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Customer Due Diligence is required according to FIC Act (FICA) for all accountable institutions. 

The TPN Enhanced Due Diligence Check verifies consumer information against trusted third-party sources and numerous global databases, including those specifically mentioned in the FIC Act.

• Search over 5500 Global Sanctions and Watchlists

Including the Targeted Financial Sanctions list from the  United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as prescribed by the FIC Act.

• Verify Political influence and exposure using up to date local and global sources.
• Search Global Adverse media.

• Select the KYC Check to verify your applicants identity against South African Department of Home Affairs and confirm proof of address using golden sources
• Verify Income and bank account details directly with the bank
• Company Check to confirm Members; Directors and Shareholders to ensure you are checking all relevant parties.

The FIC Act specifically requires you to check the targeted financial sanctions (TFS) list.

The Targeted Financial Sanctions / UNSC is included in the TPN Enhanced Due Diligence Check.  

As per their website “ The TFS list includes all persons and entities applicable to sections 26A, 26B and 26C of the FIC Act which refer to sanctions under a resolution by the UNSC and require accountable institutions to scrutinise their clients against the applicable list, to freeze assets and to ensure not to proceed with a transaction.

It is important to note the TFS list is not a FIC or South African domestic sanctions list, but a replica of the original source, which is the UNSC consolidated list of targeted financial sanctions.”

See the original source HERE

• If you can't remember your password, click “Forgot password” highlighted in yellow:

• Enter your e-mail address and select “request password”. 

NB: If your email has changed, please email helpdesk@tpn.co.za to update it.

Please note:  If you have multiple logins associated to your e-mail address, you will be prompted to confirm your user name. If you cannot remember either; you will need to contact helpdesk@tpn.co.za

Once done: 

• A password reset link will be sent to your e-mail address
• Open the email received and click "Click here to reset your password"
• You will be redirected back to the TPN website and you will be able to reset your password 
• Follow the prompts on screen and enter a new password, then retype your new password and click " Change password"

The UNSC is the United Nations Security Council and their Consolidated Sanctions list includes the UN 1267 and the TFS list mentioned by the FIC.

The UNSC Consolidated Sanctions List is included in TPN Enhanced Due Diligence check. 

The bank account verification service on TPN Credit Bureau verifies the account details specified directly with the bank and a result is returned indicating whether the account is open, active and linked to the specified applicant.

You can verify accounts for the following banks:

• ABSA Bank
• African Bank
• Capitec Bank
• Discovery Bank
• First National Bank (FNB)
• Grindrod Bank
• Investec Bank
• Nedbank
• Rand Merchant Bank ( RMB)
• Sasfin Bank
• Standard Bank
• Tyme Bank

The bank account types which can be searched are:

• Current
• Savings 

Each registered TPN Letter of demand is assigned a tracking number by the South African Post office.

You will receive an email from TPN to confirm the tracking number for the letter on demand within 24 – 48 hours from generating the letter.

Alternatively, you can view the tracking number on the Payment profile data as follows:

·        Login to the Credit Bureau

·        Click My Data

·        Find the account/ record for the tracking number

·        Click Letters on the left hand navigation or on Lease details click the number next to the Letters.

·        All the letters sent to the debtor/ tenant will show

·        Click on the folder icon next the letter you want to track

·        The details of the letter sent will show The tracking number will be listed

·        Click the tracking number to go directly to the post office tracking website

https://trackingnew.postoffice.co.za/

Please note: The tracking can take up to 48 hrs to show on the post office website.

The purpose of this guide is to explain how to read and interpret the information retrieved when performing enquiries via the TPN system.

It is important to note that TPN members have access to a range of enquiries, which allows members to have a more holistic overview of their risk decision process.

The documents that follow will attempt to address any questions that you may have with regards to enquiries.

The TPN Staff Screening Portal was created for Schools, to make compliance with the Sexual Offenders Act and Child Protection Act easier and to lessen the admin burden on the school.

While this was created with Schools in mind, it can be a useful application for all Employers who perform criminal checks on staff periodically.

The first step in accessing your applicant is to establish their identity number is valid, issued by the South African Department of Home Affairs and matches the supplied name and surname.

This check can be run against anyone who has a valid 13-digit South African ID number, this can include refugees and permanent residents.

To ensure the information you receive is accurate and up to date, the ID verification is run in real-time, directly against the South African Department of Home Affairs (DHA) database. 

Please note: As such we are dependent on the availability of the DHA system. 

