Impact of credit amnesty on good credit record

A Fin24 user wants to know if the recent credit amnesty could have a negative impact on consumers with an already good credit record. He writes:

I have a question as to how the recent credit amnesty will affect those who have a good credit health record.
 
I've read reports that credit is a bit harder to get due to the recent amnesty as banks no longer have a clear view of how the applicant has serviced their debt in the past.
 
I requested a credit health report in February and it came back with a rating of excellent with 903 points out ‎of a possible 1 000.
 
Would I be prejudiced in future when applying for credit, as the banks must surely assume that I could have a adverse record that has been cleared?

Marelize Uys, chief operations officer of background screening company, Managed Integrity Evaluation (MIE), responds:

There is mass confusion about the credit amnesty and what it means for consumers.

Some consumers think their debt was going to be wiped clean, which is not the case, while others are concerned about credit applications and how the credit amnesty would affect this.

What this regulation does entail is the once off removal of adverse consumer credit information and paid up judgements, as well as a continuous removal of paid up judgements.

Consumers who have always been in good standing will not be affected by the credit amnesty and the same rules of obtaining credit will continue to apply.

In other words, the credit provider will be able to see your credit record history to enable informed decisions when granting credit, but in terms of the credit amnesty, the credit bureaus cannot display certain information to the public eye.

- Fin24

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