History at the Credit Information Bureau

Every borrower has heard about Credit Information Bureau, which was established on the initiative of the Polish Bank Association and has been operating since 1997 as a joint-stock company. The functioning and scope of the company's rights are regulated mainly by the Banking Law, but also by the Personal Data Protection Act. BIK's operation is based on limiting any risk of banks associated with providing financial support to customers who have not regularly repaid their financial liabilities in the past. It is important that all banks in the country have access to the information contained in BIK.

In BIK, banks verify whether the customer has already incurred credit obligations, as well as the timeliness of repayment of these obligations. The purpose of BIK is to protect the interests of banks, lending companies and other institutions and to block the possibility of obtaining a loan from a bank by unreliable and insolvent persons.

This is logical. It can be assumed that if a client has had problems with repaying debts on time in the past, there is a high probability that he will not repay his debts on time in the future. The legislator provides minimal protection for creditors against debtors. They have the option of seeking a refund receivables through court proceedings. Unfortunately, in Poland, court proceedings involve costs and waste of time, and ultimately it may turn out that enforcement against the debtor's assets is ineffective. Which means for the creditor that he cannot satisfy himself from the debtor's assets because the debtor does not have any.

It is worth checking clients in BIK. Past problems with repayment mean that the client is unreliable and it is risky to provide him with any financial support, especially in a higher amount. BIK also protects the debtors themselves. It prevents them from incurring further financial liabilities when they already have problems with repaying previous liabilities. Incurring further liabilities in such a situation may have extremely negative consequences.

Is access to the BIK database common?

Banking law obliges banks to publish credit information about all customers in BIK. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly update the data in the database. Lending institutions are currently subject to statutory obligations to provide information on granted consumer loans and update data. So don't assume that loan non-banking remains outside reporting. However, it should be emphasized that there are loan companies that use the BIK database.

A significant number of borrowers think that loan companies do not check their clients in BIK. However, loan companies use many different methods to check the credibility of their clients. This includes, among others, BIG Data. This is a term for the analysis of large data sets, not the name of one common debtor database; the analysis can support customer assessment and check many other information about the credit history of your customers. BIK is then a good complement to customer verification.

The fact is that many loan companies do not cooperate with BIK and BIG. To protect the interests of the lending company, they should use all currently available scoring technologies. This is important primarily due to the popularity of quick online loans, which is constantly growing. If a company cares about its financial security, it should use available innovative methods of verifying its customers.

How to take care of your credit history in BIK

The legal provisions in force in the country state that anyone interested can have access to the BIK database and check their credit history. However, there are some limitations. Interested parties may have free access to information in BIK only once every 6 months. It is necessary to submit an appropriate application. It can be submitted in writing or in person at BIK in Warsaw. An application for access to information from BIK must include the applicant's personal data, series and number of the ID card, PESEL. It is interesting that BIK also has additional services, such as analysis of current liabilities. If we want to use this service, we must take into account the costs involved. BIK also offers the BIK pass service. This is a certificate that confirms the customer's creditworthiness. This certainly leads to faster financial support or better credit conditions.

How to prepare a non-conformity report?

Check active and closed liabilities separately. In closed cases, what is important is the basis for further data processing, not the mere presence of the item in the report. Free data copy and paid BIK Report with additional functions are different services. When reporting an error, indicate the contract, the disputed information and documents confirming the correct condition.