Viewing the results of a successful ID verification

No Photo available

This means the applicant has not had an identity document or passport issued since HNAIS was brought online in about 2000. 

TPN recommendation for ID Blocked = Yes

• The ID is blocked by DHA.
•  It could have been reported by the Consumer as being used fraudulently, or DHA picked up that it has been fraudulently used and blocked the ID.
• The Consumer must contact DHA and receive a Clearance Letter before you proceed with placing the tenant.

Please read a news article published in August 2024 about this HERE

TPN recommendation for Deceased / Never Issued:

• This is probably a fraudulent application.
• Please 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 you don’t 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 Department of Home Affairs directly.

In some cases you may receive an error message " The call to DHA has timed out - DHA may be down.", this means the DHA (Department of Home Affairs) system is down and we are unable to verify the consumers identity. 

In some instances, we can verify the consumers identity by returning information from a recent check that was performed and verified by the Department of Home Affairs when they were online.  This would result in a record being shown called “ DHA Cache Used” with the date that the cached record was created.

If no cached result is available, you will need to try again later. 

Please note: You may experience intermittent downtime in future, until a permanent resolution has been found by the DHA. 

Compliance with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) is a legal requirement applying to all accountable and reporting institutions. (e.g. Property Practitioners).

This check allows you to validate the information your client has supplied, without the need to obtain supporting documentation.

The check confirms the consumer’s identity, address against a golden source, generates a FICA document on the consumer.

The address supplied by my potential client shows “Not Matched” or "Failed" on the KYC Check result - why does this happen? 

TPN KYC Check verifies the address you input into our system against golden source information.  

Golden source information is information that is verified against external third-party sources that also need to comply with FICA regulations like Banks, Insurance companies, cellular service providers and other financial institutions.

These institutions would do similar checks and request supporting documents to verify and KYC their clients.

It’s possible the third-party source has not received or processed a request from the client to update this information and the institution has not done a recent RICA or FICA Check, so the information they are providing is outdated but is the most up-to-date information they have. 

What must I do now to verify the address?

In cases like this you should perform further due diligence and verify the address the client has given against a third-party document, like a bank statement, utility bill or cellular invoice.

Be aware of strange looking documents and see if the document can be verified online or via telephone.

If the “Submit Criminal Check” button does not show on a specific person this may be due to there already being a criminal check captured or in progress on this user.

Trafalgar - Inner City

30 Joel Road

Berea

Johannesburg, Gauteng

www.trafalgar.co.za

Get directions

Trafalgar - Birdhaven

No 1 St Andrew Street

Birdhaven, Gauteng

www.trafalgar.co.za

Get directions

Circinus Security Services

10 Ebony Road

Primrose, Gauteng

www.circinus.co.za

Get directions

TPN - Rivonia 

1345 Rivonia Road

1st Floor South Block

Rivonia, Gauteng

https://mrisoftware.tpn.co.za

Get directions

Langa Security

3A Plantation Road

Edenvale, Gauteng

www.langasecurity.co.za

Get directions

Trafalgar - Pretoria

829 Stanza Bopape Street (previous Church Street)

Arcadia, Gauteng

www.trafalgar.co.za

Get directions

Trafalgar - Cape Town

Unit 12, M5 Park

Eastman Road, Maitland

Cape Town, Western Cape

 www.trafalgar.co.za

 Get directions

Trafalgar - Durban

141 K E Masinga (Old Fort) Road

Durban, KwaZulu-Natal

 www.trafalgar.co.za

 Get directions

Fohla Security cc t/a FSG Forensics

7 Cedar Road

Westville, KwaZulu-Natal

 www.fsgforensics.co.za

Get directions

Trafalgar - Port Elizabeth

2 Ascot Road

Mill Park

Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape

 www.trafalgar.co.za

Get directions

Trafalgar - East London

Shop 11, The New Colonnade

Devereux Avenue

Vincent, Eastern Cape

 www.trafalgar.co.za

Get directions

TPN has various fingerprinting center's around South Africa. Use our online map HERE. 

Or to find your closest location click on your city:

Johannesburg

Pretoria

Durban

East London    

Gqeberha

Cape Town

When a school or employer selects "resubmit" on the TPN Staff Screening Portal, the staff member selected will receive an SMS from TPN to give consent to enable us to resubmit their previously captured digital fingerprints to the SAPS database for clearance.

The employer should advise their staff to expect the SMS, the SMS is worded as follows and has a clickable link:

 “TPN: Please confirm your ID for <School/ Employer Name> by clicking here https://dea.tpn.co.za/curata/<Inique link>”

The link is valid for 120  hours, so it is important to action as soon as possible.

