Chongqing Technology and Business University has cooperated with Golden Credit Rating International to start keeping records on 6,000 freshmen to track how well they do in handling bank loans.

GCRI is a professional credit information service in Beijing.

"College students are potential customers in the future. Opening a credit account for them at an early stage could allow enough time to accumulate credit," explained Gou Chaoli, who is in charge of the program.

Personal and family information, academic performance, and borrowing history will go into the credit agency's database.

It also keeps a record of mobile phone fee payments.

For most students the account sheet will be blank for some time as they do not have loans and few credit transactions.

But the action is still meaningful because it teaches a lesson, said Gou: "A bad history of mobile phone fee payments for example, can result in being denied credit, making future purchases extremely difficult."

The university is also considering keeping records on library book returns, computer rentals, and cheating on exams as a further way of evaluating credit standing.

Li Qing, of Golden Credit's checking department, said it is important to develop good credit consciousness now: "A good track record in making payments at school may help in the job search or in getting loans, for a house, for example."

In China, there is limited credit card use and student credit card transactions are even rarer. How, then, does one build a credit history at school? Li's advice is simple: Be honest and return what you have borrowed, on time.

A student who gets a four-year loan payable quarterly, for example, needs to make sure that a payment is made on a specific date for each quarter the loan and interest comes due.

In Chongqing, even paying for books bought on credit helps build a history.

Other universities are getting interested. In May, 50 universities in Shanghai cooperated with the Shanghai Credit Information Service to open files on some 30,000 student borrowers.

According to spokesperson Yu Wenqian, Shanghai universities are working with banks to check repayment records. While it is still too early to say whether the system will encourage the repayment of loans, it has, according to Yu, increased credit awareness.

In foreign countries where credit card usage is rampant, credit ratings are crucial. Even if you are not considering taking out a loan for something as large as a home or car, your credit rating can be important just to get through life.

Landlords often ask for such reports to judge whether a person can be trusted to pay the rent.

(China Daily HK Edition October 19, 2002)