CIC’s credit reports now available for P10 each

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS can now avail credit reports from the Credit Information Corporation (CIC) for an introductory fee of P10 until March 2020.

In a statement on Friday, the state-run CIC said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) en banc has approved its request for a P10 introductory price until March 2020 as part of the large-scale use of credit reports for financial institutions (FI).

“The ten-peso introductory price for FIs is a way to lower any investment risk in using the CIC data, which some information users may consider a new entrant into the credit information delivery business,” CIC President and CEO Jaime Casto Jose P. Garchitorena was quoted as saying.

The price is inclusive of the value-added tax but starting April 2020, its commercial value will be set at P55.

Lenders or other submitting entities can access CIC’s basic credit data if they agree to pay for the services, comply with the minimum six months of continuous submission and complete all required documents including the Memorandum of Agreement.

Access to CIC data is not mandatory but is subject to terms and conditions.

“Even at the full price of P55, with our comprehensive gathering of credit information from the full range of lenders — from commercial banks to MFIs and coops — we believe that our product is worth the money,” Mr. Garchitorena said.

“With the CIC data, even individuals with no actual credit history can have some type of data-driven basis for being assessed for creditworthiness,” he added.

The CIC’s database has nearly nine million unique borrowers and more than 45 million contracts.

Its credit reports contain consolidated positive and negative credit data and detailed financial contracts and credit card records, among others. These will be available online for qualified institutions.

CIC started rolling out paid access since July this year.

Those that can participate are credit card issuers, universal and commercial banks, thrift banks, rural banks, cooperatives and cooperative banks, savings and loan associations, private lending institutions, private leasing, and financing companies, microfinance institutions, government-owned and controlled corporations, and insurance companies.

Created by the Republic Act No. 9510, otherwise known as the Credit Information System Act, CIC is mandated is to establish a comprehensive and centralized credit information system for the collection and dissemination of fair and accurate information on credit of all participating institutions. — B.M. Laforga