To be able to complete the process, the staff member who is being checked needs to have a phone or device that:

·       accepts SMS's

·       has a working camera

·       has a working internet connection (can be via WIFI or data)

·       If using a data connection, they have data available.

 NB: If the user’s phone does not have any of the items above they are able to complete the link on a computer using the computers camera.

To complete the request the user should click the link, it will open a page in their favourite browser.

They may receive a message to allow the browser to access your camera, click yes to allow.

Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the verification.

Prior to declining the request, please discuss any concerns with your employer.  If the process is declined, then TPN will not resubmit your fingerprints and may result in your employer being liable for additional costs. 

TPN holds a database of information profiling the behaviour of tenants in the rental industry. This information includes:

• a history of where a tenant has rented; 
• the duration of the lease;
• how much their rent was; 
• who their rental agent or landlord was;
• how the tenant has paid their rental each month over the lease period (payment behaviour)

TPN members are welcome to contact each other to confirm tenancy and behaviour.

TPN also includes Rental Payment Profile (RPP) information which shows positive and negative (adverse/ default/ blacklisting) payment behaviour and over a period of time or over many leases this shows a payment trend.

This information is updated monthly by our members and indicates whether the rent was paid on time, paid late, partially paid, or not paid at all.

Due to its achievements in the property market, TPN has diversified its services to schools and other businesses. Its tools, which include credit checks, employee screening, and affordability scorecards, have made it a leader in the education sector by ensuring timely fee collections and effective risk management.

The ID Verification was requested by your employer, or perhaps a property manager, to help them verify your identity. 

They have chosen to use a biometric check from TPN Credit Bureau to verify your identity against the Department of Home Affairs and potentially confirm consent for a further check. 

The name of the person or company that made the request is included in the SMS messages you are receiving. If you are uncertain about why you need to do this check please call them about this. 

The  SMS reminders go out every 4 business hours until the process is either been completed or declined.

The SMS will say -  “ TPN Reminder: Please confirm your ID for <Company/Person who requested > by clicking here https://dea.tpn.co.za/<unique link>.

Not competing this request may have an impact on your application. 

• Verify the link you have received is from TPN. Our URL will show as follows:

  https://dea.tpn.co.za/curata/….

• Click the link
• This will open your phone's preferred browser

( e.g. Chrome or Safari)

 

Important: You may receive a message to allow the browser to access your camera.

Please select “Yes” or “Allow”.

• Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the verification

If you decline to give consent, then TPN will not be able to resubmit your fingerprints. Please rather raise any concerns you may have with your employer or TPN.

Declining may cause additional costs for your employer and you further inconvenience as you will need to complete the process in person at a TPN Fingerprinting Centre.

·        Once you have clicked the URL and the process has opened on your browser the Selfie Check will expire within 72 hours. So please action timeously! 

To be able to complete the process on your device, your device must: 

·       Accepts SMS’s (Connection to working cellular network)

·       Have a working camera

·      Have an active connection to the internet (Wi-Fi , LAN or cellular network data)

·       If using a data connection, you must have data available

The SMS link can be copied and forwarded to another cellphone, laptop; tablet; computer or device and used as long as it has:

·       Has a working camera

·       An active connection to the internet (Wi-Fi , LAN or cellular network data)

·       If using a data connection, they have data available

A credit bureau is a company that provides the credit information and history of consumers.

This helps the credit provider to assess the credit worthiness of the consumer - for example, the ability to pay back a loan or to pay their rent.

Credit bureaux collect financial information on individuals and businesses from data providers with which the bureaux have a relationship.

Data providers can be businesses, credit providers, debt collection agencies and the courts that the consumer or business has had a relationship or experience with. Data providers report the experience with the consumer to the credit bureaux.

The data provided to the bureaux as well as the data collected independently by the bureaux are then aggregated into the bureaux's databases.

The resulting information is then made available on request to members for the purposes of credit assessment and scoring.

You will receive an SMS that reads as follows:

“TPN: Please confirm your ID for <School Name> by clicking here https://tpn.curata.co.za<unique link>” 

This enables you to verify that who the link is from, and the link is genuine.  You may receive multiple links is you work for more than one employer.

Through TPN, members have access to court, bank, insurance, and retailer related credit information through both the Experian and TransUnion (formerly known as ITC) Credit Bureaux.

Members also have access to TPN's unique and highly specialised database of rental payment profile information.

As TPN is a registered credit bureau, all information stored on consumers by TPN is regulated by the National Credit Act of 2005.

