Credit Reports in Malaysia: Experian vs CTOS vs Credit Bureau Credit Score Comparison

I’ve always wondered what’s the difference between different credit reports in Malaysia, so I got ALL of them.

This post compares PAID credit reports from Experian, CTOS and Credit Bureau, all bought on the same day.

Disclaimer: This is NOT a sponsored article, I am not paid to write about Experian, CTOS or Credit Bureau credit reports. I paid for all credit reports out of my own pocket.

All information is accurate as of writing time. With that out of the way, let’s start 🙂 First things first,

How many credit reporting agencies are in Malaysia?

There are 3 credit reporting agencies in Malaysia: Experian, CTOS, and Credit Bureau Malaysia. According to BNM,

CTOS/Credit Bureau Malaysia/Experian are credit reporting agencies registered by the Ministry of Finance under the Credit Reporting Agencies Act 2010.

These three credit reporting agencies have approval to access the CCRIS system to provide private credit reports to their users, which may include more information than CCRIS.

How much do credit reports cost in Malaysia?

Experian Personal Credit Report Plus (PCRP), the Experian credit report costs RM23.90.

MyCTOS Score Report, the CTOS credit report costs RM27.00.

MySCoRE, the Credit Bureau credit report costs RM19.44.

What’s in the Credit Reports?

I was surprised that each credit reporting agencies offers slightly different things.

*All information taken from respective websites

From here, I can see that Experian credit report, CTOS credit report and Credit Bureau credit report contain more or less the same things, but worded differently.

One example of something that should be the same thing but worded differently,

• Experian calls it ‘Trade References (Non-Banking Info)’,
• CTOS calls it ‘Trade Referee Listings (eTR)’, and
• Credit Bureau calls it ‘Track Reference Information’

You can also see that Experian, CTOS and Credit Bureau credit reports all contain CCRIS data*.

(*By the way, you can get CCRIS data/ record for free from https://eccris.bnm.gov.my/ – see FREE credit report in Malaysia section below)

Now let’s compare between Experian credit report, CTOS credit report and Credit Bureau credit report. Again, I bought them all on the same day.

(Note: I made a lot of 0%, 0-fee cash advances in 2023 (promo no longer available), so that might have impacted my credit score hee)

My Credit Report from Experian

This is my result from Experian Personal Credit Report Plus (PCRP), the paid credit report from Experian Credit & Information Services, formerly known as RAM Credit Information (RAMCI). The Experian report costs RM23.90

As you can see, as of January 2024 my Experian i-SCORE is 646 (Good).

My previous Experian credit report had score of 640, so there has been a slight increase.

See my previous Experian report taken on May 2022

The 5-page report contains:

• Personal information
• Credit score – My Experian credit score was 640, which is considered Good (but not Strong).
• Banking credit information – All my credit cards and loans listed
• Shareholding/ Directorship and business interests – Only 1 – my own company
• Legal action – No info
• Bankruptcy Action – No info
• Non-bank lender credit information (NLCI) – No info
• Trade Bureau/ Credit reference (CR) – No info
• Enquiries made on you – 1

My Credit Report from CTOS

This is my result from MyCTOS Score Report, the paid credit report from MyCTOS. The CTOS credit report costs RM27.00.

As you can see, as of January 2024 my CTOS score is 717 (Good).

My previous CTOS credit report had score of 760, so there has been a decrease.

See my previous CTOS credit report taken on May 2022

The 4-page report contains:

• Snapshot – My ID verification
• Credit Info at a Glance – Summary of credit info information
• CTOS Score – My CTOS credit score in January 2024 is 717, which is (only) Good. My score reduced from 760 (May 2022)
• Top 5 Directorship & Business Interest – None listed
• Directorships and Business Interests – Interestingly my company was not listed
• Address records
• Banking Payment Records – All my credit cards and loans listed
• CCRIS Derivatives
• Legal cases (subject as defendent); (subject as plaintiff); (non personal capacity) – No info
• Trade reference – No info

My Credit Report from Credit Bureau

This is my result from MySCoRE, the paid credit report from Credit Bureau. The credit report costs RM19.44.

As you can see, as of January 2024 my MySCoRE is 85 (Very Good).

This was the first time I bought credit score report from Credit Bureau.

