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. 

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.

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.

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?

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 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?

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.

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.

If you have previously captured fingerprints with TPN then you are able to resubmit these fingerprints for the criminal check without having to recapture the prints. 

Important to note: 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. 

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.

* Credit Payment Trend donut

This is credit, insurance, telecoms and other account information. The colours define the payment behaviour.

* 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.

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.

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)

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:

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.

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:

Click here for a comprehensive list of Payment Profile Keys.

Below is a list of the different Payment Profile Keys:

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:

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

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