Privacy targeted in overhaul of credit regulations
People with bad credit records will be able to get a clean slate after five years of a good record, under regulations which come into effect on Friday.
The public will also be able to receive two free reports on their credit status every year, courtesy of the new regulation, which was published by the State Council on January 21 and went to effect on Friday. It aims to strengthen management over the credit reporting industry in China by providing specific rules for credit collection and inquiries.
According to the new regulation, any individual can apply for their own credit report from the People’s Bank of China branch nearest to their home for free twice each year, using identification documents. If they found the information is inaccurate, they can submit a complaint which shall be replied within 20 days.
The regulation also stipulated that bad credit records will be deleted after five years if the person in question had no further violations during the period. Under the previous regulations, records were permanent.
The regulation also detailed the kind of information credit agencies can collect, including their address, job, marital status, transaction information and public information like criminal records. But collecting other personal information such as religion, blood type or medical history will be forbidden under the new system.
In addition, credit report agencies cannot collect information involving personal income, deposits, commercial insurance, real estate property or tax records unless they obtain permission from the person the inquiries relate to.
Fu Weigang, deputy director of Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, told the Global Times that he thought the new regulation would remind citizens to be more aware of their actions, since many forms of misconduct could now bring unexpected consequences.
“People might not care about a traffic ticket from the past very much. But now it probably could affect their applications for housing loans if they didn’t pay it in time and were caught by a credit report agency,” Fu said.
Meanwhile, Fu suggested the government should allow more organizations or companies to become involved in the credit reporting industry since competition could lower transaction costs.
China’s current credit reporting system was established by the People’s Bank of China, or China’s central bank, in 2006. The system has collected information on more than 800 million individuals and 18 million enterprises in China. In 2012, the number of recorded queries reached 370 million.
（Globaltimes.cn | Reporter：Liu Dong | 2013-3-15）