Your HR person, or the person who initiated the check is able to send you a copy of the link either via email, sms or whatsapp.

Log into the Credit Bureau

Find the Credit check created for the person using your TPN Inbox

·       Click View results online

·       Select the ID Biometrics tab

·       Scroll to Biometrics Results selection

·       Confirm the comment says “An SMS has been sent to the consumers cellphone number with a link which will enable them to perform the Liveliness verification. No result can be returned until the consumer has completed this verification.” This means the check has not yet expired or been used.

·       Copy the link shown on “Selfie Link” it should be  something like https://dea.tpn.co.za/xxxxxxxxx

·       Resend to user via whatsapp or email. The check can be done on any devise with internet connection or using a computer.

If you are struggling to complete the ID Biometric / Selfie check on your phone due to the operating system, a broken camera or another issue with the phone, you can complete the process on any computer or another mobile device.

The link can be forwarded to a friend’s / colleagues mobile or a secondary device (eg.a tablet/ computer).

Prior to sending the link to another device please make sure that:

·  the device has a working camera and

·  an active connection to the internet, whether via Wi-Fi or data

·  has data available to access the link, and

·  the owner of the device is expecting the link and does not click on it.

Once the link is on the new device, click the dea.tpn.co.za link and follow on screen instructions.

•           Log into the Credit bureau

•           Click Credit Checks

•           Click Credit Check History

•           Type in the name or ID number of the person who you are searching for

•           Click “Apply filter”

•           A list of checks done on the person will show

•           Select the most recent check

•           Click “Click here to view the online report”

•           Click on “ID Biometrics” tab

•           See Selfie Link and use the copy button or mouse to select and copy. 

•           Resend to person either via email; WhatsApp or via SMS

Verifying Identity using ID Biometrics - Helping to Combat application fraud. 

The ID Biometric or Selfie check 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 are indeed dealing with the correct person.

The selfie check performs two crucial checks to combat Identity fraud: 

1.  Is the applicant present to take a selfie in front of a computer or on their phone?  

This ensure they are the actual applicant you are expecting, and that they are actually in front of the camera and alive. Not just a decent ID book copy that looks right. This also verifies they have access to the email or cellphone you sent the link too.

2.    Does the applicant, you have just taken a photo of, exist at Home Affairs and do they match the picture on file for the ID Number and Name you captured?

 The captured photo is then vetted against the details you have captured and the photo at Home affairs.  Again ensuring the person matches the details you will use to vet your tenant against and use to draw up a lease agreement.

How the check works:

In this check a SMS is sent to the applicant to ask them to confirm their identity, this SMS is sent the phone number captured on the Credit check.

Once the applicant clicks the link in the SMS it will ask them to capture themselves using their phone / computer camera. The Check will ask them to move their head around in a defined area and follow on screen instructions.

Once a photo is captured the photo is verified against the latest ID or Passport picture captured at the Department of Home Affairs. This can be a green barcoded ID, a smart card or passport.    

We will verify that the details you captured match those on the Home Affairs database and the photo is of the same person who was assigned the ID Number.

Once the check is completed by the applicant the Home Affairs photo as well as the selfie photo will be returned to you with an outcome showing mismatched fields and/ or non-match of photos. 

Summary Tab

Displays a green tick next to “Selfie” shows the Selfie check was done successfully, and the ID Photo matches the image captured on the selfie check.

Section 41 of the Sexual Offences Act requires all school staff (teachers, coaches, administrators, ground staff) to be checked against the Sexual Offences Register. 

The Children's Act, section 126, requires all school staff to be checked against the National Child Protection Register.

Both of these registers are based on criminal enquiries, cases awaiting trial and convictions.

TPN's biometric criminal check provides details on all convictions and cases awaiting trial.

And, for your convenience, TPN can resubmit previously captured fingerprints to save you time and the hassle of visiting your local police station or another TPN Fingerprinting station. To do this resubmit we require your Consent which we get using a Biometric ID "selfie" Check. 

To resubmit your fingerprints TPN asks for your consent by performing a biometric check using a facial recognition software called Curata. 

 The process is simple:

• You will receive an SMS from TPN with a url starting https://dea.tpn.co.za/xxxx
• Click the link
• The browser on your phone will open and the check may ask you for access to your phones camera - select Yes
• You will be asked to give us consent to use your previously captured fingerprints  - select yes

NB: If you select "No" to the consent question, the process will not be able to complete and you will be required to go to one of our centers for manual fingerprint scanning.

