The Non-Bank Bureau is a repository of information that contains credit application and repayment records. This specific information is meant to help its members (credit providers) determine if the companies/consumers applying for credit has the ability and/or the propensity to pay. The objective of the Non-Bank Bureau is to assist credit providers to gain access to more relevant and extensive repayment information; & consequently, enable credit providers to make better and more objective decisions quickly.

The Non-Bank Bureau is an independent entity which administers a comprehensive database of information relating to a company/consumer's credit worthiness in terms of payment behaviour over time. It contains information specifically detailing the payment records of companies and individuals contributed by members.

The Non-Bank Bureau allows credit information to be shared among its members while protecting the confidentiality of the information on companies/consumers. By sharing information, credit providers can reduce the number of bad debts incurred. Over time, this will significantly decrease the cost of credit to companies/consumers. In addition, companies/consumers with good credit histories will find it easier to access credit as a reward for positive and responsible borrowing behaviour. Members will also be able to collect their debts and account receivables faster.

Existing credit checks only cover public information such as litigation suits pending against the companies/consumers. The credit bureau information captures non-public information, tracking the payment patterns of a consumer or a company. This information determines whether the consumer or the company has been a good paymaster over a period. This allows credit providers to be able to manage credit collections and portfolios with more insightful credit repayment patterns of companies/consumers.

Additionally, the Non-Bank Bureau will help credit providers access if the company/consumer is likely to pay. The objective of the Non-Bank Bureau is to assist credit providers to make better credit decisions in a more timely and objective manner. Moreover, it also guards against fraud, detects your customer’s (company/consumer) bad payment behaviour in an appropriate fashion to pre-warn you on possible deteriorating financial conditions.

Non-Bank Bureau's members comprise of companies in various industries, namely construction, manufacturing, credit co-operatives, licensed moneylenders, hire purchasing companies, motor-credit companies, credit-related services, etc.

The Non-Bank Bureau is an initiative of Experian. Find out more at www.experian.com.sg.

The Non-Bank Bureau started in May 2002. We currently have close to 800 contributing members. At present, we have over 4 million unique records within the bureau and growing with each monthly contribution.

The Credit Bureau of Singapore (CBS) is a consumer credit bureau only for the banks. Other non-bank entities, such as retail stores, insurance companies and healthcare providers are not allowed to participate. It only comprises of consumers’ information which may be less relevant to companies. It is our experience that there is a hierarchy of repayment behaviours when companies/consumers are repaying on their debts. Typically, this happens: -

1. Pay bank debts first (bank bureau)
2. Second hierarchy of payments (non-bank but monitored through the Non-Bank Bureau) as companies/consumers will know that this is monitored and goes into their credit score
3. Finally, those debts which are not monitored by any bureau, as I know no one will probably find out. It is this which will encourage you to list your receivables on the Non-Bank Bureau as it encourages customers to pay off their debts faster as they understand they are being monitored.

The Non-Bank Bureau consists of non-bank credit providers as well as companies in various industries that extend credit to individuals or corporations. The information on a borrower's payment is securely stored by Non-Bank Bureau and supplied to other member companies on request.

The Non-Bank Bureau consolidates customers’ information mainly from members. This is complemented with data from public record sources.

The bureau payment report is a consolidated record of a company's credit payment history, compiled from different credit providers. The report can include certain publicly available information such as litigation and registry information, where applicable and customised on a needs basis.

You only need to submit 2 files for uploading into the Non-Bank Bureau database every month:

• Customer/supplier profiles with identity and contact details
• Account and aging information with account receivables details

Samples of submitted information may be provided, or you can provide your own format as the Non-Bank Bureau's system can import and reconfigure different formats of data files. Alternatively, the process can be automated through customized IT integration.

The benefits are manifold.

As a credit provider, increased automation will lead to lower operational costs and more consistent lending decisions. The additional payment pattern information allows credit providers to improve client and business decisions as it enables the lender to separate the good and bad paymasters. It also helps to understand and give greater insight into the debt and cash flow levels of the consumer or company in question. Furthermore, it allows for better credit and client profile decision-making, enabling different interest rates to be extended to client profiles of “greater value”; allowing credit providers client base segmentation and build relationships with good clients.

In addition, a credit bureau records check is a reasonable risk management procedure for recruitment policy if your candidate will be in a position of handling money or other organizational assets, or has check writing or investment authority.

To summarize, the benefits are:

• Pre-warns you to manage credit actions
• Allow you to manage credit risks
• Turn invoices into cash in a more efficient manner
• Conduct pre/on-going and post credit checks
• Act as a reference to facilitate bank's lending to SMEs

The Non-Bank Bureau is a fair and formal information-sharing platform. All members except financial institutions are required to contribute their debtors’ information. In return, all members will have access to all contributed data from other Non-Bank Bureau members.

Yes, all Non-Bank Bureau members are contributing their customers’ records except banks. This is because banks are not allowed to share their data due to confidentiality regulations under the Banking Secrecy Act.

