The report sees that credit bureaus can:
* Expand access to credit by allowing creditors to differentiate good and bad credit risks;
* Lower the cost of borrowing to good risks by increasing competition;
* Create a credit culture as borrowers become aware that the market rewards and sanctions them based on their repayment history.
It finds that a credit bureau in Mindanao is important:
* To complement efforts to strengthen rural banks, cooperative rural banks and credit unions to increase access to financial services to the lower income sector of the population;
* To provide important value to its users and would be able to more than cover its operating expenses within a short time however assistance is needed for the design and start-up of the bureau andt should be established as a for-profit firm with other strategic partners with success or failure attributable to its owners and managers.
The report recommends that:
* Initial start-up funding must be complemented by equity funding by local investors;
* Near objective of the credit bureau's management and board must be to reach break even by the end of year one;
* Co-ownership of the credit bureau should be offered to strategic partners that can supply valuable sweat equity to make the venture succeed;
* Bureau should be established as a market-oriented firm with the goals of providing value to clients and profitability to shareholders through innovation and product excellence;
* Bureau should require creditors requesting credit reports to obtain the prior approval in writing of the subjects of the credit report;
* Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) has a role to play to facilitate the proper and valuable development of the use of credit references in commercial and financial transactionsand the Mindanao Credit Bureau should work with the BSP to develop the credit references industry.
