MANILA, 31 January 2022 – The Credit Information Corporation (CIC), the country’s public credit registry and repository of credit information, now has the credit data of 30.7 million unique individuals with more than a hundred million loan contracts.
In his keynote speech during The Manila Times’ online forum on “Credit Literacy for Financial Mobility,” CIC President and CEO Atty. Ben Joshua Baltazar emphasized how this wealth of information is essential to rebuilding creditworthiness and accelerating economic recovery in the coming year.
He added that the CIC Credit Report stands alone in terms of depth, breadth, and scope.
“The CIC is the largest, most comprehensive credit database in the market right now since it has a very strong legal basis for collection—the Credit Information System Act (CISA)—which has been effective in consolidating massive data covering over 30 million borrowers or approximately 45 percent of the country’s adult population,” the CIC PCEO shared.
Its most recent data also revealed that installment transactions dominate the loan contracts in its database with 84 million entries. This is followed by 24 million credit card records and 1.5 million non-installment transactions. The data accounts for a significant portion of the credit activity of Filipinos.
“Since it consolidates both positive and negative credit data of borrowers from across all lender types, the CIC Credit Report provides a comprehensive view of an individual’s creditworthiness,” Atty. Baltazar further explained.
He added that over a million CIC Credit Reports have already been accessed by banks and other financial institutions for use in their credit-decisioning activities from 2020 to 2021: “This is a testament to the heightened importance of CIC’s credit data during the pandemic. Use of its data is a convenient and low-cost way to underpin information and risk-based evaluation of loan applications.”
The PCEO likewise highlighted the CIC’s other initiatives to help rebuild creditworthiness and accelerate economic recovery such as its ongoing Data Quality and Usability Assessment (DQUA) directed towards its Accessing Entities.
In addition, the pilot batch for the Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) credit reports through Accessing Entities (“D2C thru AE”) initiative is expected to be rolled out this first quarter 2022 to select financial institutions. This was conceptualized to provide the public with the convenience of securing their credit report from their preferred bank or lender.
“While gearing up for our programs, we are also working alongside the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in developing compatibility and integration with the National ID or the PhilSys,” he added.
The CIC is a member of the inter-agency Technical Working Group that develops and refines policies and standards for interfacing with PhilSys.
“Moving forward, the reliability and accuracy of our credit data will be greatly enhanced through the seamless integration with the PhilSys ID,” the CIC PCEO ended.
Atty. Baltazar was joined by TransUnion Information Solutions PCEO Pia Arellano and wealth coach Chinkee Tan as resource speakers in The Manila Times forum moderated by its Chairman and CEO Dante “Klink” Ang II and columnist Ben Kritz.
To know more about your credit report, you may inquire with your bank or other financial service provider today or visit the CIC website at www.creditinfo.gov.ph.
This press release was also featured in BusinessWorld, Journal Online, Manila Insight, and Business Information Industry Association (BIIA).