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June 4, 2014The Removal of Adverse Consumer Information and Information Relating to Paid-Up Judgments Regulations (‘Credit Information Amnesty’) which came into effect 1 April 2014, required credit bureaux to ensure that the adverse consumer information as defined by the regulations as well as paid up judgments as held on the database at 1 April, were not displayed or provided to credit providers, or any person requesting such information; and that by no later than 1 June 2014, this information must be removed.
In addition, the regulations require that on an on-going basis, paid up judgements are to be removed from the credit bureau records.
Credit providers are required to furnish all registered credit bureaux with information relating to paid up judgements within seven days of receipt of payment of the capital amount. In turn, credit bureaux are required to remove paid up judgement data within seven days of receipt of proof of payment.
Experian has removed approximately 35,000 paid up judgement records from our database. These include both the historical paid up judgements as well as those received after 1 April 2014 to date.
In order to create operational efficiencies, the Credit Providers Association (CPA) together with the Credit Bureau Association (CBA) have agreed a process and submission template for the notification of paid up judgments. This template has been shared with all our clients. Please let us know if you did not receive it so that we can resend.
Our account managers are available should you require training with your teams on the paid up judgements submission process and to assist with any questions you may have regarding the impact of these regulatory changes on your data.
The amendments to the National Credit Act were also recently passed into law on the 19th May; however the effective date is yet to be confirmed.
These amendments provide for the on-going removal of all paid up adverse information as received from credit providers. We are interpreting the regulation and will continue to keep you updated in terms of the requirements from both a credit bureau and credit provider perspective.
Experian South Africa
