Dear Editor,
Credit Bureaus are critical elements of a country’s financial infrastructure. They increase access to credit; they support responsible lending and reduce credit losses; and they strengthen banking supervision in monitoring systemic risk.
However this Credit Bureau seems to be failing in its responsibility. I visited the institution to obtain a credit report on myself to take to a money lender to obtain a loan to pay for a land allocation, which I have to clear within six months. The area that the land is currently located on is a swamp and won’t be developed for another year, but it somehow costs $2.5M.
Now the Bank with which I have credit facilities, for the past three years has opined that they don’t loan money to buy land unless a transport can be issued, in which case it takes the government just about a year, so they won’t lend. This has forced me to take my request to a private money lender who has requested I present a credit report to facilitate the transaction. Now if I don’t pay for this land within six months, the allocation will be rescinded, so urgency is key.
The Credit Bureau yesterday informed me that I have no credit score despite starting my business in 2014/2015 with a loan of $500,000 from IPED, which I cleared within six months. After this I obtained another loan from IPED for $1.5M and a hire purchase from BM Soat for $2.5M in 2015, which was subsequently bought over by IPED in 2016. After servicing these loans for some time I transferred all of my credit to Republic Bank Limited (RBL) in October, 2016 in order to benefit from a reduced interest rate offered through the Small Business Bureau for a loan of $2.8M. This loan was paid well until June, 2017, when I refinanced for another $500,000, to do some expansion and has been paid down to about $1.5M to date.
I also have a credit facility with Unicomer Guyana Inc. which was initiated in February, 2018 for approximately $900,000 which is currently down to $210,000 and will be cleared in three months. Multi-million dollar credit facilities and personal spending have enabled me to have a business with assets worth $6M and home furnishings worth $2M, with a current indebtedness of about $1.7M, after starting out with nothing in 2014.
I’m certain that anyone reading this would get the impression that I have an excellent credit score to be able to obtain that many loans and to have paid them down and obtained news ones, which have also been paid down significantly due to the good performance of my business. But according to the Credit Bureau, I still owe IPED $200,000. There is no data about the completion of my loans at IPED, nothing from my recent credit at RBL and nothing from Unicomer, nothing that is accurate, correct or up to date.
This is appalling and preposterous. This institute which operates at a luxurious building located on prime real estate in Central Georgetown, established six years ago has no current data on me. After some probing, I was told that the various credit institutions have not been submitting the required data for the past few years. When asked why hasn’t the Credit Bureau been requesting the information, I was told that the credit institutions are required to submit them on a monthly basis and they wouldn’t know if any information was not submitted unless an individual like myself files a complaint.
It seems to me that the Credit Bureau isn’t doing any work. They are not maintaining the vast and expansive database they’re supposed to be maintaining on all Guyanese residents in order to provide the timely reports they were established to provide. They seem to be just sitting and waiting for a request to come in, after which they go look for the required information.
Now mind you, I put this to the test too. After receiving my outdated credit report and having left the office, the receptionist called and indicated to me that both IPED and RBL were contacted and informed the Credit Bureau that the respective loan contracts were closed and that my credit rating is still zero or non- existent.
The vapid explanation for this is that you need to have current credit facilities in order to have a credit rating. How irresponsible? First of all I do have current credit facilities that are well serviced so this should not have been said to me. Second of all, even if I didn’t have any current credit facilities, then the past history of good loan servicing should serve to render a good credit rating for myself. One should not need to have a current credit facility to have a credit rating! Factors such as job stability, asset accumulation, income level, and most significantly past credit facilities should contribute to someone’s credit rating.
I’m asking that these issues be rectified immediately. I will be returning next week for an accurate and up to date credit report on myself.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)
