It was a gloomy evening, one of my good old friend called me on my mobile, with a surprised face I answered the call, “Hello”, “Machan, small issue, I need your advice to overcome a problem, MY NAME IS ON CRIB, I don’t know how”. He went on and on. with a deep breath, I listened to his problem and I gave some suggestions to resolve his issue. However, my friend’s situation made me to think about writing this article about CRIB report Sri lanka  to educate all out there with the same dilemma.

What is a CRIB? What is a CRIB Report

CRIB, it’s a report of credit information collected and compiled by the Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka. Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka (CRIB) which is the first Credit Bureau in the South Asian region was established by the Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka Act No. 18 of 1990. An initiative of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Finance, CRIB was a response to the 1980’s debt crisis in the country.

CRIB is a public-private partnership, with the Central Bank holding the majority of equity while the rest is held by lending institutions regulated by the Central Bank.

CRIB currently has 94 shareholders, including all licensed Commercial banks, Specialized banks, Finance companies, leasing companies, few other institutions which have been declared as lending institutions for the purpose of the Act and the Central Bank. The chairman of the Board is always a deputy governor of the Central Bank and the remaining board seats are shared between the lending institutions.

Each and every facility granted by the banks and finance companies (including all member institution of CRIB) will be reported to CRIB on a regular basis. It includes all kind of advances inclusive of cheque returns.

How can your name be on CRIB report Sri Lanka?

As I told before, if you obtain a loan from any banks or finance company, your details will be automatically reported to CRIB, it doesn’t mean that you defaulted the loan, it simply means that you have a facility at a member institution of crib. So, if you hear any one saying “my name is on CRIB”, don’t panic, tell them its normal process and you have to worry only if the obtained loan is not paid as per the agreement.

Following are the possible reasons for getting reported to crib

1. You obtained a facility under your name
2. You are a partner / proprietor of a business and facility obtained under your business name
3. You are a guarantor to a loan facility
4. You are a joint borrower
5. You are a director of a private company and personal guarantee given to a loan facility obtained under the company name.
6. You have an overdraft at a bank / you have cheque returns

Importance of a CRIB report

Your crib report Is the key convincer of your loan application, your crib report is one of the first document to be analysed by your loan officer. CRIB will help the loan officer to analyse your past payment record of the loans you obtained in the past. If your record is good, then you almost got the loan provided your income supports the monthly commitment.  But, if your CRIB report is not so attractive, then your loan application is in trouble, your loan application may get rejected, delayed or questioned.

What are the information can be found in a CRIB report?

CRIB uses your NIC and name as the search string in their database, following are the details/Information provided in a CRIB Report

1. Detail of the institution
2. Loan amount
3. Monthly installment
4. Repayment mode
5. Arrears amount
6. Loan granted date
7. Reported date
8. Security details
9. Returned cheque details
10. Recently settled facility details
11. Your personal information etc

Also crib provides the information on last 24 months’ payment pattern of yours, all loan officers and credit officers of the member institutions of CRIB are well trained to analyse a CRIB report and they can easily come to a conclusion on your eligibility and your repayment capacity.

Answering my friends question, my friend signed as a guarantor for a loan facility obtained by his driver, after signing he forgot about it. When my friend wanted a personal loan and his bank checked his crib and informed him about the arrears position of the guaranteed facility, Yes, if you sign as a guarantor, you simply taking responsibility of the repayment. My friend got to know what went wrong and he managed to sort out the issue. Lesson learnt: Do not forget about the loans you signed as a guarantor.

How to check your CRIB?

If you apply a loan or any kind of facility at a bank or a finance company, they will check your crib and tell you, but if you want to check before you apply a loan visit to the office of CRIB and request a CRIB Report.

Finally, if you found your details or information reported is incorrect, then you may contact your account manager to sort it, or you may contact CRIB and sort it via dispute resolution process.

You may refer the website www.crib.lk also refer http://www.crib.lk/en/index.php/frequently-asked-questions for more information.

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