It is because the Non-Bank Bureau understands that most SMEs do encounter difficulties in obtaining adequate financing from lending institutions. One critical determining factor is due to the lack of sufficient credit information for credit providers to make credit decisions. By allowing credit providers to access information restricted on a need-to-know basis will help them identify well-run, honest businesses that deserve credit, increasing credit options for SMEs in the long run.

The data given by the members are based on their best judgment. If there are discrepancies in the information, the Non-Bank Bureau will liaise directly with the contributing member to correct it. Furthermore, the Non-Bank Bureau has created a 12-month past payment profiling to defray a possible 1-month error submitted by members. The overall data and interpretation of credit information of a company will still be reasonably correct.

You are encouraged to submit your data to the Non-Bank Bureau once a month in a timely manner. If you submit monthly, you will then benefit from our value-added services at no extra cost, as a regularly contributing Non-Bank Bureau member.

The following are the value-added functions made available only to Non-Bank Bureau members:

1. Cash Flow Projection
   Projects cash inflow for members based on past months’ payment pattern of debtors, providing a comparison against your actual cash flow. It allows members to better monitor credit control efficiencies.
2. Payment Profiling
   Assist members to detect any changes in payment behaviours for better understanding and management of debtors.
3. Payment Monitoring Function
   Allow members to monitor for any new or adverse payment information on their customers, based on criterion specified by each member (example, customer who have outstanding overdue of more than 60 days with other creditors). This can help to streamline the process of performing daily checks and allow your staff to focus their attention on customer service and other work processes.
4. Negative List Posting
   "Negative List" also known as "blacklisted" records; this is an ALTERNATIVE to recover from debtors where the costs incur to recover through legal means is not justifiable.

Only approved Non-Bank Bureau members have access to credit histories. The restriction ensures that access is restricted and not abused.

All authorized users will have unique ID and passwords to identify themselves before they can execute a search.

You only need to have access to the Internet to use the Non-Bank Bureau services. Implementations can be made possible very quickly: a secured password and ID will be given to log into the Non-Bank Bureau services through https://www.questnet.sg/ You can also request Experian to provide free training to your authorized users

No, this is strictly prohibited. The information contained will only be released to members who make enquiries for credit assessment.

Accessibility to the Non-Bank Bureau database is password protected, logged, with only Non-Bank Bureau members having the right to view the database. All Non-Bank Bureau members and the Non-Bank Bureau itself, must comply with the attached terms and conditions.

The identity of all Non-Bank Bureau members will be kept confidential in all reports under industry groupings. Members have the choice to opt-out of this confidentiality compliance.

Security sits at the core of Experian’s operations. The vast majority of modern organisations face a significant number of risks relating to loss of information and due to the nature of our business, Experian is no different.

In order to defend our data from such risks, Experian has developed a best of breed security framework based around ISO27001; the cornerstone of which is our information security policy. As well as our commitment to ensuring that our staff continues to meet our high standards, we have also made a significant investment in establishing a Global Security function to ensure that security is embedded within our day to day activities across the world.

The rest of this document is aimed at explaining this security framework in more detail and we hope will demonstrate the Experian commitment to maintaining the security of the data that we hold. See the attached Client Briefing Document around security protocols.

Yes, you can check your company/consumer’s credit information/report. However, we will need you to produce your Passport / identity card (consumer) or a Letter of Authorisation from one of your Company’s directors (company) to confirm your identity to request a copy of your company/consumer credit report at our office:

• Experian at 10 Kallang Avenue, #05-18 Aperia Tower 2 Singapore 339510

Individual

✔ Personal profile of the individual such as name, identity card, etc

✔ Employment details

✔ Contact information include address and telephone number

✔ Payment details & summary

✔ Search summary

✔ Litigation / Bankruptcy summary

✔ 12 month payment profiling

Company

✔ Contact person and number

✔ Payment details & summary

✔ Search summary

✔ Litigation / Winding-up summary

✔ 12 month payment profiling

The payment information will be updated and refreshed regularly. Data submitted to the Non-Bank Bureau will be reflected as long as the bureau is in operations.

For termination cases – Should you terminate with the Non-Bank Bureau, the data contributed by you will be stored and reflected for the next 12 months from the date of termination. Thereafter, your contributed data will be purged from the system.

You can bring your personal/your company’s credit report to our Experian office at Aperia Tower 2 #05-18 and complete our Non-Bank Bureau Redress form. Alternatively send us an email to cs@experian.com and we will get in touch with you on the status of your request.

No payment is required for the redress.

Once the Non-Bank Bureau receives your redress form, we will conduct a verification exercise to investigate the source of the information. You will be notified of the outcome of the dispute within 2 to 7 working days.

The Non-Bank Bureau is operated by Experian – a credit reporting veteran in Singapore since 1978. Experian is a leading credit reporting agency in Singapore, supplying both banks, corporations and SMEs with corporate insight and intelligence for data, analytics and decisioning.

