
The credit report can be obtained from Bank Negara Malaysia at no cost by following the steps below:
Request by individual
1) If you are from the Klang Valley, you may obtain the credit report from the Customer Service Centre, Laman Informasi Nasihat dan Khidmat (LINK) of Bank Negara Malaysia, Head Office at the following address:
LINK
Jabatan Komunikasi Korporat
Tingkat Bawah, Blok D
Bank Negara Malaysia
Jalan Dato’ Onn
50480 Kuala Lumpur
LINK operates daily from Monday to Friday, 9.00 am – 5.00 pm (including lunch time ) except for public holidays .
Please bring along your MyKad and any other supporting documents that can verify your identity such as your driving licence or passport. The credit report will be given to you during the visit.
2) If you are from outside of Klang Valley, you may apply for the credit report by completing and sending us the following:
Please complete and send us the following:
* Credit Report Request Form (CRR);
* Loan Declaration Form;
* A clear photocopy of your MyKad (both sides); and
* Any combination of two other documents (with your name and address stated clearly on each copy) from the following:
* Driving licence;
* Passport;
* Water bill;
* Electricity bill; or
* Telephone bill.
However, if the above documents are not available, you may provide alternative documents such as:
* Bank account statement;
* Credit card statement; or
* EPF statement.
The Credit Report Request Form and Loan Declaration Form are available either by:-
* Click here to download the form [PDF, 26K]; or
* by requesting it from any of the Bank Negara Malaysia branches (Johor Bahru, Kuala Terengganu, Pulau Pinang, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching). Click here [PDF, 10K] for list of branches.
Please mail or fax the completed forms and supporting documents to BNMTELELINK, Bank Negara Malaysia at:
BNMTELELINK
Jabatan Komunikasi Korporat
Bank Negara Malaysia
Jalan Dato’ Onn
P.O Box 10922
50929 Kuala Lumpur
Fax No: +603 2174 1515
For more options, visit this link: Obtaining Your Credit Report
How to dispute your Credit Report information?
If you have a reason to believe that a copy of the credit report from Bank Negara Malaysia is inaccurate, you are advised to liaise directly first with the respective financial institution for clarification and update. The financial institution must immediately rectify any inaccurate or incomplete information by sending the amendment(s) to the Credit Bureau to reflect the latest credit position of the borrower.
In the event that you are not satisfied with the explanation given by the financial institution, you may request for data review from Bank Negara Malaysia.
Request for Data Review (RDR) form can be downloaded here [PDF, 23K]. Please identify disputed items in the credit report and explain why the information is disputed.
* For personal collection, please complete and submit the RDR form at LINK;
* If you are from outside of Klang Valley, you can submit the completed RDR form to the following:
BNMTELELINK
Jabatan Komunikasi Korporat
Bank Negara Malaysia
P.O Box 10922
50929 Kuala Lumpur
Fax No: 03-21741515
The Credit Bureau will investigate and notify the financial institution that had provided the disputed information together with all relevant data. The investigation and remedial process will normally take about a month to be completed. You will be notified of the outcome of the investigation. In the event that the disputed information is confirmed accurate, you are advised to refer the matter to the respective financial institution.
Source: Bank Negara Malaysia