• Follow the onscreen prompts until the process has completed. 

This enquiry provides information from TPN Credit Bureau. The information displayed here is lease data on where the applicant has rented previously, how much the rent was, how the rent was paid and behaviour information such as whether they were evicted, there was damage to the property etc.

The company enquiry will show information both on the company as well as on the directors' personal profiles.

The enquiry consists of:

The Scan on File enquiry is the TransUnion business enquiry. It provides the most complete view of a company's credit record from TransUnion Credit Bureau.

The enquiry consists of:

The Subject Default enquiry shows any negative information recorded against a business on the TransUnion Database

This module should be used in conjunction with other modules to more accurately assess the risk of the applicant

This module consists of both judgements and defaults that are on the business name

The Subject Default enquiry is included in the Scan on File enquiry by default

This module provides a summary of the credit profiles of the members and directors of the business from the TransUnion database

The enquiry consists of:

The Bank on File enquiry shows details of any previous bank code enquiries that were requested on the business. This enquiry allows a trend in terms of the bank codes to be established. The stability of bank account and any changes can be assessed by selecting this module.

If there are previous bank codes, the Bank on File enquiry will be included in the Scan on File enquiry by default

Important notice: Bank code enquiries are no longer available due to a change in legislation with regards to the sharing of personal information. This means that the bank on file inquiries will stop showing recently requested results and at some point will no longer be available.  

The Deeds on File enquiry allows you to see all the current and historic deeds that your potential tenant has registered in their name. This is a search against a copy of the deeds database that is updated monthly.

The enquiry will show the following information:

• Erf Number
• The stand number that is used by the municipality to identify the property for billing purposes.
• Unit Number
• The street address of the property.
• Town
• The suburb, town and province that the property is located in.
• Purchase Date
• The date that the property was purchased.
• Registration Date
• When the property was registered in the owner's name.
• Purchase Amount
• The amount that the property was purchased for.
• Buyer Identifier
• The ID/Passport/Registration number of the buyer of the property.
• Buyer Name
• The name of the buyer of the property.

Estate agents / Landlords need to get the written consent of the individual that they are performing the request upon according to NCR regulations. TPN advises all their members to make this written consent part of the tenant application form that the tenant fills out when viewing the property, as well as part of the lease agreement.

A generic application form is available on the TPN shop website as part of the LeasePack.

Other information includes

• ID/Passport number
• For a passport number, the date of birth and nationality of the applicant is also required.
• Full name
• Current Address
• Cellphone number

For more information please read performing an individual enquiry in the TPN manual.

TPN members have access to perform various checks:

TPN RentCheck enquiry

ID Verification Modules:

• ID Verification with Photo 
• ID Biometric
• ID Verification (no photo)

Credit Bureau Enquiries:

• TPN Enquiries
• TransUnion Enquiries 
• Experian enquiries.

Additional enquiries include:

• Enhanced Due Diligence
• KYC verification
• Verified online bank statements
• Bank account verification
• Individual trace
• Employment verification
• Qualification verification
• Criminal check
• Deed search
• Pre-Assessment check

You should be performing enquiries on all potential occupants of the property.

TPN has noticed that there is an increasing trend for tenants with bad credit profiles to get friends or partners with clean credit to rent properties in their names. This often results in the occupant with bad credit not paying their share of the rent, resulting in partial payment.

This can be very frustrating for Estate Agents and Landlords as the paying tenant normally refuses to pay the remaining portion of the rental.

The same applies to companies. Be sure to credit vet the members/directors especially in the instance of a sole proprietor. How a consumer handles their credit is indicative to how they will handle the company’s credit. Companies can very easily stop trading making it crucial to fully understand the risk on not just the company, but the directors associated with that company in their personal capacity as well.  Remember, written consent is needed to credit vet the individual in their personal capacity.

An individual enquiry is performed on a natural person with either an RSA ID number or a passport number.

A company enquiry is performed on a juristic entity - e.g. a PTY or CC with a company registration number

Our recommendation is:

• ID Verification 
• The ID verification will indicate for you if the name and surname match the ID number before you proceed with the reset of the enquiries.
• You will be alerted to the possibility of deceased or fraudulent ID documents. The system will also alert you to an input error - e.g. entering the name and surname back to front, mismatching a husband and wife's details, or entering the tenants ID number with the landlords details. (All common mistakes)
• ID Biometric
• The ID Biometric check is the ultimate in fraud prevention as an SMS is generated to the individual you are checking which asks them to perform a "live" selfie, this selfie then verifies using biometrics against the latest photo on file for the individual.
• Ensuring the person you are checking is who they say they are. 
• RentCheck
• The RentCheck enquiry is the ultimate credit check to perform on a tenant - it includes the TPN and TransUnion checks and includes Rental Payment Profile, Judgements, Defaults and Notices.
• 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.

