As Creditinfo Guyana celebrates its eight anniversary, the company is confident that it has sufficient market knowledge and expertise to support the lending and borrowing sectors in Guyana.
Creditinfo Guyana CEO Judy Semple-Joseph
This was conveyed on Monday the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Judy Semple-Joseph, who during a virtual press conference, provided information on the company’s features and how it has been supporting economic progress.
On July 15, 2013, Creditinfo Guyana was granted its licence to operate the country’s first credit bureau to develop the country’s credit infrastructure which is now considered one of the more developed in the Region.
The institution collects and stores individual data from lenders such as banks, credit unions, hire purchases, and utility companies which can be accessed by lending institutions under the laws. With this data, lenders can determine if a loan would be granted and the amount that would be granted depending on an individual’s credit history.
“Credit info considers itself an information and decision solution company that helps lenders and businesses make better-informed decisions in the entire credit life cycle for individuals and companies, and with financial inclusion as a vision,” Semple-Joseph posited.
According to her, Creditinfo Guyana is a part of the global credit info network that has been in existence for more than 25 years with operations in over 50 countries. Importantly, she noted that the company’s operations in terms of information security and quality management are ISO certified, while the efforts of its industry are supported by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation.
Semple-Joseph related that over the years, the institution has evolved into a global company to include general risk management services, business information solutions, and FinTech services given the future direction of the global environment. She disclosed that the institution has benefitted from the Credit Reporting Act No 9 of 2010 and a subsequent amendment “which would have allowed us to operate fully.”
“Over the last eight years we have developed the industry in Guyana to the point where we are confident that we have sufficient data, we have sufficient market knowledge and we have the expertise to support the lending and borrowing sectors in this country. We have significantly been able to have all the financial institutions partner with us, utility and hire companies, and some other trade creditors.”
The CEO acknowledged that while persons are not yet fully aware of the company’s functions, it strives to encourage data sharing within and across the industry, encourage responsible use of credit, implement best practices, reduce bad debt, increase new business and customer profitability, and identify potential fraud.
Moreover, Creditinfo Guyana’s CEO pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic has made it even more appropriate that it allows access to credit reporting services online. She said that persons can request their credit report from the company’s website “and that can be facilitated within a very short period.”
“We have also added a feature that allows for monitoring of your credit profile and this is something we highly recommend for individuals and consumers because it allows you to track and see what are the changes, positive or negative that may need to be addressed,” Joseph-Semple added.
She outlined some of the benefits of a credit score to consumers include financial identity, access to all goods and services such as homeownership and education, increased choice of borrowing, reduced cost of credit, faster, cheaper, objective, and consistent credit decisions, and responsible borrowing behaviour.
“One of the things we have sensed over the last eight years is that more people are accessing credit and more people are accessing credit repeatedly. There is an increasing trend where lenders are in a better position to access and verify the creditworthiness of their borrowers.”
Semple-Joseph, nevertheless, assured that all information stored on the company’s database is secured from unauthorised access. (G1)
