Thai Law Database Online

How important Credit Information law is and the right of consumers

               Credit can raise the standard of living for people who can have purchasing power without cash. If credit is unavailable, few people could own a house or other necessary items. On the contrary, the lack of credit information can make people fail as well. The obvious example that resulted from using the wrong information is the NPLs crisis in Thailand in 1999 and 2000.    Therefore, to correct and prevent future NPLs crisis, the Credit Information Business Operation Act B.E. 2545 (2002) was enacted in Thailand. A credit bureau will collect a history of a consumer’s payment from various commercial institutions. Therefore, commercial institutions will have sufficient information to assess the risk of paying back by exchanging information with each other.

               Due to the fact that the credit information business relates to personal information of consumers, so the right of information owner may be affected easily. The Credit Information Business Operation Act was enacted to regulate a credit bureau’s work, accuracy of information, purpose, and disclosure.

               Under the Credit Information Business Operation Act, a consumer report shows the identity of a consumer and the qualification of a customer for applying credit. In case of an ordinary person, a consumer report shows the name, address, the date of birth, marital status, and ID card number. In addition, a consumer report includes the history of application for and approval of credit, history of payment of consumers applying for credit, and history of payment through a credit card. However, under the Credit Information Business Operation Act, consumers have the right to protect their own information in many ways, such as the right to know which credit information a company is keeping, the right to examine the information, the right to correct inaccurate information, and the right to protest when he knows that his information is incorrect.

               Fortunately, unlike in U.S.A., Credit Information Business Operation Act does not allow an employer to use a credit report to determine an applicant. The primary purpose of this act is to deal with the NPLs crisis resulting from commercial institutions lacking customer’s information like financial and payment history. The meaning of credit information under this act focuses on the customer’s information of commercial institutions so that the commercial institutions can use the information to analyze a credit. In addition, a service user means “a member or juristic person operating a legitimate business by granting credit as a normal trade practice,” such as commercial bank, insurance company, and juristic person operating credit card services. Therefore, an employer is not allowed to use credit information to assess his applicant’s performance because he is not a service user under the meaning of this act.

                We now know how much important credit information law is. Especially, the credit information law in Thailand can solve the NPLs crisis effectively.

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