A default judgment results from the named respondent's failure to appear
in court or from one party's failure to take appropriate procedural steps.
It
is entered upon the failure of the party to appear or to plead at an
appropriate time.
Failure to appear or answer is considered an admission of the
truth of the opposing party's pleading, which forms the basis for a default
judgment.
The default judgement is public information and appears on your credit report for 5 years or until the judgement is rescinded by a court or paid in full. Once paid in full the consumer no longer has to get the judgement rescinded in court.
What is the Credex Score?
The Credex Score specifically scores the applicant to determine their suitability as a tenant.
There are 3 components to the score, these being: application, affordability and squat. This wraps up into the overall Credex Score. Different components are taken into consideration (application, affordability and squat) and an overall score is provided (Basic, Silver or Gold).
Additional information is required to perform the Silver and Gold Credex Score including the value of the rent, how many tenants there are, the applicant in question’s contribution towards the total rental, and the applicant’s salary.
Important considerations:
This score is based on the data available – the more credit bureaus requested the better the predictability of the score. In other words the score is most predictable when TPN, TransUnion and Experian enquires are all requested.
The overall Credex Score is a wrap - up of application, affordability and squat components. The Basic Credex Score does not include the affordability and squat components and, as such, the applicant will never score in the excellent bucket due to the fact that the input data is actually limited.
TPN Allows you access to two different ID Verification methods:
1. Verify Identity:
This allows you to perform a check against the Department of Home Affairs using the input fields and retrieve a photo of the applicant and verify their status.
2. Verify Biometrics:
This is the most highly recommended verification of Identity as it allows you to perform a live "selfie check" on the applicant, almost always verifying that you re indeed dealing with the correct person.
In this check a SMS is sent to the applicant to ask them to confirm their identity, once the applicant clicks the link it will ask them to capture themselves using their phone camera and the check will verify against the latest document captured at the department of home affairs whether its a smart ID or passport.
Once the check is completed by the applicant the Home Affairs photo as well as the selfie photo will be returned to you.
TPN RentCheck is the most comprehensive enquiry available in the market to assess tenants.
RentCheck | TPN | - Rental Payment Profile
- Judgement
- Defaults
- Notices (Sequestration, Rehabilitation, Administration Orders)
- Credit Exposure
- total value of credit borrowed
- value of monthly repayments
- Amount in arrears
- Account Payment Profile
|
TransUnion |
Credit Exposure |
How will the information help secure better tenants?
- Early warning indicators - “late or non” payment profile will reflect in the Arrears Balance even before judgement or defaults are listed.
- Post Credit Amnesty indicators – “late or non” payment profile will reflect in the Arrears Balance even if judgements or defaults were removed due to the Credit Amnesty
- Rental Payment Profile is key – generally a tenant who has a perpetual history of late or non payment of rent continues this payment behaviour in the future. Any tenant who displays a deviation from a history of paid on time and in full behaviour is scored as riskier; the landlord / estate agent may choose to reject the tenant or contract with stricter terms such as higher deposits, surety, debit orders, month-to-month as opposed to a fixed term lease.
What information is included in the TPN RentCheck?
- In order to access the RentCheck enquiry, the Consumer is required to load a minimum of 1 (One) month's Payment Profile Information onto the Database;
- The Consumer acknowledges and accepts that ongoing access to RentCheck shall be dependent on Rental Payment Profile information being updated on a monthly basis and that TPN may, in its sole discretion, suspend the Consumer's access to RentCheck at any time should the Consumer fail to timeously provide such information to TPN.
Section 41 of the Sexual Offences Act requires all school staff (teachers, coaches, administrators, groundstaff) to be checked against the Sexual Offences Register. The Childrens Act, section 126, requires all school staff to be checked against the National Child Protection Register.
Both of these registers are based on criminal convictions.
TPN's biometric criminal check provides details on all convictions and cases awaiting trial. And, for your convenience, TPN can arrange biometric capturing at your school.
The TPN CIPC Score is a score derived from a combination of
four data points:
·
Directors
·
Entity Age
·
Entity Status
·
Director Maturity
These factors are shown individually and then rolled into a single
CIPC Score.
There are five CIPC Scores:
·
Excellent
·
Good
·
Average
·
Below Average
·
Risky
What does “Directors” show?
•
Indicates
the total number of active directors currently associated with the company.
•
Logic
is added into the director count and “shelf” company directors are removed from
the count. In some cases, we are unable to remove the shelf directors as these
are not clearly shown.
What is “Entity Age”?
•
There
are three entity age buckets:
•
Start Up –
the business has been in operation for less than 2 years.
