The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) on Monday denied ever meeting with the management of CreditInfo to discuss subscription matters, which the bureau recently claimed is mandatory for the union.
GPSU president, Patrick Yarde, made this disclosure at a recent press briefing at the Union’s headquarters on Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown, in the presence of executive members of the GPSU, who also denied ever meeting with CreditInfo to discuss the union’s subscription to the bureau.
“I know (that) I, as a member of the management committee (of the GPSU), have had meetings with CreditInfo, and the money laundering people, and a variety of different things as a member of the credit union management committee,” Yarde said.
He added, “As far as my knowledge goes, there may not be a relationship; neither was there any meeting, as far as my knowledge goes.”
CreditInfo recently related to media operatives that the bureau has been engaging the GPSU for the past five years, but has not been able to get the union body to come on board as a subscriber of its services.
“Section 12 of the Credit Reporting Act of 2010, and the Credit Reporting Amendment Act of 2016, those are the governing pieces of legislation that speak to this specific issue,” CreditInfo’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Judy Semple-Joseph told Guyana Times.
She said that, for the past five years, the team has been engaging the GPSU and several other credit unions in efforts to get them on board as subscribers to CreditInfo’s services.
“It is absolutely necessary for the larger credit unions to be affiliated with CreditInfo. It is critical, let’s say, for them to be associated. I think their positions will be so much better. They will do much better business, there will be much better financial positions at the end of the day,” the CEO underscored.
Semple-Joseph said the agency would be working aggressively to specifically get the GPSU on board.
“Even though it is mandated by law, there is a process; and it is quite a task, in some instances, to get institutions to sign on… Even though it’s mandated by law, we still have to engage. It’s our responsibility to show them that it is a mutually beneficial arrangement,” she explained.
Semple-Joseph said she understands the system is fairly new to Guyana, but it is nevertheless important.
“Even though there is a requirement by law, our policy is not to go with a big stick and say you must do this. We prefer to have you see the benefits and come on board voluntarily… We have engaged the credit union sector. I can tell you that we have engaged every single credit union in the sector. I can tell you that we have targeted our outreach to the National Credit Union League, and through them, we have had innumerable meetings, presentations and engagements with every single credit union in the sector,” David Falkconer, Manager of Sales and Business Development, explained.
CreditInfo Guyana is a fairly new initiative, which commenced five years ago locally. Its objective is to collect credit information for the purpose of facilitating access to credit. The credit bureau therefore has information from debtors who use credit cards, or even have a bank loan.
A few of the agencies which would have subscribed to CreditInfo, along with all the banks, include the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), Guyana Power and Light (GPL), Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT), Courts Guyana, University of Guyana, and Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED), among others.
