Bad credit records increase marginally for 4Q 2010

Razor's Kalay Maistry and NTT Data's Marian Scala named in Provoke Media’s Innovator 25 EMEA

Danette Breitenbach

In a quarter-on-quarter comparison between the December 2010 and September 2010 quarters, the National Credit Regulator (NCR) reported that the number of consumers with impaired records increased to 8.61m. This indicates a deterioration in the credit records of 120 000 (0.2%) consumers quarter-on-quarter and 426 000 (1.2%) year-on-year. In terms of accounts, the number of impaired accounts decreased by 189 000, to 16.36 million. This is a decrease of 0.2% over the previous quarter.

Nomsa Motshegare, Acting CEO of the NCR, said earlier this week that the credit bureau statistics indicate a minor decline in consumer credit standing.

176.65 million enquiries were made on consumer credit records - decrease of 6.9% quarter-on-quarter and an increase of 20.3% year-on-year
Enquiries initiated by consumers accounted for 11.68 million of all enquiries, an increase of 9.6% quarter-on-quarter and 12.8% year-on-year
Number of credit reports issued to consumers increased to 79 635
82.9% (66 034) were issued without charge and 17.1% (13 601) were issued with charge
Banks and other financial institutions accounted for 54.2% of enquiries in the quarter,
Retailers accounted for 14.9%
Telecommunications providers accounted for 14.8%
Banks and other financial institutions' enquiries increased by 25.3% from the previous quarter,
Retailers decreased by 54.7%
Telecommunication providers decreased by 4.3%
14 836 disputes lodged on information held on consumer credit records for the quarter ended December 2010, which was a decrease of 34.3% quarter-on-quarter and an increase of 40.3% year-on-year.