Choosing a credit bureau for lending in Panama
Panama’s authorised bureau market consists of APC Buró alone, while the law bars a bureau from including an opinion, recommendation or instruction to grant or deny credit. The bureau’s score therefore cannot settle whom you approve. You remain responsible for the surrounding framework, including inquiry consent while the inquiry is on file, your stated definition of delinquency and meaningful disclosure of automated decision logic. The market leaves you to decide what additional rules and controls to build around APC’s information before it informs a credit decision.
APC Buró is Panama’s authorised credit bureau
MICI’s list dated 31 August 2025 names APC Buró, S.A. (APC Experian). The law governing credit information is Ley 24.
Ley 24 covers every economic agent that holds credit history data, including lenders, as well as credit information agencies. A bureau needs MICI authorisation, civil liability insurance and Panamanian domicile. With one authorised agency on MICI’s list, the bureau choice in Panama comes down to APC Buró.
The table also lists the Tribunal Electoral’s identity service, SVI.
| Source | Run by | What it gives | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| APC Buró | APC Buró, S.A. (APC Experian) | Credit history, scores from scientific models, no recommendation | Express consent |
| SVI | Tribunal Electoral | Name, cédula, birth data, photo and signature where available | Affiliation contract, written authorisation except for banks |
Your team sets the credit decision policy
Write the rules that turn bureau information into a credit decision. Ley 24, article 29-A, bars a bureau from including an opinion, recommendation or instruction to grant or deny credit. APC may provide credit history and scores from scientific models, but the approval criteria remain yours.
A common mistake is to let a score stand in for a policy. The score is information for your assessment. Your rules determine how it affects approval and the terms you offer.
Panama also addresses decisions based only on automated processing that produce negative legal effects, including decisions evaluating creditworthiness. The law sets exceptions, including consent and decisions necessary to enter into or perform a contract. If you use automated decisions, disclose their existence and meaningful information about the logic applied, its importance and its expected consequences in the notice at collection and in responses to access requests.
Panama lending requires consent and data controls
Make the bureau checks part of the application process your team runs. Before an inquiry, obtain express consent. One consent can cover consultations needed to grant or monitor credit, and monitoring an existing credit during its life has an exception to the consent requirement. Keep the consent for as long as the inquiry remains on the bureau file.
Use the SVI through an affiliation contract. Its query requires the person’s written authorisation, except for public institutions, banks and fiduciaries. Compare the result with the application, and route a mismatch for identity review rather than treating the applicant as verified.
| Step | The duty | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Before the pull | Express consent, kept while the inquiry is on file | Ley 24 arts. 5, 24 |
| At affiliation | Tell the consumer the bureau, the reporting and your delinquency definition | Ley 24 art. 29 |
| A correction | To the bureau within 3 business days | Ley 24 arts. 29, 33 |
| Old data | Lapses 7 years after the last payment, inquiries after 1 year | Ley 24 art. 26 |
| An automated decision | Disclose its existence and meaningful information about the logic | Ley 81 art. 19, DE 285 arts. 14, 24 |
At affiliation, tell applicants which bureau you report to, how you report and your definition of delinquency. Tell them the reporting period too, and when reporting changes, notify them within no more than one month. Express consent is also required before reporting consumer information, except for dishonoured cheques.
A certified bureau report cannot be required as a condition of application. If a consumer asks for a rectification, send corrections to the bureau within three business days and provide a written answer within three business days. Credit data lapses seven years after the last payment, or seven years after the first missed due date if no payment was made. An inquiry that did not lead to credit stays on file for one year. Record these triggers in the process that handles corrections and older data.
Measure whether another data source changes decisions
Consider a second data source by measuring what it adds to APC’s result and what each call costs. Compare four approaches: use APC alone, use the second source alone, use both sources for each applicant, or call the second source only when APC has no hit. Measure the price per call, the loss per bad loan and the profit per good one, along with the applicants each source flags.
The data-source waterfall tool compares those approaches and weighs hit rates, the bad and good applicants each source flags, call prices, losses and profit. Use the results to decide whether the extra information changes enough decisions to justify its cost.
Decisimo’s data source documentation explains that a data source can connect to any REST API or SOAP web service, and that a failed call routes to a fallback branch like any other data source error. Your rules can respond to each result and determine when another source is called.
Use this procedure to prepare for lending in Panama:
- APC Buró, S.A. (APC Experian) is the only authorised credit information agency on MICI’s list dated 31 August 2025. At affiliation, tell applicants which bureau you report to, how you report, your reporting period and your definition of delinquency. When reporting changes, notify them within no more than one month.
- Obtain express consent before each bureau inquiry and before reporting consumer information. Apply the stated exceptions, and retain inquiry consent for as long as the inquiry remains on the bureau file.
- Verify identity through the Tribunal Electoral’s SVI. Obtain written authorisation unless an applicable exception covers you, and send mismatches for identity review.
- Use your own authorised access process. A certified bureau report cannot be a condition of application.
- Write your own decision rules. Disclose automated decisions and meaningful information about their logic, importance and expected consequences at collection and in responses to access requests.
- Send bureau corrections within three business days and provide a written answer to rectification requests within three business days. Track the seven-year expiry trigger for credit data and the one-year period for inquiries that did not lead to credit.
- Test any second source on your own applicants. Compare using it alone, with APC, or only when APC leaves the question open, then call it according to the strategy your results support.
Questions about credit bureaus in Panama
How many credit bureaus are there in Panama?
One is named on MICI’s list dated 31 August 2025: APC Buró.
What is the APC in Panama?
APC Buró, S.A. (APC Experian) is the authorised credit information agency. It provides credit history and scores, but cannot recommend whether to grant or deny credit.
Do I need consent to check an applicant’s APC?
Yes, in general. Access requires express consent, with an exception for monitoring an existing credit during its life. Obtain consent for the applicable access and retain it while the inquiry remains on file.
How long does credit data stay in the APC?
Seven years after the last payment, or seven years after the first missed due date if no payment was made. An inquiry that did not lead to credit stays on file for one year.
Can I ask an applicant to bring their APC report?
No. You cannot require a certified bureau report as a precondition. Use your own authorised access process.
Does Panama regulate automated credit decisions?
Yes. The law addresses decisions based only on automated processing that produce negative legal effects, with stated exceptions. Notices at collection and responses to access requests must disclose automated decisions and meaningful information about their logic.
Can an applicant see and correct their APC data?
Yes. A consumer may request access to and rectification of credit information. Send corrections to the bureau within three business days and provide a written answer within three business days.
What must I tell an applicant when they take a loan?
At affiliation, tell the applicant which bureau you report to, how you report, the reporting period and your definition of delinquency. Notify them of reporting changes within no more than one month.
Is there a second credit bureau in Panama?
No second agency appears on MICI’s list dated 31 August 2025.
Can a Panama bureau report an applicant’s utility payments?
Yes. Utility-payment history can be reported as credit information.
When can a guarantor be listed with the bureau?
When the guaranteed debt is in default and the guarantor is liable for it.
