The Bahrain Credit Reference Bureau (BCRB) operated by the Benefit Company has been fully functional for over 12 months. This had led to more accurate credit decisions by the Bahrain Banks and Financial Institutions while providing applicants with credit facilities that are more in line with their capability to repay and keep their credit and charge cards within more manageable limits.
Customers are being made aware that the utmost security and confidentiality is applied so that their data is protected. In fact, Benefit does not release any information without the direct approval of the Customer and only after a signature has been provided on the Customer Consent Form- all of which is held in a secure environment by Benefit.
Benefit General Manager, Mr. AbdulWahid Janahi highlighted the BCRB's 25% growth from last year saying, "The CRB now comprises 25 member institutions in the banking and finance sector and market indicators signify that several more organizations will join.
"Search inquiries dramatically increased by 227%, and due to increasing awareness the number of the requested credit reports rose by 188%. All this indicates that the usage of CRB in Bahrain is becoming more important and more apparent
"Our next step will be to add a new category to the BCRB's membership such as insurance companies and commercial establishments. This will further our goals of offering a solid nationwide credit reference bureau, serving both financial and national communities," Mr. Janahi concluded.
BENEFIT, along with each Bank and Financial Institution, has agreed to follow a Code of Practice which maintains the level of security as demanded by the Central Bank of Bahrain. Such security is so effective that not even BENEFIT is able to access such data thus making it impossible for BENEFIT to change or amend any information belonging to the Customer.
If Customers wish to dispute the information that is being provided to a lender during the credit application process there is a simple procedure which the Customer can follow. This provides a Customer Credit Report which can be obtained at any Bank of Financial Institution who is a registered with BENEFIT. This is particularly useful if Customers need to know if their data is correct and provides an opportunity to rectify the problem if the data is incorrect. It is especially important as it provides information only available to the Customer and not necessarily seen by the Lender who is making the enquiry.
Any rectification can be done by applying to the Lender shown on the Customers Credit Report and request that the error is rectified. If the Lender agrees that the information is incorrect the error can be rectified on line in a matter of minutes. This allows future Bureau Enquiries to pick up the latest and up to date information on the Customer the very next time an enquiry is done. Had this incorrect data been an issue that affected the initial credit application this secondary enquiry will show the information as it should be.
Customers should be aware that such practice does not electronically record another enquiry on the BCRB Database as this may affect the Customers creditworthiness in the future. Similarly, if the procedure is followed correctly the data is rectified only by the Lender who has provided the data in the first instance and with the least amount of inconvenience to the Customer.
Mr. Robin Watson, Assistant General Manager of the BENEFIT Co. highlighted that, “Under no circumstances can the data be changed by BENEFIT who is simply a custodian of the data as the Code of Practice disallows this to happen. For this reason it is not practical for the Customer to be asked to go to BENEFIT for the purpose of solving any dispute in connection with incorrect data”.
Obtaining a Customer Credit Report is part of the Customers rights and is explained in full by asking for a copy of the Customers Rights leaflet which can be obtained form any Lender who subscribes to BENEFIT.
