The Bank of Israel’s (BOI) issued instructions from the Supervisor of Credit Data Sharing for dealing with the ramifications of the Iron Swords War and reducing of the adverse impact it is having on customers.
The Iron Swords War, said the BOI, imposes an economic burden on many of Israel’s citizens, which is expected to be reflected in data that will be reported to the Credit Data System, which serve various credit providers in assessing the risk in granting loans to borrowers.
The change in the data is liable to adversely impact borrowers’ ratings, their ability to receive credit, and the terms of the credit.
The Supervisor of Credit Data Sharing at the BOI instructed the information sources reporting to the credit data register to identify and to mark the negative data that will be reported in view of the security situation and its impacts on the country’s citizens.
Marking the data will enable the credit bureaus and credit providers to distinguish between negative data generated before the war and negative data created after the war broke out.
In parallel, the Supervisor contacted the information sources and required them to take care to report the business easing granted to customers in a manner that aligns with the records in their internal systems, which in general are not intended to reflect a negative indication regarding the customer in respect of this easing.
Within this framework, clarifications were given regarding the manner of reporting required in the following cases: deferral or freezing of loan payments, new arrears in transactions, checks that were returned or authorized debits that were returned. These guidelines are intended to ensure accurate reporting on the situation of customers and to prevent an unwarranted adverse impact on them.
“The steps published today by the Supervisor of Credit Data Sharing are another pillar in the assistance provided by the Bank of Israel to the public in order to get through this challenging period and to strengthen the national resilience of the State of Israel’s citizens,” Bank of Israel Director General Shulamit Geri said.
“We at the Bank of Israel will continue to provide a response to the various economic issue deriving from the war and will formulate steps for economic support and assistance in accordance with the tools available to us, in view of the security situation and for the public.”