Maintaining a good credit profile is critical to a company/consumer. It enables you to:-

• Obtain credit lines for yourself/your company
• Observe good credit standing with your suppliers and customers
• Gain access to preferred credit facilities
• Negotiate for credit
• Demonstrate good financial standing and management
• Monitor the credit standing of your customers
• Enable proactive decisions on account management actions including granting of further credit or pulling back on credit lines
• Encourage priority payment from your customers

We may not have all the payment information; however, we have a comprehensive database that is bolstered by registered business information from ACRA and litigation-related information on all entities incorporated in Singapore. The Non-Bank Bureau has also been in operation since 2002 and has aggregated many historical payment records (4 million and counting) which gives us a unique advantage in terms of number of collected records over time and the comprehensiveness of the records as contributed by our growing membership base.

The total credit extended by you to your loyal customers is usually higher than non-regular or new customers. In the event that the regular customers were to default or have delays in payment, the opportunity cost to your company will be higher.

By participating, you can monitor them more closely and frequently as the payment information is shared regularly. With this, you will be able to react quickly should your customer’s payment behaviour deteriorate. This insight would be more recent than annual financial statements and will allow you to react timely to mitigate your exposure.

If customers currently have a tendency to delay payments to you, you can even share with them that you have decided to participate with the Non-Bank Bureau and encourage them to pay you faster to help build their credit standings.

Moreover, it is highly unlikely that regular clients will share that his/her company is facing financial issues from a business culture standpoint. This might place you in a more dangerous position as they may request for longer credit terms without disclosing the real reason for delays in payment.

The Non-Bank Bureau is a neutral party. We host the information for everyone to benefit from a private database to better protect your business. You will be able to access and preview reports to better understand the financial credibility of companies before engaging them for any business relationships.

Small businesses and banks extended credit to customers directly, through their own vetting processes. This has worked well in small communities and in the past where everyone knew most businesses and their owners. Over time and with increasing sophistication, it has become more challenging to understand the corporate make-up as companies becomes larger and people move around more. There are also reported and documented instances where businesses are finding payments from customers less predictable.

Vetting companies and individuals for credit is getting to be a big problem, and by sharing and gaining collective insight, helps you get closer to managing payments better.

All business start small. Setting up good credit management process from the start is critical so that when you grow, you have the foundation to manage your credit risks and exposure better.

The financial standing status of companies change over time. While most consumers/companies do not wish to default in payment; however, external factors may change the situation. That said, customers may be paying you promptly as you are their trade supplier, and delaying payments to other creditors. As part of the Non-Bank Bureau, you will receive alerts and will be able to monitor them and mitigate your risks earlier.

We do screen and select our members. In addition, to minimise human errors, our members provide the data directly extracted from their accounting system. We are confident that companies in Singapore maintain their financials in accordance to the prevailing regulations.

Can we know the reason and if possible, could you connect us to your parent company? Perhaps we could explain further and clarify?

This only allows you to observe how they pay you. However, you will not be able to know how your customer/debtor pays their creditors/suppliers. Above all, you will not be able to detect early signals to mitigate possible losses.

Our current database tends to focus on local Singapore entities and individuals; i.e. transactions that happened within Singapore. However, we do have a number of members who share the payment behaviour on non-local companies. This is certainly a platform where we are working to build to benefit all. We believe that the earlier you start with us, the better you will gain in terms of pricing. We foresee us having adjustments in fees when you join us at a later stage.

Per the credit bureau reports, the contributor’s name will not be reflected as it will only be classified under the industry grouping you indicate to us.

The information shared will be made available to other Non-Bank Bureau members on a search-to-know basis and members of any Non-Bank Bureau can only benefit if there are information shared by the members based on reciprocity.

All contributions will be solely kept in our Non-Bank Bureau database and extracted by members by the UEN / ID number of the entity they intend to search.

Non-Bank Bureau uses the highest standards of security measures to protect the information of consumers. All data exchanges are encrypted and compressed.

Only members of the Non-Bank Bureau have access to data.

Accessibility to the Non-Bank Bureau database is password protected, logged, with only members having the right to view the database. All authorized users will have unique ID and passwords to identify themselves before they can execute a search. Only approved Non-Bank Bureau members have access to credit histories. The restriction ensures that access is restricted and not abused.

In this instance, it should be allowed per the Schedules of the PDP Act. Experian Non-Bank Bureau is covered under the following schedules:

1. An organisation may collect personal data about an individual without the consent of the individual or from a source other than the individual in any of the following circumstances:

(i)	the personal data is collected for the organisation to recover a debt owed to the organisation by the individual or for the organisation to pay to the individual a debt owed by the organisation;
(k)	the personal data is collected by a credit bureau from a member of the credit bureau to create a credit report, or by a member of the credit bureau from a credit report provided by the credit bureau to that member in relation to a transaction between the member and the individual;

1. An organisation may use personal data about an individual without the consent of the individual in any of the following circumstances:

(g)	the personal data is used for the organisation to recover a debt owed to the organisation by the individual or for the organisation to pay to the individual a debt owed by the organisation;

1. An organisation may disclose personal data about an individual without the consent of the individual in any of the following circumstances:

(i)	the disclosure is necessary for the organisation to recover a debt owed by the individual to the organisation or for the organisation to pay to the individual a debt owed by the organisation;
(k)	the personal data is disclosed by a member of a credit bureau to the credit bureau for the purpose of preparing credit reports, or in a credit report provided by a credit bureau to a member of the credit bureau in relation to a transaction between the member and the individual;