4th Committee to Develop Credit Score Improvement Plan Based on Sincere Payment Information

4th Committee 5th Data Special Committee Meeting
Research on Credit Score Bonus Using National Pension, Health Insurance, and Electricity Bill Payment Information
Patent Office Builds and Opens 260 Million New Patent Data Records

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The government is preparing measures to reflect non-financial diligent payment information in personal credit evaluations. This aims to improve the current system where only negative non-financial information such as delinquencies is automatically transmitted to credit rating agencies, thereby alleviating difficulties in obtaining loans.

On the 22nd at 10 a.m., the 4th Industrial Revolution Committee held the 5th Data Special Committee (hereinafter Data Special Committee). The Data Special Committee, chaired by Yoon Sung-ro and attended online by private and government members, discussed plans for joint research to improve credit scores based on diligent payment information, strategies for the strategic use and dissemination of patent data, and the promotion of the COVID-19 Time Capsule Project.

Personal credit rating companies collect and analyze financial information (loan repayment and delinquency) and non-financial information (tax payment and delinquency) to calculate an individual's credit score (ranging from 1 to 1000). Financial institutions then conduct their own credit risk assessments based on these scores to decide on loan eligibility and interest rates for individuals.

However, while financial information (both diligent payments and delinquencies) and non-financial delinquency information are automatically transmitted to credit rating companies, non-financial diligent payment information is not automatically shared. As a result, young people and others with limited financial history (11.96 million people) are evaluated mainly based on negative information.

Although a system exists where individuals can directly provide non-financial diligent payment information to credit rating companies to receive bonus points on their credit scores, reliance on voluntary submission means that only about 1.3 million people, or 2.7% of the total, benefited last year. Additionally, limitations in the data restrict the level of bonus points awarded.

The 4th Industrial Revolution Committee plans to conduct joint research with the Ministry of Health and Welfare (National Health Insurance Service and National Pension Service), Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Korea Electric Power Corporation), and Financial Services Commission (Credit Information Agency and personal credit rating companies) within the second half of this year to specifically verify how much non-financial diligent payment information can contribute to improving credit scores. They aim to establish utilization plans for diligent payment information by the first quarter of next year.

To this end, they will develop a credit evaluation model by combining and analyzing diligent payment information (health insurance premiums, national pension, electricity bills, etc.) and credit information from the past three years to create a bonus point awarding system. They will also prepare measures to verify the appropriateness of research results through external specialized institutions and prevent misuse of diligent payment information.

If the research results show that diligent payment information effectively improves credit scores, it is expected that financial accessibility, including loan eligibility and interest rates, will significantly improve for young people with limited financial history (ages 20 to 34, 4.12 million people).

The availability of newly usable patent data is also expected to increase. The Korean Intellectual Property Office reported on the "Plan for Utilization and Dissemination of Patent Data." The office announced that it will newly build and open 260 million patent data records that can be strategically used across industries and corporate activities, from national policy formulation to corporate research and development.

First, to ensure that Korean patents are recognized for their value, they will expand the construction of value evaluation-related data, build an integrated patent-paper search database (DB), and organize and open patent data that can be immediately used in corporate R&D, such as converting experimental data in image form into text. They will also establish a foundation to objectively analyze the technological competitiveness of each industry. By setting standards to calculate patents by industry, they will enable immediate analysis of patent trends and build a core talent pool by linking patent inventors and paper researchers. Additionally, they will build patent data from emerging countries such as India and Brazil, as well as patent rights transfer data from major countries, to be used as basic data for government support policies and corporate technology strategy formulation. They will also promote infrastructure development, including legislation to activate the use of patent information.

Furthermore, the Data Special Committee discussed the promotion plan for the COVID-19 Time Capsule Project, which aims to record and store the impacts and changes caused by COVID-19 to serve as basic data for responding to similar crises and comparing and analyzing social phenomena in the future. This project will be submitted to the full meeting of the 4th Industrial Revolution Committee after additional consultations with relevant ministries and private experts.

Chairman Yoon Sung-ro emphasized, "As nationwide efforts to valuable utilize accumulated data in various fields are gaining momentum, using diligent payment information and patent data as core data to solve social issues and create economic added value will serve as an opportunity to further expand the scope of data utilization. We will strengthen the role of the Data Special Committee to create innovative services by utilizing scattered data."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.