Data Subject FAQ
You may have questions about credit bureaus, how they operate, where they get your data from, how they use it, etc. This FAQ page may answer some of those questions that the Trust Centre hasn't covered.
What legislation must credit bureaus follow?
NCA
The National Credit Act 34 of 2005, also known as the NCA, is a legal framework that controls the credit environment. For more information on the NCA, download the NCA Information Brochure.
POPIA
The Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) is the comprehensive data protection legislation enacted in South Africa. For more information on your rights under POPIA, visit our Data Rights page.
PAIA
The Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2013 (PAIA) allows access to information according to strict requirements set out in the Act. For more information on PAIA, you can download our PAIA Manual.
What are my rights under the NCA?
Under the NCA, you have the following rights:
- The right to apply for credit without discrimination.
- The right to know why credit has been refused.
- The right to receive your information in plain and understandable language.
- The right to confidentiality.
- The right to a free credit report once a year.
- The right to challenge information held by a credit bureau without charge.
- For more information on your rights under the NCA, download our NCA Information Brochure
Personal Information FAQ
Under POPIA, you have the following rights:
- Right to rectification: correct anything that you think is wrong with the personal information we hold about you.
- Right to restrict processing: change how your personal information is used.
- Right to object: ask us to stop using your data.
- Right to be informed: understand what happens to your personal information.
- Right of access: see what personal information we hold about you.
- Right to erasure: ask us to delete your personal information.
For more information about your rights under POPIA, visit our Data Rights page.
What is a credit bureau and what do they do?
Credit bureaus play a key role in a lender’s decision to give you credit. Credit bureaus provide information about your credit profiles to credit providers. Credit providers use this information combined with their business rules and your affordability as part of their decision process.
A credit bureau receives and stores your financial information, updates your credit history, and compiles your credit profile into a credit report. A credit report is a document that outlines all your credit information showing how you manage and repay the credit given to you.
Experian South Africa (Pty) Ltd is a registered credit bureau with the National Credit Regulator (NCR) in terms of the National Credit Act (NCA), NCR No: NCRCB16.
For more information on Experian's role as a credit bureau, watch our Know your Bureau video:
How does Experian use my data?
Experian carries out several types of data processing to serve our clients, meet regulatory obligations, and provide consumers with credit reports and credit scores. These processes include loading data, matching and linking data together as well as testing, developing and building our products and services.
Experian only processes data in a lawful manner according to the NCA, POPIA and PAIA.
For more information on how Experian uses your data, visit our Data Use page.
How does Experian protect my data?
We have processes of due diligence when choosing suppliers and clients to work with, and we continually monitor these relationships. We only work with service providers and resellers who meet our high standards of compliance with data protection requirements.
This is to make sure that we don't use personal data in a way that could cause harm to you. We require both suppliers and clients to use appropriate security measures to safeguard your information.
For more information on how Experian protects your data, visit our Data Protection page.