• If the RentCheck enquiry is not available
• Contact TPN's data team on 0861 876 000 to find out how you can access more information at discounted rates.
• It is then recommended to select the TPN, TransUnion, and Experian Individual Enquiries - this will show you any Rental Payment Profile as well as any judgements, defaults and/or notices that are on the applicant's credit profile.
• It is recommended to select all three bureaux reports as each bureau has different client bases. TPN has found that unless all three enquiries are performed, the TPN member runs the risk of not seeing defaults listed with the other credit bureaux.

Positive information can consist of a payment history, or a reward loaded onto a tenant's credit profile.

This information should be used to assess the prospective tenant's future behaviour and credit worthiness.

Ultimately it is up to the landlord to decide whether to take on a tenant or not - different landlords may have different appetites for risk, meaning that one landlord may take on a tenant that another would decline, and vice versa.

The other points to consider when interpreting negative data is the date of the information, how many negative records vs positive records there are, and the Rand amount of the positive information.

Negative information includes bad payment history or court records (judgements, defaults & notices).

This historic information should be used to assess the prospective tenant's future payment behaviour. 

Ultimately it is up to the landlord to decide whether to take on a tenant or not - different landlords may have different appetites for risk, meaning that one landlord may take on a tenant that another would decline, and vice versa.

Where there is a negative history from a four or five years ago, the agent or landlord can consider that as less risky than an applicant with a consistent history of negative payment or where there is a recent negative record - where the concern is that the applicant may have gotten him/herself into financial trouble and more negative information could soon follow.

The other points to consider when interpreting negative data is the date of the information, how many negative records vs positive records there are, and the Rand amount of the negative information.

Consumer information consists of also known as names, previous addresses, employment information and telephone numbers.

This information should be used to match the information supplied on the tenant application form to ensure the accuracy of information supplied by the tenant.

This information is recorded to indicate how many times an individual has applied for credit in the past 12 months.

A high amount of enquiries in a short space of time could be an indication of fraudulent activity, the "acceptable" average number of enquiries per a 12 month period is 5 enquiries.

Remember, if an individual has applied for a home loan or car finance, for example, they may have shopped around for credit and those enquiries should be considered as one enquiry.

This is information that TPN has collected from estate agents and landlords related to the rental of previous accommodation by the tenant.

This information includes a history of where the tenant has rented, how much the rent was, who the rental agent or landlord was, and how the rent was paid in each month of the lease.

It is important to look at the inception dates of the leases, as this will help you to establish how often the tenant moves properties. The rental amount and payment history will also help you determine a history of affordability.

The lease information will also indicate from whom the tenant rented - TPN members are welcome to phone each other to confirm tenancy and behaviour.

TPN collects information relating to the payment of tenant's rental accounts from our members on a monthly basis. this information provides the TPN member performing the enquiry with a summary of the tenant's past payment history - a feature which will assist the member in making a decision on whether the applicant is likely to pay their rent in the future.

As per Regulation 17 of the National Credit Act, payment profile information is kept for a period of 5 years.

There are two types of payment profile information - information on TPN (Rental Payments) and on TransUnion (Credit Account Payments)

TPN has the following Rental Payment Profile (RPP) ratings:

Definitions:

* Statement includes any balances brought forward, rental and all additional charges such as electricity; in other words the total amount that the tenant is due to pay.

** Grace Period - a tenant has no legal right to a grace period. Should the rental not be paid on the due date the agent/landlord can start the collection process immediately, and may mark that month's RPP as Paid Late.
TPN has allowed both Grace Period and Paid Late categories to help distinguish between the severity of a tenant's late payment.

TransUnion uses a system of numbers and letters to represent the status of the account:

The numbers represent how many months in arrears the account is - i.e. 0 indicates 0 months in arrears, 1 indicates 1 month in arrears etc.
Please note that once the account reaches 9 months, TransUnion does not continue counting - the account will remain on 9 months in arrears.

The letters represent various statuses of the account - e.g. 'C' indicates the account has been paid in full and is closed, 'G' indicates the consumer cancelled their insurance policy, etc.
For a full list of meanings, please see the following table explaining the codes in full

When a search is performed on an individual, all the companies that the individual is a member or director of (or has been in the past) are listed in the enquiry.

