The Supervisor of Credit Data Sharing at the Bank of Israel has instructed all credit providers reporting to the credit data system and all credit bureaus to prepare for dealing with these negative implications.
In accordance with the standards published by the World Bank, the Supervisor has instructed credit providers to identify and label the negative data reported to the system as a result of the corona pandemic. Labeling the information will help the credit bureaus and credit providers distinguish between negative information generated during the corona crisis and negative information generated prior to it, and to consider whether different weights can be given to each period. In addition, the Supervisor has instructed the credit bureaus to examine the effects of the crisis on customers’ credit ratings, and to relate mainly to the proper weight of transactions labeled as described above. The credit data system must enable the proper reflection of the customer’s risk level in order to allow customers to continue operating and to overcome this difficult period. This measure will enable credit providers and credit bureaus to consider how to update the credit ratings and whether to give negative information due to the crisis a lower weight in order that the customer’s credit rating not be harmed or not be seriously harmed.
Bank of Israel Supervisor of Credit Data Sharing Tsuriel Tamam said, “The corona crisis is raising the risk level of many customers. The adjustments we have made enable the credit data system to properly reflect the risk level of each customer, so that customers will be able to continue relying on the credit market in order to overcome this difficult period.
We again ask all Israelis to actively use the leniencies provided and the services offered by credit providers in an informed way. In this context, we suggest contacting your credit providers to examine the possibility of deferred payment arrangements to the extent that this is necessary for the borrower. We recommend avoiding, as much as possible, exceeding credit facilities, bouncing checks, or late payments, and you should therefore act in coordination with the credit providers, since overdrawing or lateness that are not arranged in advance may have a negative impact on the customer’s credit rating and his ability to take out credit under good terms in the future. I believe that the credit data system can serve as a central tool for supporting credit activity on the way to exiting from the crisis.”