MAKATI CITY, 31 March 2020 – In view of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon and lockdowns in various parts of the country, Credit Information Corporation (CIC)—the country’s central credit registry and repository of credit information—announced an extension in submission of credit data by its covered entities until 30 April 2020 from the original 5th of April deadline.
“The CIC recognizes the impact of the current public health emergency on the regular operations of its submitting financial institutions,” CIC President and CEO Jaime Casto Jose Garchitorena explained.
The financial institutions’ regular submission of their borrowers’ credit data to the CIC database is every 5th day of the following month to ensure regular updating.
The said extension, issued through a letter-memorandum dated 26 March 2020, covers CIC’s submitting entities in production—financial institutions that are already submitting live or actual basic credit data of their borrowers to the Credit Information System (CIS). These include universal and thrift banks, rural banks, credit card and insurance companies, cooperatives, savings and loan associations, private lending institutions, leasing and financing companies, microfinance institutions, and government-owned and controlled corporations with lending facilities.
As of date, the CIC has a total of 483 submitting entities in production with the addition of nine (9) financial institutions in the first quarter of 2020.
Garchitorena likewise emphasized that the CIC continuously upholds its responsibility of keeping its data fresh and updated, especially given the current pandemic: “The CIC expects that there will be a surge in loans related to the average person trying to deal with the financial difficulties. The data that we have will help both lenders and borrowers when making credit-related decisions.”
“This is part of our commitment to make our credit information services available amid this COVID-19 threat. Despite our work from home arrangement, access to CIC database remains available 24/7 with no disruptions,” he continued.
CIC likewise cautioned its accessing entities—submitting entities or any other entity authorized to access basic credit data from the CIC—that failure to submit within the period of extension shall be a ground for disconnecting their access to the CIC database.