In a bid to help South Africans understand and manage their credit scores better, TransUnion South Africa has revealed a USSD channel offering where citizens can access their credit score and information from a cellphone.
TransUnion is a registered credit bureau and a repository of credit information on consumers and businesses. The company presently provides credit information and information management services to approximately 45 000 businesses and 500 million consumers in 33 countries.
Garnet Jensen, senior director for TransUnion South Africa, explains: "The USSD offering makes it quick and convenient for consumers to keep track of and manage their credit health, make informed financial decisions and better prepare for conversations with credit providers during their credit applications processes."
Applicant profiling
According to the year end 2016 Credit Bureau Monitor (CBM) report compiled by the National Credit Regulator (NCR), there are more than 24 million people who are credit active in the country. However, less than 3% of those consumers check their credit reports annually. This is despite the fact that every credit consumer is entitled to one free credit report a year from each of the consumer credit bureaus: Compuscan, Experian, TransUnion and Xpert Decision Systems.
Jensen says TransUnion opted to use this channel as it has proven to be popular in SA. "USSD is an extremely popular and pervasive platform in the country. We wanted to reach as broad a market as possible. One of the key objectives of this service is to improve credit awareness among the broad population. Another objective was to overcome the technology barriers of smartphone, mobile data access and Internet access in general. The product is vital in SA, where smartphone penetration is moderate and credit awareness is low," he said.
The TransUnion credit USSD service is able to work even if the applicant does not have mobile data or smartphone capabilities.
"To access the USSD service consumers need to dial *120*8801# and answer some verification questions. Consumers then view the available products such as credit summary information, number of defaults, judgments, enquiries and late payments as well as the estimated costs. If one chooses the 'credit score' option, for example, then one will be required to SMS his/her ID number to 39250 to get your credit score. The user will then receive his/her credit score information via SMS," explains Jensen.
Security personal information
Jensen says one of the key considerations in the product design was the security measures. The security features include a knowledge-based verification of the consumer's details as part of the registration process and validation of the consumer's mobile number (consumers should only register or purchase products from their own mobile device).
"The information provided is only summary data and it is therefore only useful to the individual in question. We have made the security model fairly sensitive for valid reasons. Once fully registered, they can access the USSD product set," says Jensen. "The National Credit Act (NCA) allows a consumer to dispute any information regarding their score or summary data provided."
The NCR reported a 12% growth of people accessing free credit reports, and 75% of reports issued were done so free of charge. The number of credit reports issued by credit bureaus to consumers decreased from 144 210 at the end of December 2015 to 129 458 to the end of the first quarter of 2016.
"We want consumers to stop being afraid of how lenders might view them and take control of their finances. Our job is to help them get clued up on their credit report and score and make positive changes where they are needed," concluded Jensen.
To access the USSD service, consumers need to dial *120*8801#.
Share