Credit bureaux in South Africa
Credit bureaux collect payment information from credit providers and sell it back to them as a record. They are registered with and regulated by the National Credit Regulator, and you have specific rights over what they hold about you.
The record holds your accounts, the payment profile on each, adverse classifications, judgments, and enquiries made against you. Credit providers supply this monthly, which is why an account settled today may still show as open for a few weeks.
Each bureau calculates its own score from broadly the same underlying data, which is why scores differ between them. Lenders then apply their own scorecard on top, which is why decisions differ again.
Adverse information has maximum retention periods set by the National Credit Act. Once a period expires the bureau must remove the entry, and you can require it to if it has not.
You are entitled to one free report a year from each bureau, and to dispute anything inaccurate at no cost. The bureau must investigate and either correct the entry or explain why it stands.
Related
Sources and last checked
- National Credit Regulator — register of credit providers — Regulator, as at 10 August 2026.
- NCR Credit Bureau Monitor, Q2 2025 — Regulator report, as at 30 June 2025.
Page last checked 10 August 2026. Statutory caps and lender terms change — confirm anything you intend to rely on with the provider or the National Credit Regulator. Found something wrong? Tell us and we will correct it.