Credit bureaus report increase in bad debt

As at the quarter ended June 2009, credit bureaus had records for 17.79 million credit-active consumers and produced the following debt profiles.

• Percentage of consumers in good standing - 55.9%; decrease 1.7% compared to quarter ended March 2009 and 4.5% compared with quarter ended June 2008.
  
• Consumers with impaired records - 7.85 million; deterioration of 390 000 to last quarter and 1.06 million year-on-year. This has been on the increase since June 2007.
  
• Consumer credit records enquiries - 121.46 million; increase of 23.4% quarter-on-quarter
  o Banks and other financial institutions - 39.4%
  o Retailers - 14.2%
  o Telecommunications providers - 23.7%
  o Other - 22.7%
  
• Credit reports issued to consumers increased; 33 662 free credit reports issued, an increase of 9.8% quarter-on-quarter. A further 5288 credit reports were issued with charge.
  
• Disputes lodged - 7 072 disputes; quarter-on-quarter decrease of 15.5% and a year-on-year decrease of 26.8%.