CIC is a very familiar term if you have ever transacted with banks or financial companies. So what is CIC? How does CIC operate? Does having bad debt on CIC affect your ability to borrow? In the article below, TOPGOVN will answer all related information about CIC and the fastest ways to check CIC.
What is CIC?
CIC (Credit Information Center) stands for the National Credit Information Center of Vietnam. CIC is built and developed under the management of the State Bank of Vietnam. This organization functions to collect, store, analyze, and process, providing credit information forecasts for individuals and organizations to serve the lending activities of banks and financial companies.
Terms like checking CIC, verifying CIC, or checking credit history are often mentioned in the loan process at financial institutions or banks. This is a critical assessment step to ensure that customers do not have bad debts or other liabilities before deciding to sign loan contracts.
Learn: What is Bad Debt? The Easiest and Fastest Way to Clear Bad Debt
Functions of the CIC Credit Center
As an information portal responsible for receiving, analyzing, storing, and processing credit information of organizations and individuals, CIC operates with the following main functions:
- Registering national credit information.
- Receiving, processing, and analyzing national credit information.
- Establishing warnings and solutions to prevent credit risks.
- Setting scoring criteria and credit ratings for entities and individuals operating within Vietnam. This information is then provided to banks and credit institutions.
- Providing information and credit ratings according to legal regulations.
Principles of CIC Operation
To understand more about what CIC is, you need to grasp the principles of its operation. All banks and credit institutions provide CIC with information related to loans such as: borrower’s name, borrowing organization, and the process of settling that loan.
From there, CIC compiles a unified database which serves as the basis for lending institutions and banks to check whether customers have bad debts, thereby deciding whether to lend to them or not.
Bad debt on CIC is divided into 5 groups. The higher the customer’s bad debt group, the lower the approval rate for loans.
- Group 1 – Standard debt: Debts assessed to be fully recoverable in both principal and interest. Characteristics:
- Overdue debts from 1 day to 10 days and can be recovered in full in both principal and interest on time.
- Customers are still supported by the bank for loans.
- Group 2 – Noticeable debt: Customers have overdue debts from 10 days to 90 days from the contract expiration date. The loan term is first adjusted.
- Group 3 – Substandard debt: Debts overdue from 91 to 180 days; loans with restructured repayment terms for the first time, except those in group 2; debts waived or reduced in interest due to inability to pay interest.
- Group 4 – Doubtful debt: Debts overdue from 181 to 360 days; restructured debts overdue under 90 days; second-time restructured debts.
- Group 5 – Potentially lost capital: Debts overdue over 360 days; first-time restructured debts overdue from 90 days or more; second-time restructured debts overdue; third-time restructured debts or more, whether overdue or not; unrecoverable debts awaiting resolution.
Ways to Check Personal Credit History for Free
If you want to borrow money from banks or credit institutions, you can check your CIC credit history following these instructions:
Check Personal CIC on the CIC Credit Center Website
Customers can check their CIC credit history on the CIC credit center website through the following steps:
- Visit the CIC website to create an account with information such as full name, ID/CCCD number, ID/CCCD image, portrait photo, email, etc.
- Enter the OTP code sent to the registered phone number.
- Visit CIC Website to proceed with checking CIC credit history.
- Register for a search and within one day, a consultant will call to verify some customer information. If the information matches, the CIC credit history search results will be sent to your email.
Check CIC Online via App
To check CIC online via the free mobile app, customers need to download the app from the following links:
- For Android phones
- For iOS phones
After downloading the app, follow these simple steps:
- Open the app, select “Extract report” to check CIC.
- Authenticate report extraction with phone password, fingerprint, or faceID.
- Register an account with the required information.
- Enter the OTP verification code.
- Check the credit report sent to you.
Check Personal CIC at the Credit Center
Customers can also directly visit the National Credit Information Center of the State Bank of Vietnam at:
- Hanoi: No. 10 Quang Trung, Ha Dong District, Hanoi, Vietnam
- Ho Chi Minh City: Floor 1, No. 68 Nguyen Hue, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Additionally, you can check personal credit history at the Vietnam Credit Information Joint Stock Company at:
- Hanoi: Room 1303B, Vietcombank Building, 198 Tran Quang Khai, Ly Thai To Ward, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi
- Ho Chi Minh City: Floor 4, Office Building 13-13 Bis Ky Dong, Ward 9, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City
Check CIC at Banks/Financial Companies
Credit institutions and banks all follow the principle of checking customer credit when applying for loans. The CIC checking process at banks/financial companies is as follows:
- Register loan information at the credit institution/bank.
- Provide ID/CCCD number to check CIC credit history.
- Conduct a CIC credit history search and notify the customer.
Note: The fee for checking CIC history usually depends on the lending unit, typically around 30,000 VND.
How Does Bad Debt on CIC Affect You?
Understanding what CIC is and its operating principles, you will see that CIC history plays a crucial role in credit and loan activities at banks. Bad debt will greatly affect the ability to disburse loans. If your credit history is not good, the approval rate will be very low, and each bad debt group will have different levels of impact:
- Group 1 and Group 2 Bad Debt: Customers can still apply for loans at credit institutions and banks. However, the disbursement rate for Group 1 is higher than for Group 2 when applying for unsecured loans at the bank.
- Group 3, 4, 5 Bad Debt: If you have bad debts from Group 3 to Group 5, almost all credit institutions and banks will reject the loan. Information about the debt will be stored for 5 years, and during this time, no lending institution will support the loan.
How to Clear Bad Debt on CIC
To clear bad debt, consider the following cases:
Case 1: Bad Debt Due to Customer’s Fault
In this case, to clear bad debt, the customer should follow these steps:
- Check the bad debt status using one of the above methods to know which bad debt group the amount belongs to.
- Go to the lending unit and discuss, gather information about the loan including principal and interest to make the payment.
- After one month, recheck CIC history to see if the debt has been cleared. Depending on the bad debt group, the credit history will be retained for a period. Group 2 will be stored for 12 months, and Groups 3, 4, 5 will be stored for the last 5 years.
Case 2: Bad Debt Due to Bank or CIC Center Error
If it is the fault of the lending unit or the CIC center, the customer should follow these steps:
- Check the bad debt status using one of the above methods to know the outstanding amount and which bad debt group it belongs to.
- Write a complaint letter to the lending unit or CIC center.
- Send the written complaint to the lending organization or CIC center for resolution.
- Receive and check the bad debt status results on the CIC website.
Notes to Avoid Being Classified as Bad Debt on CIC
Bad debt will significantly affect your loan needs at lending institutions. Therefore, to avoid being classified as bad debt on CIC, ensure the following:
- If your CIC credit history in the last 2 years is not good and belongs to bad debt, do not continue to apply for loans.
- Use credit cards reasonably, pay on time, and do not exceed your repayment capacity.
- Do not borrow money if you know you cannot repay the debt.
- Access the correct CIC information portal to avoid fraudulent and scam links.
Conclusion
The article has detailed what CIC is and guides you on the quickest and free ways to check CIC. Hopefully, with the shared information, you can check your credit history yourself.
