Nomsa Motshegare, Acting CEO of the National Credit Regulator, says that the credit bureau statistics reported for the quarter ended September 2011 indicate that consumer performance is holding steady. She advised consumers to exercise restraint in their spending and credit use during the upcoming festive season.
Credit bureaus create consumer credit profiles based on credit information received from credit providers, courts and utility service providers. The National Credit Regulator (NCR) regulates and monitors registered credit bureaus and the quality of their data. As at end of September 2011, credit bureaus had records for 19.10 million credit-active consumers, an increase of 1.4% over the 18.84 million reported for the quarter ended June 2011. Consumers classified in good standing increased by 232,000, a 0.5% increase in proportion to the total number of credit-active consumers.
The number of consumers with impaired records increased by 24 000 to 8,83 million, a 0,5% decrease quarter-on-quarter and 0,1% year-on-year.
Impaired credit
The number of accounts increased from 65,00 million in the previous quarter to 66.03 million, an increase of 1,6%. A total of 16,54 million accounts were reported as impaired for the quarter ended September 2011. The number of accounts with impaired records decreased by 0,2% quarter-on-quarter to 25,1% in proportion to the total number of consumer accounts, with 74,9% of the accounts in good standing.
The total number of enquiries made on consumer credit records was 258,33 million for the quarter, an increase of 3,5% quarter-on-quarter and 36,1% year-on-year. Enquiries initiated by consumers accounted for 13.36 million of all enquiries, an increase of 9,6% quarter-on-quarter and 25,4% year-on-year. Of the total enquiries made on consumer records, enquiries from banks and other financial institutions accounted for 74,5%, enquiries from retailers accounted for 5,2% and enquiries from telecommunication providers accounted for 9,3%. Banks and other financial institutions’ enquiries increased by 13,5% from the previous quarter, retailers decreased by 31,7% and telecommunication providers also decreased by 37,3%. Enquiries made by debt collection agencies increased by 44,6% quarter-on-quarter.
Resolving disputes
Consumers received a total of 100 885 credit reports during the September 2011 quarter. Of the total credit reports issued, 81,6% (82,348) were issued without charge, and the remaining 18,4% (18,537) were issued with charge.
There were 7,070 disputes lodged on information held on consumer credit records for the quarter ended September 2011, which was an increase of 9,8% quarter-on-quarter and a decrease of 68,7% year-on-year. More disputes were resolved in favour of the complainant (5,652) when compared to disputes where the record remained the same (1,305).