There are 17 credit bureaus operational according to the State Register of Credit Bureaus maintained by the Central Bank of Russia. Article 6, Provision of a credit report of the Federal Law No.218-FZ On credit histories of December 30, 2004 (as amended on July 3, 2016), regulates the provision of credit histories (credit information) in the form of a credit report.
Credit bureaus can provide credit reports based on a contractual relationship between the inquiring entity / person and the credit bureau. The inquiring party will have to provide an obligatory statement of purpose for obtaining a credit report and a written or recorded consent of the data subject. The consent is valid for two months or will cover the entire period of a loan.
A credit report can only be provided in the form of an electronic document with a digital signature. The recipients of credit reports are obliged to hold information confidential. Therefore, receiving information of a counterparty’s credit history is legitimate.
In practical terms, the procedure of obtaining a credit report / history can be as follows:
- To obtain information of the counterparty’s loan providers one should turn to the Central Catalogue of Credit Histories – department of the Central Bank which is entitled to maintain the database of title parts of credit histories (for individuals and sole entrepreneurs: surname, name, patronymic, passport data, tax number, insurance individual account number etc.; for legal entities: company name, tax number etc.). As a result, one can get a complete list of credit bureaus keeping the details of the counterparty’s credit history. Any credit bureau can also conduct this search for a fee.
- To obtain details of the counterparty’s credit history (data subject), one should contact one of the credit bureaus, conclude an agreement for information provision, register with an e-service, create an account and pay for the service. Besides, one should provide and pay for all technical, software and communications resources required for using the e-service.
The mandatory requirements for getting a detailed credit history are:
- A written consent of the subject for receiving a credit report, stating the purposes for obtaining this information;
- a digital signature;
- installed encryption software to ensure safe transfer of personal data; a safety certificate in accordance with the
legislation on personal data.
