Every loan and card application in Bangladesh goes through the Credit Information Bureau. Here is what the report contains, what a classified account means and how to obtain and correct your own.
Bangladesh does not have private credit scoring companies the way other countries do. Instead, every bank and licensed financial institution reports its borrowers to the Credit Information Bureau (CIB) run by Bangladesh Bank, and every lender consults that database before approving a loan or a card. Your CIB report is, in practice, your credit history, and it decides more applications than any income document.
What the report contains
The CIB holds one record per borrower, identified by NID and TIN, listing every credit facility: personal loans, home and car loans, credit cards, overdrafts and business loans, at every bank and non-bank financial institution. For each one it shows the lender, the sanctioned amount, the outstanding balance, the instalment status and the classification. It also shows facilities where you are a guarantor, which many people forget.
Small consumer facilities have been reported for years, so a BDT 20,000 card balance appears next to a BDT 50 lakh mortgage. There is no numeric score; lenders read the classification and the payment pattern.
Standard, SMA and classified
Accounts paid on time are reported as standard. An account with instalments overdue for a short period is flagged as special mention (SMA), a warning sign that many banks treat as a reason to decline. Once instalments are overdue beyond the thresholds set by Bangladesh Bank’s loan classification rules, the account becomes classified: sub-standard, doubtful or bad and loss, in increasing order of severity. A classified account, even for a small amount, is normally enough for an automatic rejection at any bank.
Classification is not permanent. When the overdue amount is paid or the loan is regularised, the lender updates the status, and the report shows the account as regular again. What remains visible for some time is the history, which is why settling an old default quickly is always better than leaving it.
How lenders use it
When you sign a loan or card application, you authorise the bank to pull your CIB report. The bank pays a small fee, often passed on to you as a “CIB charge” of around BDT 100. The officer checks that the total of your existing instalments plus the new one fits within the bank’s debt-to-income limit, that there are no SMA or classified accounts, and that you are not guaranteeing someone else’s problem loan. A clean report does not guarantee approval, but a bad one guarantees rejection.
How to get your own report
Individuals are entitled to see their own record. You can apply to Bangladesh Bank’s CIB department with an application form and a copy of your NID; your own bank can also help you obtain it. The report is provided to you directly and is not shared with lenders. Check it before any large application and at least once a year, especially if you have ever co-signed a loan.
Correcting an error
If the report shows a loan you never took, a balance you have already repaid or a classification that is out of date, the correction goes through the lender that reported it. Write to the bank with the account details and the proof of payment, ask for the CIB record to be updated, and keep the acknowledgement. If the lender does not act, Bangladesh Bank’s Financial Integrity and Customer Services Department (FICSD) handles complaints from bank customers through its hotline 16236.
Keeping it clean
Pay every instalment and every card minimum on or before the due date; set up auto-debit where the bank offers it. Close cards you no longer use, so the limit does not count against you. Think twice before guaranteeing someone else’s loan, because their default becomes your record. And never let a small balance go unpaid because it seems too small to matter: to the CIB, a BDT 5,000 overdue card and a BDT 50 lakh overdue loan have the same classification.
