Korn: Halt blacklisting of credit card defaulters

FORMER finance minister and leader of the Chart Pattana Kla Party Korn Chatikavanij today (Jan. 2) called for cancelling the blacklisting of credit card defaulters by National Credit Bureau as the millions of people missed payments during the Covid-19 pandemic, TV Channel 7 said.

In a post published on his personal Facebook Korn said millions of people have suffered upon being blacklisted by the credit bureau as a result of being heavily impacted by the Covid pandemic and rising prices of goods which led to an inability to pay credit card bills.

Although the credit score given by the credit bureau and being blacklisted should not influence whether a borrower is given a loan or not it does indicate the borrower’s ability to repay a loan.

However Korn mentioned that other types of debt repayment too should be considered such as paying telephone, internet, tap water and electricity bills on time.

Moreover income and expenses plus means of earning a living should also be considered. An example is if a Grab delivery man works 10 hours a day everyday then he should get more points for his diligence and ability to earn money.

Therefore in the future credit score needs to correlate a person’s ability to pay off debt, which in the finance sector is called “alternative data”, and lending should focus on this rather than past repayment record.

The key issue is a lot of this data is in the hands of state enterprises and the private companies and difficult to reach, he said, adding that there should be a government policy to unlock this data and cancel the blacklisting system.

“Chart Pattana Kla Party will present this as an important policy because I believe that in solving economic problems people have to first be liberated from the conditions of an unfair system,” Korn said.

CAPTION:

Chart Pattana Kla Party leader Korn Chatikavanij. Top photo: Matichon, Front Page photo: Thai Rath

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