A Credit Bureaux is a repository of factual information that contains credit application and repayment records. This specific information is meant to help its members (credit providers) to determine if the consumer applying for credit has the ability and propensity to pay. The objective of Credit Bureaux is to assist lenders gain access to more relevant and extensive repayment information; & consequently, enabling lenders to make better and more objective decisions quickly.

Contact us for case examples where credit bureaux have been directly responsible for improving client acquisition and account management decisions.

DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau is an independent entity that administers a comprehensive database of information relating to a consumer’s credit worthiness in terms of payment behaviors. It contains factual information specifically on the payment records of companies and individuals contributed by members.

DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau allows credit information to be shared among its members while protecting the confidentiality of the information on individual consumers or corporations. By sharing information, credit providers reduce the number of bad debts incurred. Over time this will significantly reduce the cost of credit to consumers. In addition, consumers with good credit histories will find it easier to access credit – a reward for doing the right thing.

Existing credit checks only cover public information such as litigation suits pending against the company or individuals. Credit bureau information captures non-public information, tracking the payment patterns of an individual or a company. This information determines whether the individual or the company has been a good paymaster over a period in time. This allows lenders to gain a perspective on the improving or deteriorating credit repayment patterns of an individual or company.

Additionally, DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau will help lenders access if the individual or the company applying for credit is likely to pay. The objective of DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau is to assist lenders to make better lending decisions in a more timely and objective manner. Moreover, it also guards against fraud, detects debtors' bad payment behavior in a timely manner to pre-warn you on possible deteriorating financial conditions.

Credit bureaux are now core to lending and relationship management in majority of the mature markets around the world. This includes the U.S., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and many more. Singapore is, among many Southeast Asian countries, establishing this information database.

In USA, there are 3 key players, namely Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The UK and USA credit economies are both enabled by highly sophisticated credit bureaux services. In many countries, private credit bureaux have emerged in direct response to growth in consumer lending market.

It is important to have more than one credit bureau because:

DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau’s members comprise of companies in various industries, namely construction, credit-related, services, etc. It will also be extended to financial institutions, e.g. banks in Singapore, that extend credit facilities.

DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau is an initiative by DP information Group, Singapore’s leading provider of credit information and bureau services since 1978.

DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau was introduced in May 2002. As of 1st quarter of year 2005, we have no less than 200 contributing DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau members.

The Credit Bureau of Singapore 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.

DP SME / Commercial Credit 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 DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau and supplied to other member companies on request.

DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau consolidates debtors’ information mainly from members. This is complemented with data from public record sources, like statutory and identity information.

Our current DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau members comprise of companies that are extending credit terms and have sizeable customer base. It ranges from SMEs to Multinationals that carries non-bank credit-related companies (credit co-operatives, motor credit, retail financing, construction related services), healthcare, fuel-card grantors and other consumer-related industries.

DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau’s services will be extended to financial institutions, like banks in Singapore, that extend credit facilities to be non-contributing DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau members.

A credit report is simply a consolidated record of a company’s credit payment history, compiled from different credit providers. The credit report includes certain public available information; e.g. number of litigation suits on the searched individual or company. The main objective is to extend a benefit the members who provide credit to make better lending decisions faster and objectively.

The credit report only shows the factual credit data available and does not include any opinion or comment if credit should or should not be given.

You only need to submit 2 files for uploading into the DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau database every month:

Samples of submitted information may be provided, or you can provide your own format as the DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau’s system has the ability to import and reconfigure different formats of data files. Alternatively, the process can be automated through customized IT integration.

The central concept of DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau is information sharing. The value of the bureau comes from the aggregated information contributed by all other members. Membership and usage costs are consolidated to defray membership development and technical investments. In addition, as DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau members, you are entitled to a volume of free searches, depending on your subscription.

The benefits are manifold.

As a lender, increased automation will lead to lower operational costs and more consistent lending decisions. The additional payment pattern information allows lenders to improve client and business decisions as it enables the lender to profile the good paymasters and determine the debt and liquidity levels of the consumer or company in question. Furthermore, it allows for greater lending and client profile decision-making, enabling different interest rates to be extended to client profiles of “greater value”; allowing lenders 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:

DP SME / Commercial Credit 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 DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau members.

Yes, all DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau members are contributing their debtors’ records except financial institutions. This is because banks are not allowed to share their data due to confidentiality regulations under the Banking Secrecy Act.

It is because DP SME / Commercial Credit 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 lenders to make credit decisions. By allowing banks 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, DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau will liaise directly with the contributing member to correct it. Furthermore, DP SME / Commercial Credit 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 particular company will still be reasonably correct.

You are encouraged to submit your data to DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau once a month in a timely manner. If you submit on a monthly basis, you will then benefit from our value-added services at no extra cost, as a regularly contributing DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau member.

The following are the value-added functions made available only to DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau members:

Only approved DP SME / Commercial Credit 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 are allowed to execute a search.

You only need to have access to the Internet to use DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau services. Implementations can be made possible very quickly: a secured password and ID will be given to log into the DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau services through http://www.1questnet.com/. You can also request DP Info 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 the purpose of credit assessment.

DP is certified under BS7799 Certification, a global information security management that endorses our commitment in maintaining the highest security level in information handling and processing.

Accessibility to the DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau database is password protected, logged, with only DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau members having the right to view the database. All DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau members and DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau itself, must comply with the attached terms and conditions.

The identity of all DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau members will be kept confidential in all reports under industry groupings. Members have the choice to opt-out of this confidentiality compliance. All opt-out members will then enjoy the benefit of seeing each other’s contributed records, with their company names indicated.

DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau uses the highest standards of security measures to protect the information of consumers. All data exchanges are encrypted and compressed. Only members of DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau have access to data.

Yes, you can check your own credit information. However, we will need you to produce your Passport / identity card to confirm your identity to request a copy of your individual credit report at either one of our offices:

The payment information will be updated and refreshed regularly. However, DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau will provide the payment histories for the past 12 months. The data contributed from members will be kept for as long as 10 years within DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau’s database. With respect to publicly available litigation, the records will include all petitions filed for the past 13 years.

DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau understands the sensitivity; therefore we allow information supplied by members and the members' identity to be kept confidential. Your customers most likely would not take legal action against you as long as your existing contract with them does not have an explicit non-disclosure clause.

The members of DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau and DP Information Group are self-regulated, adhering to a strict contractual code of conduct in the handling of consumer or corporate data.

You can bring your credit report to our DP Bureau office at International Plaza (#05-17) or Toa Payoh HDB Hub East Wing (#04-08) and complete our DP SME / Commercial Credit Bureau Redress form. Alternatively send us an email to cs@dpgroup.com.sg.

No payment is required.

Once DP SME / Commercial Credit 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 3 working days.