Central Credit Reference Information System

or CCRIS, is a service provided by the Malaysian Central Bank (Bank Negara Malaysia) which compiles an individual’s credit information into a a credit report which banks can use to assess the potential of the borrower.

It is updated on the 15th of every subsequent month. For example, the report for January will be available for viewing on the 15th of every February.



The report records all your credit facilities in Malaysia, it is similar to your medical report, this allows the bank to have an overview of your credit history to asses your credibility as a borrower.

According to RAM CI 69% of Malaysians have good credit scores.

What can you find on your CCRIS report?

Type of credit facility

You can find listed, the type of credit facility. This includes existing credit card, personal, mortgage, hire purchase and other types of loans.

Outstanding

Your total outstanding amount of all your loans , installment amount and frequency of payment.

Repayment history

A recent 12 month history of your repayment behaviour can be found on the report.

Recent Applications and Special Attention Accounts

A list of your recent application of credit, which is important when the bank assesses your profile.

What affects your CCRIS report?

Besides internal banking policies and your debt service ratio, banks also evaluate customer creditworthiness and reliability with CCRIS. It is important to note that the CCRIS report does not make recommendation on whether to lend or not, it is up the the bank to make the decision. Rest assured, that if a bank rejects your application another bank may approve it.

Recent application for new facilities

Too many application (also know as “pulls”) made in a short time span may raise red flags, applications such as housing loan, credit card application, hire purchase loan affects this. Be sure to space our your applications.

New Facilities

The age of your new credit facilities will affect whether your new loan application will be approved. If you have many newly approved loan facilities, you may be scored higher risk, banks require time to assess whether you can stomach your new commitment and may require 6 months to a year for it to “mature”.

Keep in mind that you are the asset of the bank, by lending you money you are essentially a money making machine of the bank. Be sure to make the right property purchase and make it a win-win situation.

Credit Report Health

Many people have high income, but are unable to get their loan application through, this could be due to a variety of reasons, the most common is having too “clean” of a financial history (which is detrimental to your credit health) a blank sheet is not necessarily a good thing. Poor financial management skills can also contribute to this as missed payments adversely affect you.

My advice is to build your credit profile early in your career, having a record showing you have punctual repayment of your loan will put you in a favourable light.

If you don’t have any credit history, it is recommend that you apply a few credit cards and use them (be sure to pay on time).

Understanding your CCRIS report

If you have a lot of 0s on your report, congratulations! You have a healthy profile, pat yourself on the back and be sure to reward yourself for being a good borrower. (or ask the bank to reward you, ask for lower interest)

CCRIS makes a record on your report for every missed payment in the last 12 months.

If you see a 1, it means that you have defaulted for a month.

Two for two months.

Three for three months.

Be sure to not let your default hit 3 months, because once you see a three on your CCRIS report, your odds of getting the loan approved drops tremendously. This is especially true with hire purchase (car loan) and credit cards.

Banks are unlikely to lend to someone with a bad payment history. Rest assured however that CCRIS is merciful. As long as you keep up your payments for the next 12 months, you essentially start with a blank slate. (Literally because your profile will be full of zeroes).

Another method to get your loan approved is full settlement of the facility, if your hire purchase or credit card has a 3 on record. Simply settle the loan with the bank and it will disappear from your CCRIS report. This will save you precious time as you do not have to wait 12 months to make another application.

Two common issues are faced by many Malaysians face getting their loan approved.

PTPTN

A common issue that Malaysians face is PTPTN repayment, since 2016 PTPTN is included into CCRIS. This affected many to be borrowers as many people do not pay, or do not know where and when to make payment as graduates are usually offered a grace period upon graduation before repayment kicks off.

Rest assured that if you see 36 in your CCRIS, all is not lost as banks are merciful towards PTPTN defaulters unlike hire purchase or credit card defaults. Simply walk into any PTPTN branch and settle your outstanding to date and request for a settlement letter. By submitting the settlement letter to the bank, and the bank will ignore it.

Credit Card

Now, having good credit card history does not mean you can get your loan approved. If your total credit utilisation is more then 70-80%. The banks will reject you based on that, to get around this you can either request an increase on your credit limit, balance transfer or pay down your credit card so it is closer to 50%.

Where can I get my CCRIS report?

You can print your CCRIS at Bank Negara, as of 2019 you can now register an E-CCRIS account at Bank Negara. This means that you can check your CCRIS report anytime, anywhere. It easy to open an account, be sure to walk in and make a request for an E-CCRIS account. This facility is free of charge.

Ways to improve your CCRIS report

Ensure prompt payment.

Paying off your monthly commitments on time will help, as soon as the pay check comes in prioritise paying off your monthly commitment.

Apply and use credit

Many fresh graduates have no credit history, I am no exception. I remember my first time trying to apply for a car loan and only one bank approved my application as I was deemed too “clean”. Be sure to apply for a credit card or two to increase the chances of your loan approval in the future.

Reduce your total debt

Have a plan and strategy to lower your total debt, settle the right debt to improve your Debt Service Ratio. If you have credit card and car loan with RM 20,000 outstanding with the car loan adding RM 1,500 a month to your monthly commitment. Settling the car loan will help tremendously. If you are unfamiliar with how the math work, be sure to consult your banker to get advice.

Perform balance transfer or perform a debt consolidation

If you already have a property which has appreciated in value, you may consider performing a debt consolidation. For example, the value of the property is RM 450,000 and your total outstanding is RM 250,000. You can take out another RM 155,000.

You can then use this money to settle off high interest debt such as credit card and personal loan.

Lower total credit card outstanding

Be sure to focus paying down credit cards with high utilisation. As we have discussed earlier, paying the minimum payment on time does not help if you credit utilisation is near the limit. A good practice will be to keep it to below 50% of your total credit limit.

You may also request the issuer to increase your credit limit, which may or may not be entertained depending on the banks policy. Alternatively you may also consider perform a balance transfer to another credit card to lower the credit utilisation.