Thirty six months is how long the memory runs
Credit information about an individual is held in the system for thirty six months.
A notification of the Credit Information Protection Committee sets the retention at no more than three years from the day the credit bureau received the data from its member financial institution.
That figure already answers half of what people worry about.
Because what happened four years ago is not in today's report.
And what happened ten months ago still is.
So if a home loan application is coming, the first thing to do is not to walk into a bank. It is to look at what the bank will see.
What the credit bureau is, and more importantly what it is not
The National Credit Bureau operates under the Credit Information Business Act B.E. 2545.
Its job is to collect credit information from member financial institutions and report it back to members on request.
Now the part people misunderstand most.
The bureau does not approve or refuse loans.
And it does not maintain a list of people who must not be lent to.
Blacklisted is a phrase everybody uses, and it is not a thing that exists in this system.
What does exist is payment history, which is a factual record of whether each month was paid on time.
And the decision to lend belongs to each bank, applying its own criteria, which differ from one to another.
This matters because it changes how people think.
Believing in a blacklist makes somebody feel there is nothing left to fix.
Understanding it as a thirty six month record makes it clear that every month that passes is working in their favour.
What is in the report
It has three main parts.
Part one, identification. Name, identity card number, date of birth and address as submitted by the financial institutions.
This part looks the dullest and should be read first, because a wrong address or a misspelled name is a signal that somebody else's data has found its way in.
Part two, the list of credit accounts, both active and closed within the retention period.
Each account shows the type of credit, the limit, the outstanding balance and the account status.
Part three, the payment history, displayed as a row of month by month cells.
Part three is what banks look at longest and what applicants read least.
Where to request it
There are more channels than most people realise, and several require going nowhere at all.
- The Thang Rath government application, which offers a summary credit check at no charge.
- The mobile banking apps of many banks, now the most used channel.
- Self service credit information kiosks at service points.
- ATMs of participating banks.
- Bank counters.
- Post offices, which reach places with no nearby bank branch.
- The credit bureau's own offices.
Fees vary by channel and by which report is requested, so check the current rate on the channel you intend to use.
What to know is that there are two reports.
The credit information report, showing accounts and payment history.
The credit information report with a credit score, which adds a score computed from the same data.
If a home loan is coming, take the one with the score, because it tells you where you sit relative to everybody else in the system, which the plain report does not.
Five places to look first
Credit reports are hard to read because there is a lot on them. Start with these five, in order.
One, count the accounts, then ask yourself whether that matches what you remember.
An account you do not recognise is something to chase immediately rather than later.
Two, look at the total limits on credit cards and revolving credit, not at the balances used.
Banks look at the credit you can reach, not only the money you have taken, because tomorrow you could draw the lot.
Three cards you never use still count as three open limits.
Three, look at total outstanding debt and compare it against your monthly income.
This is what banks turn into a debt to income figure, and it decides how much house you can borrow for.
Four, check the status of each account: normal, closed, or something else.
An account you believed closed but which still shows as open is worth chasing to the end, because it consumes limit while giving you nothing.
Five, read the payment history cells month by month, which is where the whole story is told.
What to look for is the pattern, not a single point.
One late month two years ago followed by perfect payment reads very differently from two years of alternating late and on time.
Five things that alarm people and are usually misread
Closed accounts still appearing, which is normal, because data stays for its retention period rather than vanishing when an account closes.
And an account closed with no arrears is good information about you, not bad.
Unused cards still counting, as above, which is why people planning a mortgage close unused cards in advance.
But far enough in advance, because the data takes time to travel from the bank into the system.
Guarantees do not appear, but being a co-borrower does, because a co-borrower is liable for the full amount, as covered in whether a co-borrower can walk away.
A few days late and more than ninety days overdue are not in the same class to a lender.
But repeated lateness month after month sends a poor signal too, even where it never reaches ninety days.
Data older than the retention period disappears by itself, without anybody asking, and nobody can be hired to remove it.
Anybody offering a service to erase your credit history should be refused and should be treated with suspicion.
If you find something wrong
The right to have it corrected is a legal right rather than a favour.
Step one, state precisely what is wrong: an account that is not yours, a balance that does not match, or a status that should read closed.
Step two, file a request for verification and correction with the bureau, with whatever documents you have, such as payment receipts or a closure confirmation from the financial institution.
Step three, wait for the verification, because the bureau must go back to the financial institution that owns the data, which is the party with authority to change it.
Step four, if it still does not match, you may have your dispute recorded in the report, so that anybody pulling it can see a dispute exists.
Step four is little known and is genuinely useful while a matter is unresolved.
When to check
Three to six months before a mortgage application, so that anything needing correction still has time to be corrected.
Checking in the week you apply is checking to find out, not checking to fix.
After clearing a large debt, to confirm the status really changed to closed rather than lingering in the system.
Once a year as a habit, to confirm that no account which is not yours has appeared.
This grows more important every year, because opening an account in somebody else's name keeps getting easier.
Immediately after any credit refusal, because it is the only way to know whether the reason lies in your data or in that particular bank's criteria.
What can and cannot improve a report
What can
- Paying on time every month without a break, because each passing month is new data replacing old.
- Reducing outstanding balances, revolving credit especially.
- Closing unused limits well before applying.
- Not opening several new accounts in the period before applying.
- Correcting anything that is factually wrong.
What cannot
- Deleting accurate history from the system.
- Paying somebody to clean a record.
- Making data disappear faster than its retention period.
The truth to accept is that there is no shortcut, and time is the most effective tool available.
The good news is that time works for you without any further effort, as long as no worse data is being created.
Frequently asked questions
Does the credit bureau keep a blacklist?
No. It does not approve or refuse credit and does not maintain a list of people who must not be lent to. It collects and reports data, while the decision belongs to each financial institution applying its own criteria.
How long is data kept?
Thirty six months for individuals, with the Credit Information Protection Committee setting retention at no more than three years from the day the bureau received the data. For juristic persons it is sixty months.
Where can I request my own report?
Through the Thang Rath application, which offers a free summary, through many banks' mobile apps, self service kiosks, participating ATMs, bank counters, post offices, and the bureau's own offices.
Should I request the version with the score?
If a home loan is coming, yes, because it shows where you sit relative to others in the system, which the plain report does not.
What if I find an account that is not mine?
File a request for verification and correction with the bureau immediately. It goes back to the institution that owns the data, and if it still does not match, you may have your dispute recorded in the report.
Are credit record cleaning services real?
No. Accurate data cannot be deleted and disappears on its own at the end of the retention period. Anybody offering such a service should be refused and treated with suspicion.
In short
- Individual credit data stays in the system for thirty six months.
- There is no blacklist, and the bureau is not the party deciding whether to lend.
- Several channels exist, including a free summary through the government application.
- For a mortgage, take the report that includes the credit score.
- Read five things in order, from the account count to the month by month payment history.
- Banks look at the limits you can reach, so unused cards still count.
- Wrong data can be corrected, and a dispute can be recorded in the report.
- Check three to six months before applying, while there is still time to act.
- No cleaning service exists, and time is the most effective tool there is.