•
Established –
the business has been in operation for between 2 and 15 years.
•
Mature – the
business has been in operation for more than 15 years.
•
The
entity age is not linked directly to the company CIPC record creation date, but
calculations are performed as to when the company started operation (i.e.:
company no longer a shelf company).
What
is “Entity Status”?
•
Shows the current /past status of the entity.
•
Pass – if the
company is in business.
•
Fail - if the
company is no longer in business or flagged for deregistration.
•
Warning -
if the company is in business, but the status of the business has been
fluctuating between an active and inactive status.
What is “Director Maturity” ?
•
This flag indicates the total amount of
experience that the directors of the company have.
•
This status is determined by looking at all
previous and other active directorships of each individual director.
•
There is a scale of:
•
Amateur
•
Average
•
Experienced
TPN is the only credit bureau which specialises in collecting tenants’ previous rental information including rental value, a monthly timeline of how the rent was paid and any rental arrears or defaults.
Rental Payment Profile is key when identifying the suitability of an applicant tenant. “A leopard cannot change its spots” is a fair analogy that tenants with a history of full and timeous payments continue to behave similarly in the future whereas tenants who have a history of late or non-payment often live up to that previous performance.
What information is included in the TPN Consumer Enquiry?
TransUnion is a traditional credit bureau, meaning that the database includes public domain information – judgements, defaults, notices, personal information and consumer enquiry information.
The TransUnion Consumer Enquiry provides a complimentary set of information used in conjunction with the TPN Consumer Enquiry (TPN’s niche market rental database) or TPN StaffSure Enquiry (TPN’s specialised employment verification database).
What information is included in the TransUnion Consumer Enquiry?
Experian is a traditional credit bureau, meaning that the database includes public domain information – judgements, defaults, notices, personal information and consumer enquiry information.
The Experian Consumer Enquiry provides a complimentary set of information used in conjunction with the TPN Consumer Enquiry (TPN’s niche market rental database) or TPN StaffSure Enquiry (TPN’s specialised employment verification database).
What information is included in the Experian Consumer Enquiry?
The first step in accessing your applicant is to establish the tenant’s identity number is valid, issued by Home Affairs and matches the tenant’s name and surname.
Description | Meaning |
ID not yet verified | Every time a new consumer is loaded onto TU or Experian - the credit bureau will return result "ID not yet verified". The credit bureau will then send a file of "new" ID numbers to Home Affairs requesting then to verify the data. Home Affairs will advise the credit bureaux which of the ID's are verified, never issued or deceased. The credit bureaux will then update the own ID verification database.
|
ID verified but not surname | The ID verification process between the credit bureaus and Home Affairs can take some time. In some instances the credit bureau will confirm the ID Number was issued by Home Affairs but they are still waiting to confirm the Name matched to that ID number. |
ID and Surname Match | The ID Number and Surname match as per the Home Affairs data |
ID and Surname do not Match | The ID Number and Surname entered do not match the Home Affairs data. This could be as a result of a maiden name change or a spelling mistake made by the TPN member when capturing the data. |
ID Deceased | It is highly probable that the ID being used is fraudulent. |
ID Never Issued | This result is given because the ID has been updated on the credit bureau database as not issued by Home Affairs (it is highly probable that the ID being used is fraudulent) |
TPN recommendation for ID Deceased / Never Issued:
- This is probably a fraudulent application;
- Ask the agent to send a copy of the ID DOCUMENT to TPN and we will manually verify with Home Affairs. This process takes 2 weeks. It is recommended that the TPN member does not enter into any agreement until the ID document has been verified.
- If still verified as "Never Issued" or “Deceased” and the tenant believes there is an error, the tenant should contact Home Affairs.
The Qualification Check is an investigation enquiry. The educational institution supplied is contacted and a manual verification is performed against the supplied qualification.
The response to this enquiry usually takes between 24 - 48 hours.
International qualification checks could take up to a week or two.
An enquiry is performed against the SAPS criminal database utilizing the fingerprints of the applicant in order to confirm whether or not this applicant has a criminal record.
The response time for this enquiry usually takes between 24 - 48 hours.
Credit bureau information is valuable information to trace clients who have absconded.
TPN can trace individuals by their Identity or Passport number, Surname and date of birth or their telephone number.
The trace information is returned from both the TPN and TransUnion databases and includes all personal information date and time stamped for usability.
What information is included in the TPN Trace Enquiry?
Consumer information (also known as header
information) is compiled from applications this consumer has made, for example
the last time the consumer applied for credit.
Included is the personal information such as name,
surname, marital status, physical and postal address, contact numbers, ID
number, spouse details, current employer and occupation, captured at the time
of the application.
The Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC ) maintains the database of all registered companies in South Africa. The Associated Companies section summarises the number of companies an individual is an active principal (member or director) or resigned principal (member or director).
Full details are provided within the TPN Enquiry: name of business, status of business (in business, deregistered, and liquidated), and age of business.
Warning flags: if the individual has a history of liquidated business and the intention is to enter into a lease under a new business entity. Recommendation – sign a surety with a credit healthy principal (s) (member or director)
This gives a detail visual indication of how the individual pays their rent, credit, insurance, telecoms and other accounts.
* TPN Payment Trend donut
This is rental and levy data. The colours define the payment behaviour.
KEY | DESCRIPTION | MEANING |
POT | Paid on time | the payment is made on time and in full |
GP | Grace period | the payment is made in full but late between the 2nd and the 7th of the month |
PL | Paid late | the payment is made in full but late before the end of the month |
PP | Partial payment | only part of the payment is made, there is still an amount outstanding at the end of the month |
DNP | Did not pay | An invoiced was raised and no payment was made within the month |
* Credit Payment Trend donut
This is credit, insurance, telecoms and other account information. The colours define the payment behaviour.
KEY | MEANING |
| the account is paid on time and in full |
| the account is one month in arrears |
| the account is two months in arrears |
| the account is greater than 3 months in arrears |
* Combined rental / credit accounts payment timeline
This is a historic 2 year timeline which visually illustrates the payment behaviour – due to its monthly instalments trends are easily observed.
Rental and Credit Good Standing are depicted in dark green, light green and yellow and display above the x-axis; purple and re display below the x-axis.
Every account is displayed for each month; in other words the columns in the y-axis increase indicate who many accounts are included in the timeline and each account is displayed by the appropriate colour.
The Credex Score specifically scores the applicant to determine their suitability as a tenant.
There are 3 components to the score: application, affordability and squat which wrap up into the overall Credex Score. Depending on which score (basic, silver or gold), the different components (application, affordability and squat) are included.
image | Application | Rates the tenant applicant into 5 buckets - poor, below average, average, good or excellent. |
Affordability | Calculates if the tenant can afford the rent based on the inputted rent and salary data |
Squat | Assesses the probability that the applicant will not only default but will not vacate the property and will incur a minimum of 4 months in a row of non-payment. |
Additional information is required to perform the Silver and Gold Credex Score - the value of the rent and if there are multiple tenants, that applicants contribution towards the rent, and the applicant’s salary.
Important considerations:
The score is based on the data available – the more credit bureaus requested the better the predictability of the score. In other words the score is most predictable when a TPN, TransUnion and Experian enquiries are requested
The overall Credex Score is a wrap up of application, affordability and squat component; the Basic Credex Score does not include the affordability and squat components and as such the applicant will never score in the excellent bucket as the input data is limited.
This powerful set information indicates the total value of credit outstanding as well as the monthly instalment amount and any arrears balance.
| Useful because... |
Monthly Instalment | This figure is useful to assess affordability.
One of the calculations to assess rental affordability is to limit the value of the rent to 30% of gross monthly salary; however if this Monthly Instalment comprises a significant portion of the individual’s salary even the 30% rule may not be appropriate.
It is an important figure to assess over-indebtedness
|
Arrears Balance | Historically landlords and estate relied on judgement or default information to assess the suitability of a tenant. Now the Arrears Balance figure might provide early warning indicators before default or judgement listing as to the repayment behaviour of a tenant application |
Also known as names captured on the credit bureau; all information captured by previous enquiries and lease or account information reported to the credit bureaus is logged under the AKA information. Instances of incorrect spelling and nicknames or maiden names are recorded.
Warning flags: when the AKA Information bears no resemblance to the ID or Passport document you have been provide.
A summary of what data is listed on each credit bureau: TPN, TransUnion and Experian
N/A: means Not Available (i.e. that credit bureau does not report that information)
N/R: means Not Requested (i.e. that Credit Bureau’s enquiry was not requested)
Data Category | Description | Retention |
ID Verified | The ID number has been verified to match the name and surname | |
Active Accounts | The number of active accounts where credit is available | 5 years |
Inactive Accounts | The number of accounts which have been close in the last 5 years for rent and 2 years for credit | 5 years |
Judgements | The number of judgements listed against the individual
Note: paid-up judgements are removed and do not reflect here
| 5 years |
Defaults | The number of defaults listed against the individual
Note: paid-up defaults are flagged as paid-up but still reflect here
| 2 years |
Notices | The number of Notices listed against the individual • Sequestration • Rehabilitation • Administration Orders • Emolument Attachment Orders | 10 years 5 years Until paid Until paid |
Under Dispute | There is information in this credit report which the individual is disputing. The credit bureau cannot display the information in dispute, which might be relevant to the assessment of the applicant. It is recommended to wait until the dispute has been resolved and to re-assess the application at that point | 20 Business days |
Under Debt Review | The individual has applied for debt review as they may be over-indebted. The individual may not enter into any more credit agreements, as a lease agreement is not credit agreements, the individual may enter into a lease agreement. However it is recommended the debt councillor is contacted with the intention of verifying the value budgeted for rent to reconcile against the application for rent. | Until Clearance Certificate |
Enquiries | A history of the businesses that have performed credit enquiries against this individual. | 2 years |
This provides a 20 year list of all addresses and telephone numbers listed on the credit bureaus. The list is dated to help establish a trend of movement between address and length of time at each address.
