Blacklisting

How to Check If You’re Blacklisted

You can check if you’re blacklisted by obtaining a credit report from one of the major credit bureaus – TransUnion Credit Bureau and Experian Credit Bureau. Keep in mind that you’re entitled to one free credit report yearly.

How To Deal with a Blacklisting

Being blacklisted can feel like the end of the world, but it’s not. With time, you can begin to build up a solid credit rating. There are a few steps that you can take right away to make sure that you fix the problem in the shortest amount of time possible, so that it has the least possible negative impact on you.

1. Start working out a payment plan so that you can bring all your arrears up to date. While your credit report will reflect the past 24 months, showing sound financial decisions for the past three to six months will have a significant impact on your profile.                                                                    
2. Settle any judgements on your profile first. In the event a judgement is settled, the new Credit Act Amendment specifies that credit bureaus need to remove these listings.
3. Bring default listings up to date – you can then contact the credit provider to remove these default listings. If they refuse, that’s okay because the default listing will only show on your credit report for 12 months after they have been settled. Defaults and judgements will have the heaviest impact on your credit rating, so deal with these as quickly as possible.
4. You don’t need to settle all your debt at once – take small steps to ensure everything is up to date and that you’re in a sound financial situation going forward.
5. Be patient. You’ll need to wait at least three months before you start seeing any changes in your credit report.