This allows the rental agent / landlord to validate the information that has been supplied to them by the applicant and establish a risk profile based on the status of the companies listed - e.g. if the individual is a member of many companies which have been liquidated, they could be considered a high risk tenant.

When a search is performed on a company, all the directors (current and historic) are listed in the enquiry.

Again, this allows the rental agent / landlord to validate the information that has been supplied to them by the applicant.

·       Log onto TPN on https://mrisoftware.tpn.co.za/

·       Click Login

·       Enter your TPN username & password

·       Select Credit Checks from the blue ribbon at the top of the screen.

·       Select Perform a new consumer credit check.

Step 1:

·       The system allows you to choose an enquiry either by ID number or passport number.

o   To perform the check on a passport number, select change to passport number search to the right of the ID number field.

·       Enter the ID number, first name, surname, current address and cell phone number.

o   If you are performing a passport number search, you will need to enter the nationality and date of birth of the applicant.

·       Click Next >>

Step 2:

·       Select the Credex Score using the dropdown;

 o   There are two Credex versions available:

§  Basic - probability of consumer defaulting/ not making payment to you in future.

§  Silver - generates affordability based on consumer income and school fee amount (if you don’t have an income amount, choose basic credex)

Select type of Consumer Verification:

We recommend checking the consumers ID number and name prior to continuing with the credit check.

·       Verify ID - *HIGHLY RECOMMENDED* verifies the ID number and surname the applicant has given you against the Department of Home Affairs.

·       Verify Biometrics - a selfie check to confirm the consumers presence and confirms their details and facial features against Department of Home Affairs.

·       Verified Online Bank Statements – request up to 6 months’ bank statements directly from bank to confirm affordability and comply with FICA (eliminate fraudulent documents)

·       Verify Address - Perform a proof of address verification against the supplied address

  NCA Compliance Declaration

Verify and confirm that you have consent to perform the credit check. Please ensure you retain the proof of consent for your records.

 ·       Click Next>>

Step 3: Report Selection

 ·       By default, the EduCheck / SmartCheck enquiry will be selected. This enquiry includes the TPN and TransUnion enquiries, as well as account payment information, at a discounted rate.

 ·       If you do not have access to the EduCheck / SmartCheck enquiry, you can select the TPN Individual Enquiry, the TransUnion Individual Enquiry and the Experian Individual Enquiry and then contact the Data department for information on how to get access.

There are several additional reports that can be selected:

o   Bank Account Verification - this verifies that the bank account does belong to the applicant.

o   Qualification Check – this verifies and confirms qualifications held.

o   TPN SACE Check - this is used mostly for employment purposes, as the applicant will need to present themselves at a TPN centre for finger printing so that we can check their criminal history.

·       Once you are satisfied with your selection of enquiries click Perform credit check >>

NB: If you have selected the TPN SACE enquiry, you will receive an additional step to confirm the applicant must be sent for fingerprint capturing to complete this check. Tick the box and click Finish >>

Results

 ·       The credit check and report selection are processed immediately and the results will display automatically.

 ·       You will note at the top of the screen each enquiry is individually tabbed with the Summary Report displayed first. 

 ·       You can click on each report that was selected to view it.

 ·       On the left-hand side menu, you will be able to download, email or print full report as well as the condensed report.

Reminder:  All enquiries done are automatically saved in Credit Check History under the Credit Check Menu.

PURQ is a centralised database of verified higher education qualification data. TPN clients have direct access to this information on RentCheck / SmartCheck enquiries at no extra cost. The PURQ central database is linked by ID number which aggregates all the person's qualifications into a single view.

The PURQ enquiry covers 70% of all tertiary intuitions in South Africa. The full list of institutions included can be found here: https://purcosa.co.za/memberlist

To access PURQ qualification data:

1.    Login to TPN

2.    Perform a RentCheck / SmartCheck Enquiry

3.    Click on the Qualification Tab for PURQ results

Data Reciprocity Reminder: Submit your Data to TPN to activate RentCheck / SmartCheck on your TPN Profile.

Important note: If a degree was received on an old South African identity number (before 1986) and the institution that granted the degree did not update it to the new identity number on their system, the degree may not show up in the PURQ enquiry as all 13 digits of an identity number are matched.

TPN RentCheck is the most comprehensive enquiry available in the market to assess tenants.

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?

This enquiry provides information from TPN Credit Bureau.

The information displayed on the TPN Enquiry is lease data, for example:

·       Where the applicant has rented previously.

·       How much the rent was.

