Creditinfo Guyana Inc. boasts developing local credit industry, expanding database

Jul 21, 2021 News

– Evaluated over 60,000 customers in 2019

Kaieteur News – Over the course of eight years, “Creditinfo Guyana Inc.” – the nation’s first licenced credit information bureau, has helped to develop a database and financial infrastructure that facilitated over 60,000 consumers in 2019.
To mark its 8-year anniversary, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of “Creditinfo Guyana Inc.” Judy Semple-Joseph, hosted a virtual media roundtable in which she shared on the impact of the service on lenders and borrowers within the context of the local marketplace.
Semple-Joseph told members of the press that over the years, Creditinfo has help to develop the credit industry in Guyana with a collection accurate and sufficient financial data to support the lending and borrowing markets.
“We have partnered with financial institutions, utility companies, hire purchase and other trade creditors… We collect data and information based on a reciprocal arrangement with our subscribers. Our subscribers are authorised by law to share data with us for credit assessment purposes. That data remains in our data base, so that lenders can access information for persons seeking loans (credit); they can access to the database and make a judgment on the credit worthiness of those individuals,” she explained.
The CEO noted, however, that generally consumers are not cognizant of how the Credit Bureau operates, particularly as a business.
She explained that Creditinfo Guyana is part of a global network, among a handful of operators within the Caribbean Region, that provides financial information to help guide banks and other credit lending institutions in their decision making process.
According to Semple-Joseph, the overall aim of the institution is to improve lives, as well as the general performance of businesses.
“One of the key things we like to emphasise about is our credit reporting data… over the years, we have evolved to include general risk management services and business information solution services… all this in regard to future direction of the global financial environment. Creditinfo can provide data analytic reports to not just subscribers, but policy makers to give insight on the nation’s credit infrastructure,” she added.
“We can help them understand the general status in respect to credit, the gender biases in lending and a whole range of other analytics that the industry may be interested, with data sourced from our main commercial banks, micro-financing companies, utilities companies and others,” she added.
Through the years, Semple-Joseph said that Creditinfo has helped encourage responsible lending; reduced in bad debts and credit delinquency as well alert institution to situations where potential for fraud exists.
On a personal level, she noted that consumers are able to access one free credit report from the credit bureau every year,
“We have also added a feature which allows for monitoring credit profile, more people are accessing credit, and more people are accessing credit repeatedly , lenders are in a better position to better assess the creditworthiness of their borrowers… she said of the organisation’s growth.
According to Mrs. Semple-Joseph, even in the pandemic there was a substantial request for credit reports.
“We started out with around 16,000 requests and had 60,000 in 2019, which was our biggest year yet, and in 2020 we had about 55,000 requests,” the CEO said.
As part of the Anniversary celebrations, Semple-Joseph announced plans by Creditinfo to intensify its efforts to educate and emphasise the public on the importance of data subjects’ [consumers and businesses] understanding of their credit profiles as outlined in the credit reporting legislation, and how this knowledge can be used to leverage financing for improving businesses and livelihoods
Creditinfo was granted the licence to operate as Guyana’s first credit bureau, in an effort to develop the country’s credit infrastructure, which is now considered one of the more developed in the Region.

Of significance, have been the company’s substantial contribution to financial inclusion, and the ease of getting credit as well as, the increasing ease with which lenders can verify the credit worthiness of borrowers.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News