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Re: Licensed MoneyLenders + Police Report = Licensed Loan Shark ? ;Straits Times 22/4
Licensed moneylenders doing checks on loan applicants
by Amanda Feng 04:47 AM Jun 15, 2011
SINGAPORE - Licensed moneylenders are becoming more careful about who they lend to,
now that most of them are members of DP SME Commercial Credit Bureau.
Membership in a credit bureau gives companies access to databases on a potential debtor's payment history. And with more than 200 industry players joining in the last 12 months, they are also the fastest growing group of new credit bureau members.
Licensed moneylending company Next Credit, for instance, decided to do so due to business needs.
"By allowing us to view debtors' information, we'll then know if we should reject a customer because of issues like bad debt history," said partner Willie Lin.
And with moneylenders on board, the database will also have records of people who have borrowed from these new members of the credit bureau.
"Some people keep borrowing but have no intentions to repay," noted Moneylenders Association of Singapore president David Poh.
For some moneylenders such as I-Credit, the drop in defaults across its portfolio of loans has been as much as more than half.
Some moneylenders, however, did not find much positive returns.
Mr Jimmy Kang of Win Credit told MediaCorp it did not renew its licence with the credit bureau after it expired and had no plans to do so because it felt the information on bankruptcy and bad debt was not "sufficiently updated".
But the benefits of membership could also apply to potential debtors. Mr Kent Phua of I-Credit said the ability to do a credit check benefits applicants, by denying loans to some debtors who will only sink further into the red.
The jury is out at this point, though, on whether the potential for lower risk of defaults for moneylenders will lead to a reduction of their interest rates, which have attracted criticism for some time now.
When contacted by MediaCorp, licensed moneylender A1 Credit said it was "possible", depending on factors such as the amount of bad debts.
Licensed moneylenders doing checks on loan applicants
by Amanda Feng 04:47 AM Jun 15, 2011
SINGAPORE - Licensed moneylenders are becoming more careful about who they lend to,
now that most of them are members of DP SME Commercial Credit Bureau.
Membership in a credit bureau gives companies access to databases on a potential debtor's payment history. And with more than 200 industry players joining in the last 12 months, they are also the fastest growing group of new credit bureau members.
Licensed moneylending company Next Credit, for instance, decided to do so due to business needs.
"By allowing us to view debtors' information, we'll then know if we should reject a customer because of issues like bad debt history," said partner Willie Lin.
And with moneylenders on board, the database will also have records of people who have borrowed from these new members of the credit bureau.
"Some people keep borrowing but have no intentions to repay," noted Moneylenders Association of Singapore president David Poh.
For some moneylenders such as I-Credit, the drop in defaults across its portfolio of loans has been as much as more than half.
Some moneylenders, however, did not find much positive returns.
Mr Jimmy Kang of Win Credit told MediaCorp it did not renew its licence with the credit bureau after it expired and had no plans to do so because it felt the information on bankruptcy and bad debt was not "sufficiently updated".
But the benefits of membership could also apply to potential debtors. Mr Kent Phua of I-Credit said the ability to do a credit check benefits applicants, by denying loans to some debtors who will only sink further into the red.
The jury is out at this point, though, on whether the potential for lower risk of defaults for moneylenders will lead to a reduction of their interest rates, which have attracted criticism for some time now.
When contacted by MediaCorp, licensed moneylender A1 Credit said it was "possible", depending on factors such as the amount of bad debts.
