According to BIIA’s partner PASSWORD, Germany the German Ministry of consumer affairs continues to criticize German suppliers of consumer credit information. The ministry had ordered a representative study from the Munich based GP Forschungsgruppe (Market Research) which found that 19% of respondents had been denied credit because of faulty data. The denied requests involved applications for opening of bank accounts, lines of credit, credit cards, Mobil phones, and mail order purchases.
The minister for consumer affairs (Ms. Ilse Aigner) has advised German credit bureaus to correct errors, to accept the responsibility for the accuracy of credit information; and not to wait until the new data protection law goes into effect. As of April 1st of 2010 every consumer has the right to request detailed information kept on file by credit bureaus, and to have errors corrected. The consumer has the right to request the following information: What is ‘my’ credit score? Which score values have been passed on in response to inquiries and who has requested ‘my’ scores. Which data elements were used to calculate the credit score? How was the score derived? What is the significance of ‘my’ score? Source: PASSWORD, Germany
BIIA Newsletter February 2010 Issue