Warning flags:
- if the tenant provides a current address or telephone number on their rental application which is not included in the Contact Address list (high indicator of fraudulent identity)
- if the Contact Address list indicates the tenant has a history of frequent moves between address
The Enquiry Information, or footprinting as it is also know, provides a list of businesses that have performed credit enquiries on the individual for the last 2 years. The information returned will assist in determining trends of who the individual has sought credit or services from – the subscriber details and reason for enquiry data will allude to whether enquiries were performed for credit, employment, rental application etc. The credit amount will indicate what the credit / rent amount that was applied for – although it not necessary that the credit / rent was granted at all or for that amount in particular.
Accounts are: leases, levy accounts or other accounts.
Each account is reported individually and is titled as a lease, levy or account. Importantly the suppliers details and contact information is listed to enable our Customers to communicate with each other regarding the listed information.
Information includes the date the account was opened, the current term of the account and the monthly repayment
Each account (lease, levy or other account) includes some or all of the below information:
AD – Account Details | Balance data and Outstanding balance
- Indicates the last date we received information and what the outstanding balance is.
- This is particularly useful if the account shows a history of partially or non-payments - as the total value of all those partial or non-payments is determinable
Last Payment Date and Amount Paid
- Indicates the date the last payment was made on this account and what that amount was
- This information is particularly useful
|
PP – Payment Profile | Payment profile information is a month-by-month indication of how the account is paid. An invoiced must be raised for the month and the payment profile flag relates to the statement balance due:
There are 5 payment profile flags
- POT – Paid on Time and in full
- GP – Grace Payment and in full (2nd to 7th)
- PL – Paid Late and in full (before the end of the month)
- PP – Partially Paid, there is still a balance outstanding
- DNP – Did not pay, an invoice was raised but no payment was made in the month
Important Considerations: Payment Profile has a 5 year retention period and does not require prior notice to the tenant before update. It must be a factual account of how the account is paid.
|
D - Default | Defaults are listed by members of the credit bureaus. Defaults are retained on the credit bureau for 1 or 2 years (depending on the nature of the default). If a default has been settled by the individual, this “paid-up” status will be noted in the remarks. |
R - Recommendation | TPN members have the ability to provide a positive recommendation about one of their tenants, to alert other landlords / estate agents to a quality tenant. |
Consumer occupation / employer information is updated from information supplied to the credit bureaus when enquiries are performed on the credit bureau. The consumer’s employment information is logged and date stamp at the time of the enquiry.
Important considerations:
A quality application form will ask the individual to supply their current employment details – we recommend the credit bureau employment information on record should be verified against the application form to assess if the information corroborates. If not the applicant’s employment details on the credit bureau might be old (refer to the date of the information), or the applicant might have supplied incorrect employment references on their tenant application form and we recommend contacting the employment information supplied by the credit bureau to eliminate any malicious intent.
This is a summary of the number of accounts (credit, telecoms, insurance, etc.) the individual has open including the total value of the credit available and what the combined monthly instalment of the accounts is.
This is powerful information to assess overall affordability of the individual by analysing the individual’s income less their total monthly instalments against the value of the rent application.
Each account will be individually reported and should be assessed as part of the overall assessment.
A judgment is handed down by a court (either a Magistrates Court or High Court, or potentially from an official in another forum authorised to do so) for a civil claim. The credit bureaus collect the judgement court orders from the courts.
Judgement Date – the date judgement was handed down in the court. Judgements are displayed on an individual’s credit profile for a maximum of five years, and will be removed when the debt in question has been fully paid up. Although the judgement is only displayed on the credit bureau for 5 years, the judgement is valid for 30 years (i.e. prescription of debt in terms of a judgment is 30 years).
Click here to view the Judgement Code Descriptions.
