FSS expands criteria for personal credit ratings

Starting today, personal credit ratings will take into account timely payment of telecom bills and utility fees such as electricity and gas, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Wednesday.

The FSS decided to change personal credit assessment criteria to include non-financial records like monthly bill payments for phone service and utilities. The measure is aimed at offering fair credit ratings for people with no past financial-transaction records like borrowing and loan repayment. College students and young job-seekers often fall in this category.

These consumers were automatically classified into lower credit groups of grade four through grade six. The low ratings forced them to borrow from commercial banks with high interest rates or turn to nonfinancial institutions for loans.

People can submit telecom and utility bills as well as national pension and national health insurance payment records from the past six to 24 months to the NICE Information Service or Korea Credit Bureau via mail to get their credit reassessed.