Banking
Japan — Banking: Credit History
Japan has three designated credit bureaus, the Personal Credit Information Center (banks), CIC and JICC, each holding records for contract life plus up to five years.
VerifiedGovernment / official sourceZenginkyo / CIC / JICC — Credit information bureaus in JapanLast reviewed: 2026-10-23
Key facts
- Three bureaus hold credit data: the Personal Credit Information Center (Japanese Bankers Association, banks), CIC and JICC; there is no single unified score.
- Zenginkyo lists a 5-year retention period for all three as of March 2025.
- CIC keeps credit information for the contract period and 5 years after it ends; application inquiries and usage records are kept for 6 months.
- For JICC contracts dated on or after 1 October 2019 the period is the contract duration plus up to 5 years, "within 5 years" being a maximum; some items such as debt-transfer facts have a 1-year limit.
- JICC says a record can be deleted early if a debt is recognised as time-barred and the lender agrees to record it as paid off.