Defaults are listed on a credit bureau by a member (customer) of the credit bureau. A default is retained (displayed) on the individual’s credit profile for either 1 or 2 years depending on the type of default in question. If a default is paid up prior to the 1 or 2 year retention period, the information is updated with an “Account Paid Up” status.
Prior to listing a default, the individual must have been given 20 business days’ notice of the supplier’s intention to load adverse information on a credit bureau, in accordance with legislative provisions.
Notices are also court orders.
Court Order | Description | Retention Period |
Sequestration | A formal declaration that the individual is insolvent. Either the individual himself or his creditor(s) may apply to the court for a sequestration order. This mean’s the individual has diminished legal capacity – they may not enter into a credit agreement but they may legally enter into a lease agreement | The earlier of 10 years or until rehabilitation order is granted |
Rehabilitation | A order of the court terminating the individual’s Sequestrated status | 5 years |
Administration Order | An administrator is appointed to distribute payments to the individual’s creditors | The earlier of 10 years or until rescinded by the court |
Each unsecured loan account is reported individually; the account is titled as the name of the supplier and categorised by type of credit.
Each unsecured loan account will include the date the account was opened – but only the last 2 years of payment profile information will be displayed. The monthly instalment as well as the opening and current balance is provided and the term (number of months for repayment) if applicable.
The payment profile information will help assess how the individual pays each unsecured loan account. Payments are based on the age analysis of the debtor, the payment flags indicate:
KEY | MEANING |
0 | the account is paid in full and timeously |
1 | the account is one month in arrear |
2 | the account is two months in arrears |
3 | the account is three months in arrears |
4 | the account is four months in arrears |
5 | the account is five months in arrears |
6 | the account is six months in arrears |
7 | the account is seven months in arrears |
8 | the account is eight months in arrears |
9 | the account is nine months in arrears |
Click here for a comprehensive list of Payment Profile Keys.
Below is a list of the different Payment Profile Keys:
Code | Description | Definition |
0 | | the account is paid in full and timeously |
1 | Months in arrears | the account is one month in arrear |
2 | Months in arrears | the account is two months in arrears |
3 | Months in arrears | the account is three months in arrears |
4 | Months in arrears | the account is four months in arrears |
5 | Months in arrears | the account is five months in arrears |
6 | Months in arrears | the account is six months in arrears |
7 | Months in arrears | the account is seven months in arrears |
8 | Months in arrears | the account is eight months in arrears |
9 | Months in arrears | the account is nine months in arrears |
C | Account Closed | Account fully paid and has been closed |
E | Terms Extended | Repayment terms have been extended |
F | Lapsed Policy | Consumer has allowed Insurance Policy to lapse due to non-payment |
G | Cancelled by Consumer | Policy Cancelled by Consumer |
H | Cancelled by Supplier | If a policy is cancelled by a supplier it may not necessarily be a negative activity; this could be as a result of a surplus of claims |
I | Facility Revoked | Supplier has revoked access to the facility |
J | Repossession | Goods have been repossessed due to non-payment |
K | Paid out of deceased claim | Deceased Claim paid to Principal Policy Holder only – i.e. to be used in instances where the Principal Policy Holder receives a pay-out for cover of another individual |
L | Handed Over | Account handed over to attorney or collection agency for recovery but still owned by the Member. |
M | Paid out Disability | Disability Claim Paid out to principal policy holder |
P | Paid Up | Account paid up but may become active in the future. |
S | Surrendered | Policy surrendered and paid out |
T | Early Settlement | Outstanding balance settled before agreed term |
U | Paid in Full Adverse | |
V | Cooling Off Settlement | Loan settled within the 5 day cooling off period |
W | Written Off | Account written off due to non-payment |
X | Paid up Default | Update of previously submitted default status codes (W,I,J,L) to reflect as paid up |
Z | Deceased | Where a consumer has been confirmed as deceased |
Each account is reported individually; the account is titled as the name of the supplier and categorised by type of credit, telecoms, insurance, retail etc.
Each account will include the date the account was opened – but only the last 2 years of payment profile information will be displayed. The monthly instalment as well as the opening and current balance is provided and the term (number of months for repayment) if applicable.
The payment profile information will help assess how the individual pays each account. Payments are based on the age analysis of the debtor, the payment flags indicate:
KEY | MEANING |
0 | the account is paid in full and timeously |
1 | the account is one month in arrear |
2 | the account is two months in arrears |
3 | the account is three months in arrears |
4 | the account is four months in arrears |
5 | the account is five months in arrears |
6 | the account is six months in arrears |
7 | the account is seven months in arrears |
8 | the account is eight months in arrears |
9 | the account is nine months in arrears |