Credit reporting agency

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A credit bureau is a privately -run enterprises for the purpose of collecting and sharing economically relevant data about individuals and companies to clients .

General

Creditors or other contractual partners have a legitimate economic interest in receiving qualified information about the counterparty so that they can assess their payment or other risk . You can view the commercial register , which only contains limited information about current economic conditions. Rating agencies usually specialize in large companies and are commissioned by the companies themselves to create a rating for them. Finally, bank information is usually very general and strictly standardized. The resulting gaps can be closed by credit agencies.

Working method and principles

Business reports are only given to people who use them in the context of credit checks . A legitimate interest in accordance with Federal Data Protection Act by the need inquirer be demonstrated. Pursuant to Section 29 (2) sentence 5 BDSG, the credit agency is obliged to carry out random checks of the legitimate interest .

Reasons that entitle you to obtain information include:

The information is provided taking into account and adhering to the strictly regulated data protection regulations , which, among other things , are intended to prevent the misuse of personal data .

Corresponding data protection officers are available to the credit agencies internally or externally, for example to check the reasons for inquiries for their authorization. They monitor compliance with the regulations by the BDSG and also act as neutral experts in data protection issues and disputes.

Data sources

In the course of their work, the credit agencies use both self-questioning from companies and individuals as well as official and semi-official bodies to obtain information. Generally accessible sources are telephone and address books, publications in the Federal Gazette and other publications on insolvencies , settlements , business start-ups and public registers such as trade or association registers . In addition, data subjects and business partners are sometimes questioned. In addition, the credit bureaus use a network of data pools , which also contain information on the payment behavior of affiliated companies.

The debt collection agencies are an essential supplier of information on private individuals . Mainly negative data are passed on to the credit bureaus.

Business information content

Information about companies

Information about private individuals

  • Communication data
    Name, first name, postal address , if applicable, secondary residence , date of birth, phone and fax numbers, email address and homepage
  • marital status
  • activity
  • Assessment of the financial situation
    Payment experiences, assessment of the business relationship
    Assessment of the financial situation on the basis of rankings or credit indices
    Reproduction of archived "negative features"
  • environment
  • Property ownership
    Type of property, property value, ownership structure (rent / ownership etc.)
  • Participations
    Value of participations, ownership structure, (possibly seizures )
  • Bank details
    Details of the credit institution, details of the account numbers
  • Data on current (current) accounts, loans, leasing contracts, mobile phone contracts and other transactions

Self-disclosure

Since April 1, 2010 there has been a legal obligation for all credit agencies to provide information about the data stored by them. The query is, however, limited to information about yourself ( personal information ). Consumer advocates criticize that the industry has not developed a standardized procedure for self- disclosure, so that a different procedure is necessary for each credit agency. In addition, only basic information is available free of charge, whereas the full profile of a private person or company is often only available for a fee. Some third-party providers make it possible to summarize the credit profile of several credit bureaus about themselves and others.

In Austria , self- disclosure is regulated in the Data Protection Act 2000, Section 26 (DSG). Section 27 DSG 2000 regulates the right to correction or deletion. The consortium data as well as the Data Protection Authority (formerly the Data Protection Commission, DSK) offer sample letters for information requests, complaints and requests.

Article 15 of the GDPR defines the right to information vis-à-vis data processors.

Demarcation

In contrast to rating agencies, credit reporting agencies do not carry out any financial analyzes of the creditworthiness of economic participants with a view to the future and with the inclusion of internal company documents. As a rule, credit agencies make the collected data available for further processing by the customer and issue a non-binding credit rating (also often referred to as a rating). Rating agencies issue a (binding) financial market rating. The depth of the examination and the confidence of the market participants in this rating from credit reporting agencies or rating agencies also have an impact on the credit reporting agencies' liability for the data provided.

Liability of credit agencies

Credit agencies largely exclude liability for their information and ratings . The information provided by the credit reporting agencies usually comes from previously published and publicly accessible sources. In contrast to the ratings of rating agencies, which act ratings from credit agencies do not "significantly affect the functioning of markets and the confidence of investors and consumers."

The liability of credit reporting agencies is therefore regularly based on the agreement between credit reporting agencies and their client, limited to the trust of customers in such information.

Selection of large credit agencies

  • SCHUFA Holding AG , Germany, information about private individuals, B2B information
  • Bisnode AB , a globally active credit agency, which in 2013 merged its subsidiary Hoppenstedt Holding, a B2B business information company, which is active in Germany, into more than 4.6 million active German companies and its brand Dun & Bradstreet , which is licensed for Europe, with the parent brand
  • Association of associations Creditreform e. V. , Germany, company information, private information, receivables management, risk management, direct marketing, rating, factoring, system solutions
  • Crif Bürgel , Germany, information about private individuals, company information, direct marketing, credit management, receivables management
  • Arvato Infoscore , Germany, information about private individuals as well as direct marketing and debt collection services
  • Experian , a global information services provider
  • Bureau van Dijk (BvD)

International

Business information services active in Austria :

In Switzerland active economic information services:

In the USA :

  • Equifax
  • Experian company information service provider
  • TransUnion , together with the two aforementioned, is one of the "Big Three" in the industry
  • Dun & Bradstreet (here independent from Bisnode)
  • Creditsafe, global information provider
  • Bureau van Dijk data of unlisted companies

In addition to these, there are a large number of other credit agencies, including those that operate on a regional level or in a specific industry .

literature

  • Stephan Gärtner: Hard negative features put to the test of data protection law. A legal comparison between German, English and Austrian law . Publishing house Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8300-5418-4 .

Web links

Wiktionary: credit agency  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Wüpper: In future, information will be mandatory. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. March 31, 2010, archived from the original ; Retrieved July 25, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Robert Khromov: Ad hoc credit report on the Internet. In: akademie.de. May 4, 2010, Retrieved July 25, 2012 .
  3. ↑ ARGE Daten - Overview of the right to information under the Data Protection Act . Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  4. ↑ ARGE data - objection and deletion acc. DSG 2000 §§ 27, 28 towards business information services / financial service providers . Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  5. ↑ ARGE data - right to cancellation against credit information services and banks . Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  6. ↑ ARGE data - sample letters . Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  7. ↑ The right to information - § 26 Data Protection Act 2000 ( Memento of January 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  8. ↑ Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon for keyword: credit agency ,, 2014.
  9. ↑ See first recital of Regulation (EC) No. 1060/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on credit rating agencies, OJ L 302/1.
  10. ↑ Strict interpretation: Georg Graf, in Unauthorized self-promotion with incorrect ratings - is the rating agency liable? , JBl 134, 2012, 210 ff. Liberal interpretation: Stefan Malainer / Andreas Staribacher, in the scope of the liability of credit agencies for information provided , ecolex , 2014, 939 ff.
  11. ↑ ARGE Daten - business information services . Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  12. ^ A b Christopher Cross: Small Business: How Do I Get a Credit Report for My Company? . In: Houston Chronicle . Retrieved August 27, 2016. 
  13. ^ A b Russell Huebsch: Small Business: Do Businesses Have a Credit Score? . In: Houston Chronicle . Retrieved August 27, 2016. 
  14. ^ Business Credit: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You Experian .