·       How the rent was paid.

The enquiry consists of:

This enquiry provides information from TransUnion Credit Bureau.

The enquiry consists of:

This is a basic ID verification that confirms a small amount if information. The enquiry returns a status code about a match or non-match. No additional details on non-match are supplied. 

Important to note: No photo of the person being checked is returned. 

Please see below for codes and their descriptions:

Important:

Should you get a code V2, V3, or V4 further verification would be required directly with the Department of Home Affairs.

This enquiry provides information from Experian Credit Bureau

The enquiry consists of:

This enquiry checks the fingerprints of the applicant against the SAPS database and returns whether the applicant has a criminal record or not. If the applicant does have a criminal record then a copy of the record will be sent to the enquirer.

If the criminal check is being performed in terms of Section 45 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, then the consent of the applicant is required. 

Once the request has been generated, the applicant will need to go to a TPN fingerprinting Centre to have their fingerprints scanned and sent to SAPS for verification.

The enquiry consists of the following:

This enquiry verifies whether an applicant has received the qualifications they have supplied

This is an investigative enquiry where the educational institution is contacted and a manual verification is performed against the qualifications supplied by the applicant

The enquiry consists of:

The Deeds on File enquiry allows you to see all the current and historic deeds that your potential tenant has registered in their name. This is a search against a copy of the deeds database that is updated monthly.

The enquiry will show the following information:

• Erf Number
• The stand number that is used by the municipality to identify the property for billing purposes.
• Unit Number
• The street address of the property.
• Town
• The suburb, town and province that the property is located in.
• Purchase Date
• The date that the property was purchased.
• Registration Date
• When the property was registered in the owner's name.
• Purchase Amount
• The amount that the property was purchased for.
• Buyer Identifier
• The ID/Passport/Registration number of the buyer of the property.
• Buyer Name
• The name of the buyer of the property.

The account verification is an enquiry that will verify the banking details, supplied by the applicant, do in fact belong to them.

These banks are available on the service.

Once your datafile has been uploaded onto DataWeb the data will be analysed and the reports below will be made available.

·       Data Report

A comprehensive data report detailing your collection statistics associated with the data sent to TPN in the export file. If the statistics reflected in the file look incorrect, please contact us so that we can investigate further.

·       Error Report

A list of all the active accounts which were rejected and therefore will not be uploaded onto the TPN system. As there are various reasons for these rejections, a full list of the rejected records with each of the corresponding rejection reasons is listed.

 

·       Warning Report

A list of all the active accounts which will be uploaded to TPN, however mandatory information like postal code, name or surname, cell number etc. are missing. As there are various reasons for these rejections, a full list of the rejected records with each of the corresponding rejection reasons is listed.

·       Payment Reports

o   The PDF version shows your payment profile history

o   The excel spreadsheet, contains multiple worksheets for payment profiles for the current period. Based on the payment information received in the export file, your tenants have been separated between the worksheets. This worksheet can be distributed to your accounts department so that the status of the SMS’s delivered to customers can be verified.

To ensure the information you receive on a TPN KYC or TPN ID Verification enquiry is accurate and up to date, the ID verification is run in real-time, directly against the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) database. As such we are dependent on the availability if the DHA system. 

In some instances, when you request an ID Verification, the Department of Home Affairs system may be down and we are unable to verify the details provided with them directly at that point in time.  

We understand how frustrating this can be and that often you can't wait for the system to come back online. To help we have created a process that is used only when the DHA is down and unavailable. We find a recent ID check, for the ID you are querying, performed directly against the DHA and we return these results to you.  

This results in a record being shown called “ DHA Cache Used” and the Date that the record was verified against the DHA. We let you know that this cached result was used in two places on the Credit Report:

Summary Tab > Identity Verification result

ID Verification Tab > ID Status Flag

If you receive an error message when performing an ID Verification that says "an error has occurred contacting the DHA - DHA may be down"  it means the systems for South African Department of Home Affairs are down and we can't provide you with a verified result.

This unfortunately means we are unable to assist until the DHA resolves the issue and their systems are back online.

We have a fail-over solution for when the DHA systems are down, to try help minimize the inconvenience of not being able to verify your prospective client and provide you with access to a cached record.

The cached record will display the results of a recent check (within the last 12 months) that was done on the same consumer and was verified by the Department of Home Affairs when they were online.  

This would result in a record being shown called “ DHA Cache Used” with the date that the cached record was created.

The TPN CIPC Score is a score derived from a combination of four data points:

·        Director/s

·        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

·        Poor

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