CIC credit reports requested by institutions to be priced wholesale

THE CREDIT Information Corp. (CIC) in August will adopt a wholesale pricing scheme in which bulk rates will be charged on credit reports sought by financial institutions.

Under the new scheme approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), credit report inquiries will have a wholesale price of P10 each when financial institutions pre-purchase a million reports annually, the CIC said in a statement Saturday. The retail price is P15 for all other attempts to access the CIC database. 

“The new pricing scheme is intended to provide incentives to accessing entities and drive volume consumption of the CIC basic credit reports while ensuring improved revenue flow to sustain operations and enhance service quality,” CIC President and CEO Ben Joshua A. Baltazar said in his letter proposing the scheme to the SEC sitting en banc. 

The wholesale price scheme will take effect between August and the end of January.

The current introductory price of P10 per credit inquiry is in force until July 31. This price is offered for both the CIC’s Accessing Entities and Special Accessing Entities (SAEs).

Basic credit reports expire 18 months from the date of purchase.

Through the new scheme, CIC will also implement a “no hit, no pay policy” in which financial institutions will not be charged for data subjects found to have no credit history.

Mr. Baltazar said the CIC is also looking into developing a service that will certify a subject has no credit history, which will be beneficial for individuals who are new to borrowing, including new graduates and young professionals. 

“It is only right that newcomers to credit should be given a boost when they are assessed for their creditworthiness when they apply for a loan or other financial services for the first time,” Mr. Baltazar said.

Financial institutions will still have the option to access credit scoring services through SAEs such as CIBI Information, Inc., CRIF Philippines, and TransUnion Information Solutions. Consumer credit scores can be accessed directly through CIBI Information, Inc.’s myScore web portal.

The CIC has 603 submitting entities and 117 accessing entities which include major universal and commercial banks, rural and thrift banks, microfinance institutions, and lending and financing companies. — Luz Wendy T. Noble