Online credit score checks are a simple and effective way to see if you have any black marks against your name from creditors. For those of you who have creditors and have missed a few payments, this is extremely important to know as it may impact on you obtaining any further credit from any one else.
For those of you who are not sure about what I am talking about. Should you take out credit from any one and for some reason you are unable to pay them or agree on a payment plan with them. Then they are fully within their rights to report this default to one of the credit bureaus.
The credit bureaus can therefore list you as a bad creditor and this could result in you becoming blacklisted.
Also Read: Get Blacklisted Credit Clearance in SA
Being blacklisted means that your credit rating is very poor. The credit bureaus have made sure that you cannot lend money or get credit from anyone. This is a serious problem, especially if you are in desperate need of a loan.
For this reason, it is essential that you monitor your credit records carefully. In order to ensure that you are not on a blacklist. And to ensure that you can clear any blacklisting against you. Being blacklisted however does not mean that you will never be able to get credit again.
You will have to clear all of your debt before you can ever apply for credit from any company or registered financial institution again.
In South Africa many people are not aware of how credit histories work. Or the implications are of not keeping track of them.
This is unfortunate as in many cases people who are not knowledgeable get taken advantage of. And put on a blacklist.
Free Online Credit Score Checks
Get credit records for free once a year in the month of your birth by the various credit bureaus in South Africa.
TransUnion and Experion are two such companies that provide credit records. These credit records are free.
However, should you apply for credit and discover that you have been blacklisted… You can either apply for another credit record directly from the credit bureaus. Or you can use one of the many online credit checks that are available.
In order to obtain this second copy of your credit history, you will have to pay a small administration fee. However this fee is nothing when you compare it to being on the blacklist.
Should you receive your credit record there are a few things that you need to double check if you have been blacklisted.
The first of which is whether or not the debt that they have blacklisted you for is over three years old.
Know the Credit Laws in South Africa
Legally a creditor cannot blacklist you after three years of you owing them money. As this money will have been written off as bad debt by their organisation. And therefore they can no longer claim for the money.
Another important thing to check is how much they are claiming that you owe them. Many creditors try to get away with more than is actually owing. Because they realise that not many people are in the know about their credit histories.
It is important that should your creditor have blacklisted you legally, that you take the necessary steps to repay the outstanding money.
One solution if you have a lot of debt and a lot of creditors to which you owe money. Is that you take out a debt consolidation loan. This will allow you to pay off all of your creditors and have one creditor that you have to pay back.