What a credit report shows, and who can ask for one

1What a credit report shows

A credit report is what a member lender reads before it decides on a loan application. NCI puts it together from what the other members know about the applicant, and it shows:

• The members' answers: how many members were asked, and how many know the applicant, as a borrower or as a guarantor.
• The applicant's loans at other members: each loan, its payment plan, how it has been repaid and any late payment.
• The credit rating, when the applicant has a loan record, with the reasons for it in plain words.

The other members appear in the report only as Member A, Member B and so on, never by name. The report does not decide anything: the lender does.

2The credit rating

A person who has taken a loan is rated from how their loans have been repaid, and how late any late payment was. The rating is a score out of 100 and one of fifteen grades, from A+ to E−, a new grade every 5 points.

• Below 50 is the red zone, kept for a debt in default. Anyone who has caught up or repaid is rated above it.
• A borrower who pays on time, with the rest of the record in order, is rated A+ from the first payment.
• Someone who has never borrowed is not rated, and no one is rated before a first payment is made on a first loan. The report says why, and the lender decides on the application itself.

3Who can ask for a report, and who sees it

• Only a member lender, and only about a person who has applied to it for credit and signed their consent: on the application or, for a loan granted before the member joined NCI, on a signed registry consent.
• Only for that application. The member that asked receives the report and the rating, and may not pass them on to anyone else.
• Not the other members. They are told who the person is, so that each can look them up in its own books, but they are not told which member is asking or how much it is about to lend, and they never see the report.
• No one else, unless the law requires it: for example a court order, or a regulator acting with lawful authority.

Asking about someone for any other reason, such as marketing, employment screening or curiosity, is not permitted. Misuse of registry data is a sanctionable offence.

4How lenders use a report

The report and the rating are information for the lender's decision, not a decision. NCI never approves or refuses a loan: the lender decides, on its own checks.

A good record works for the borrower. A known repayment history makes it easier to qualify for a loan, and good credit can mean lower financing costs and less collateral asked.

A licensed lender in Somalia that wants credit reports on its applicants can apply for membership.

5When something reported is wrong

A person who believes something reported about them is wrong can ask the member that reported it to correct it, at any of its branches. The member checks it against its own books and, when it is wrong, corrects it within 10 business days. Every correction is logged.

6How long information is kept

• An enquiry on a person is shown to members for 2 years.
• The rating measures repayment over the last 2 years; a debt written off counts in it for 7 years.
• A report and its rating are kept exactly as they were released, so that they can always be shown again and checked.

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