While the Philippines has no established credit scoring system yet, banks have a way of checking if you have a a good credit standing or not. They can see if you have unpaid credit card debts or loans which will greatly affect their decision when you apply for a bank loan of any kind.
So, what to do if you have an unpaid credit card debt? Call your bank and come to an agreement on how to settle your debt. I have shared my experience in a previous post.
Related:
How to Get a Clearance for your Credit Card
Getting a secured credit card is a good option.
But it will take awhile for your name to get cleared from the “black list”, a term coined to refer to a shared database where records of unpaid credit card debts and loans are being kept.
With a secured credit card on hand, you will have to prove to the banks that you are already capable of managing your finances. You will need to of course use it but with extreme caution so that you won’t end up accumulating debt again as you did in the past.
It will take about a year or two before other banks will notice you. Within this time, you may start receiving emails or text messages from agents offering you loans or even credit cards. This is one of the signs that you are now slowly gaining back their confidence.
Be very careful about these offers though. I personally never entertained them at first. I did not need another credit card nor I have a huge reason to apply for a bank loan yet.
After almost two years, I eventually tried applying for a personal loan.
Citibank approved my application and not only did I received the money that I needed, it came with a credit card too!
It’s safe to say that I was able to re-gain our local banks’ trust after many years of having a bad credit standing.
Related post:
Security Bank Secured Credit Card or Fast Track Program