You will obtain your Credit Bureau Singapore report and check every entry against your own records.
Most people see their credit report for the first time after something has gone wrong: a rejection, a worse rate than expected, a bank officer who mentions an account they had forgotten. By then they are reading it under pressure. This exercise has you read yours on a quiet evening instead, with nothing riding on it, so any problem is found while you still have time to fix it.
You need three things: the list you made in lesson 1.1, Your credit report is the lender's memory of you, your Singpass or whatever identity check CBS asks for, and about 25 minutes. The worked example follows Priya from lessons 1.2 and 1.3. Her accounts are made up for the example.
Go to the Credit Bureau Singapore website, creditbureau.com.sg. It lists the current ways to buy or request your own report, any fee, and how your identity is checked. Read that page before you request, including how a request you make for yourself is recorded, so you know what to expect. Do not use a third-party site or app that offers to fetch your report for you. Go to CBS directly.
Save the report as a PDF somewhere you can find it again. You will compare against it today and again in the final project.
Lay your list from lesson 1.1 beside the report. Go through the report's accounts one at a time and find each on your list. For each account, check the lender, the type of facility, the date it was opened and the credit limit.
Priya's list had five items: two cards from one bank, one card from another, a personal loan she repaid last year, and an instalment plan for a laptop. When she opened the report, she counted six accounts. Five matched her list. The sixth was a card from a bank she did not remember using at all.
That account goes into the unknown column straight away. It might be a card she applied for years ago and forgot. It might also be a mistake by the lender, or a sign that someone used her details to apply for credit. You do not need to know which yet. You only need to flag it.
Accounts you have closed should show as closed. Debts you have repaid in full should show as settled, with a zero balance. These are the entries most likely to be out of date, because the lender has to update them and sometimes doesn't, or does so late.
Priya's personal loan was repaid in full last year. The report showed it with a small outstanding balance. She checked her bank app and found the final settlement letter, which showed a zero balance on the date she paid. That entry is wrong, and she now has the document to prove it.
Check the repayment history in the same pass. If you see a late payment you are certain you did not make, mark it wrong. If you see one you do remember, like Priya's three-week delay from lesson 1.3, it is correct, even if you would rather it were not there.
Now go down the whole report and give each entry one of three marks. Write each mark beside the entry on a printout or in a notes file.
Correct: it matches your records. Wrong: it does not match, and you have a document that shows what it should say. Unknown: you cannot match it to anything, or you cannot find a document either way.
Priya's final count was four correct, one wrong and one unknown.
For a wrong entry, the first contact is the lender that reported it, because the lender is the one that has to correct its data. CBS also has a process for disputes, set out on its website, and you can use both. Write to the lender in plain terms. Give your full name and NRIC as they appear on the account, the account number or the last few digits, what the report says, what it should say, and the document that shows it. Attach a copy, never the original. Ask the lender to correct the record with CBS and to confirm in writing when it has done so.
Priya's letter to her bank was five sentences long. It named the loan, said the report showed an outstanding balance, said the loan was settled on the date shown in the attached settlement letter, and asked for the record to be corrected and confirmed.
For an unknown account, call the lender named on the report and ask what it is. If the lender confirms an account you never opened, treat it as possible identity misuse: tell the lender, raise it with CBS, and make a police report.
Keep copies of every letter, email and reply in one folder with the date you sent each one.
A finished check has your saved report, every entry marked correct, wrong or unknown, and a short dispute letter drafted for each wrong entry. If every entry was correct, the finished version is a dated note saying so. Your own report is waiting on the CBS website.
Get your report, mark each entry correct, wrong or unknown, and write one dispute letter for any wrong entry, or note that none was needed.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).