CITOS.....are they relevant?

I am "blacklisted". That is what the Credit Tip-Off Service Sdn Bhd (CTOS) say. Recently, I wanted to apply a loan to refinance my house and there you go I am blacklisted due to a 2003 summon case in Kuala Lumpur. That debt was settled moons ago and even though settled, the black mark of a really bad history was recorded. As such I'm blacklisted forever.

Agreeing with Datuk M. Kayveas (looks like this is my first time agreeing to a deputy minister from the BN government) who took initiative to bring this CITOS out in the open. He said the government had never issued a licence to the company to conduct searches and store personal information of the public. He further says that the government is concerned by banks and financial institutions using the services of this company to obtain information on their clients and the public.

The function of CTOS is basically collecting financial information of individuals and keyed in a database feed by lawyers, banks, financial institution etc. Though it helps in getting information on loan applicant status, unfortunately the database is never updated to show the actual status of the applicant. And as such led to abuse of the system and causing hardship to bona fide applicants. Thus making CTOS very irrelevant as information are not updated and without doubt invite many complaints by the general public as well having divulged excessive personal information.

Some employers apparently do a CTOS search to check on the background of potential employees. If the company does not update the information, this can jeopardise the opportunity of the person who is applying for a job.

CTOS does helped in achieving it's objective BUT CTOS MUST be regulated in order for it to be relevant. Either it be scraped (as there is CECRIS) or put under the purview of Bank Negara. Acts such as a Data Protection Act should be introduced. In reading the UK legislation, where there should be an inclusion of a right of individual to insist that a database operator amend information to correct any mistakes, failing which a report could be lodged with the Data Protection Registrar. Or maybe a private Act of Parliament to further enhance the duty and scope of CTOS, such as probable CTOS Act. At least, CTOS with such a regulation, it would be seen relevant to the the country's financial strength