The 4-page report contains:

• MySCoRE assessment
• Bank Credit Summary
• Non-Bank Credit Summary
• Legal/Bankruptcy Summary
• Past Inquiries Summary
• Bank Credit Account Details
• Trade Credit Reference Information
• Legal/Bankruptcy Litigation Information
• Remarks by Subject Individual (?)

Experian vs CTOS vs Credit Bureau: Which Credit Report in Malaysia is Better?

Experian, CTOS or Credit Bureau are all good, reputable credit reporting agencies, but if I have to choose which one is better..

• Accuracy: By right, all credit reports should be similar – they use the same financial data. But I found that CTOS report missed out my company info, which is quite a big thing to miss :/
• Credit scoring: Since my previous report, I can see my Experian credit score increased but my CTOS score decreased. What’s going on, aren’t they supposed to assess my financial data the same way? Idk perhaps they use different parameters. No comment on this one
• Price: At RM27.00, CTOS report price is most expensive. Experian is cheaper at RM23.90, while Credit Bureau is cheapest at RM19.44.
• Security: All of them are good, but Experian was slightly more annoying (not a bad thing. If it’s hard for me, it’s hard for scammers)
• Design: CTOS report has better data visualisation and presentation than the rest
• Speed: Experian and CTOS sent credit reports immediately to my email. I only managed to get my report from Credit Bureau after contacting customer service (had to wait until next day office hour)
• Special features worth mentioning:

Experian Personal Credit Report Plus (PCRP) has an additional Enquiries Made On You section. Apparently some Finance Banking person enquired about me on 17 May 2022. Who or why, I wouldn’t know. But they should know I know, ykwim?

MySCoRE by Credit Bureau Malaysia also included something similar under Past Enquiries Summary.

On the other hand, CTOS has a Rewards section. It’s just some financing options that you can also probably access outside of CTOS, but worth mentioning.

Where to get FREE credit reports in Malaysia

You CANNOT get free credit score in Malaysia without paying any of the credit reporting agencies.

However, you CAN get free credit reports (without the score). Experian and CTOS offer free credit reports in Malaysia. It’s not as comprehensive their paid versions, but enough if you just want to see a snippet of your financial background.

The links to the free credit reports in Malaysia are:

• Experian: Personal Credit Report Basic (no score, no CCRIS)
• CTOS: MyCTOS Basic Report (no score, no CCRIS)
• Note: As of writing time, no free basic credit reports are available from Credit Bureau

The no CCRIS part is actually not a big deal. Again, you can get CCRIS record for free from https://eccris.bnm.gov.my/, or from CCRIS kiosks at AKPK premises.

Learn more about CCRIS here.

Should you get free or paid credit report?

For most people, the free credit reports PLUS check CCRIS yourself is good enough. Only get the paid versions if:

• You want to know your credit score number (hard to improve it if you don’t know the number)
• You plan to purchase property in the next 6 months and want to know if your loan application will go through. No point submit loan application if your credit score is too low, it’ll just get rejected
• You want to know if anyone took a loan/financing under your name from credit institutions that do not participate in CCRIS*

*CCRIS (Central Credit Reference Information System), which is owned and operated by BNM to facilitate credit risk management among banks, only records participating financial institutions.

If any of the above is important to you, then get the paid version, it’s worth the price.

Why my Experian / CTOS/ Credit Bureau have no score?

Some of you might get credit reports from Experian / CTOS/ Credit Bureau with no score. There is no data that can be used to formulate one’s credit score, therefore they have no idea if you are a good borrower or not.

Simply put, someone with No Score:

• Do not have credit card
• Have not bought car (hire purchase) nor house (mortgage) under their name
• Do not have loans, including personal loans or PTPTN

If you don’t plan to apply for any financing in the future, then No Score doesn’t matter, go ahead with your life.

BUT if you aspire to be a homeowner, or would like the option to apply for SME financing for your future business, or basically apply for any financing, then you should probably build your credit history from now.

Final note

Like mentioned in the Disclaimer section in the beginning of this article, this is not a sponsored article.

However, I have had working and paid opportunities with two (of the three) companies, including a sponsored post on CTOS credit scoring system and a webinar talk with Experian. That does not affect my review of both platforms.

How about you? Have you gotten paid CTOS credit report and/or Experian credit report and/or Credit Bureau credit report? How was your credit score? Insights welcome in the comments section 🙂