Having a bad BI Checking score can make it difficult for you to get loans from banks or other financial institutions, whether it's personal loans, mortgages, or even paylater services from banks. But don’t worry, your credit score can be fixed. How? Read this article till the end.

Why is Your BI Checking Score Low?

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Simply put, a person’s BI Checking score can be low or bad if they often miss credit payments or haven’t paid installments for more than 180 days (defaulted credit). BI Checking scores are categorized into 5 levels:

1. Score 1: Current credit.
2. Score 2: Credit under special attention.
3. Score 3: Non-performing credit.
4. Score 4: Doubtful credit.
5. Score 5: Defaulted credit.

Banks uses this BI Checking score to determine your credit limit or whether to approve or reject your loan application. So, if you fall into score 5, also known as being on the BI Checking blacklist, you’ll have a hard time applying for loans at the same bank or other banks.

For example, before the pandemic, you started a business using capital from credit cards. Since you needed a lot of capital, you ended up having 10 credit cards at once. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, your business went bankrupt, and you couldn’t pay off those 10 credit cards.

When this happens, banks, leasing companies, or other financial institutions will be more cautious about financing your business. They may consider factors like proof that your business was indeed affected by the pandemic, larger collateral, or a higher down payment. As a result, it becomes harder to get another loan.

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How to Clean Up Your BI Checking Score

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What if you missed your payments due to an unforeseen event, like the COVID-19 pandemic affecting your business? This is where BI Checking clean-up comes in. In short, BI Checking clean-up is the process of improving your credit score to its former good standing. However, the process is not simple. Here's how you can do it:

1. Pay off your debt immediately

Don’t be afraid to reach out to the bank or other financial institutions to pay off your debt, even if you have a lot of overdue payments. Be honest about why you couldn’t pay and your current financial condition.

As long as you show goodwill, banks are likely to offer you repayment relief, such as extending the loan term, reducing the interest rate, or even both. Once your debt is settled, make sure to ask for a clearance letter as proof of payment from the bank.

This letter is one of the requirements for the BI Checking clean-up that you’ll need to bring to the OJK office. It’s an important document you can use when applying for a loan with another bank.

2. Monitor your BI Checking

After negotiating with the bank and successfully paying off your debt or loan on time, it’s time to monitor your BI Checking. The goal is to ensure that the bank has updated your credit status. You don’t need to visit the OJK office to check your credit score.

Simply fill out the registration form on idebku.ojk.go.id to submit a BI Checking request. But remember, there’s a limited quota for online BI Checking sessions, so check it daily.

3. Apply for a clean-up at OJK

If the bank hasn’t updated your credit status, you can take the clearance letter along with your ID card (KTP) and taxpayer identification number (NPWP) to the nearest OJK office to process the BI Checking clean-up.

Once your BI Checking is clean, remember to improve your credit management. Keep track of all your credit expenses, along with their installments and fees, so you’ll always remember when to pay and whether your credit has reached its limit.

To make things easier, you can use the Honest credit card. Paired with the Honest App, this card offers a credit limit of up to Rp100,000,000, and you only need to pay one type of fee. Plus, all transactions made with this card are automatically recorded in the Honest App. So, you no longer need 10 credit cards to run your business or manually note down all your expenses and credit installments.

Borrowing money from the bank is easy, and paying it off is easy, too, as long as you do it responsibly!