Our Story...

1.    The idea for CCS began as early as 2001 when judges from the Subordinate Courts (currently known as the State Courts) expressed their concern over problems caused to individuals and families by the rising consumer credit indebtedness.

2.   A pro-tem committee consisting Subordinate Court district judges, the South West Community Development Council and The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) organised a Consumer Credit Counselling Conference on 21 November 2002. The then Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam challenged banking and community leaders to implement community credit counselling schemes.

3.   Throughout 2003, the Subordinate Courts, South West Community Development Council, Singapore Pools and other concerned individuals combined resources to lay the foundations for CCS.  Initial funding came from Singapore Pools and National Council of Social Service. South West Community Development Council pledged financial support for educational programmes.  The Association of Banks in Singapore, Monetary Authority of Singapore and all the banks gave regular feedback on what they would like to see in CCS.

4.   A trial run took effect in August 2003 with a small group of volunteers to test run the idea of putting up a Debt Management Programme (DMP), a monthly instalment debt repayment plan, on behalf of distressed borrowers.  DMP proposed a longer repayment period as well as concessionary interest rates to enable the overly-indebted borrowers to repay their debts in a more feasible manner.  Some of the pilot credit counselling sessions were conducted at the Subordinate Courts (now known as State Courts) premises.

5.   On 12 March 2004, CCS was officially registered as a society with a small team of full time staff.  By this time CCS had managed to assuage the initial scepticism of the banking industry over the merits of credit counselling.  Banks appeared more supportive of DMP.  As a result, CCS was ready to launch publicly to broadcast its services to the general public.

Year Significant Milestone

2001

 On 21 November 2002, a pro-tem committee consisting the State Court district judges, the South West Community Development Council and The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), organised a Consumer Credit Counselling Conference.

 

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam (then Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry) challenged the banking and community leaders to implement community credit counselling schemes.

2003

 The State Courts, South West Community Development Council, Singapore Pools and other concerned individuals got together to lay the foundation of CCS.

 

The initial funding came from Singapore Pools and National Council of Social Service (NCSS). South West Community Development Council pledged financial support for educational programmes. The Association of Banks in Singapore, Monetary Authority of Singapore and the banks gave regular feedback on what they would like to see in CCS.

In August 2003, some of the pilot credit counselling programme were conducted at the State Courts premises.

In November 2003, CCS volunteers and Ngee Ann Polytechnic ran a money education workshop for 300 teenagers from three secondary schools.

2004

 CCS was officially registered as a society on 12 March 2004 with a small team of full time staff.  By this time CCS had managed to assuage the initial scepticism of the banking industry over the merits of credit counselling.  Banks appear more supportive of the Debt Management Programme (DMP).  As a result CCS was ready to launch publicly to broadcast its services to the general public.

 

CCS was officially launched on 14 October 2004. The Guest of Honour was Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, (then Minister of Education and Deputy Chairman, Monetary Authority of Singapore).
2005 CCS obtained its Charity status and became a National Council of Social Service member in June 2005.
2012 CCS received Special Mention for the President's Challenge Social Enterprise Award.
2014 CCS celebrated its tenth anniversary. Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman, Monetary Authority of Singapore delivered an address commending CCS and its pioneers for helping debt-distressed borrowers over the past decade
 2015 In 2015, CCS was appointed by The Association of Banks in Singapore as the administrator for the Repayment Assistance Scheme (RAS).  CCS set up and launched the RAS Unit to man the call centre and process RAS applications for borrowers who were affected by the MAS unsecured borrowing rule that took effect in June 2015.

 

According to the MAS rule, borrowers who have outstanding balance above the stipulated Balance-to-Income ratio (BTI) for three consecutive months will have their accounts suspended; they are also unable to obtain new credit facilities or utilise existing unused facilities.  This rule was implemented in phases, starting from 24x BTI in June 2015, then 18x BTI in June 2017 and subsequently reduce to 12x BTI in June 2019.

2016

 CCS changed its legal entity from a society to a company limited by guarantee (CCS-CLG) on 21 March 2016.  CCS-CLG obtained its Charity status on 28 April 2016, and became a full member of the National Council of Social Service on 1 October 2016.

 

On 1 July 2016, CCS-CLG took over the operations, together with the assets and liabilities of CCS-Society.  On that account, CCS-Society was dissolved on 15 December 2016.

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