What is on a Credit Report

No information on bankruptcy, or OTHER personal insolvency arrangements is contained on the Central Credit Register. If the bankruptcy or insolvency process resulted in a loan being written off, the lender will most likely report than loan as “written off”. Information on this loan will remain on your credit report in line with our retention periods. If the process did not result in loan(s) being written off by a lender, then it may be correct for the lender to continue to report the loan(s) as an active loan to the Central Credit Register.

So, while it may not be possible for the lender to pursue you for repayment of a loan following your discharge from bankruptcy or any other personal insolvency arrangement, lenders may still be obliged to submit information to the Central Credit Register for that loan.

You can read more about retention periods.

You may wish to take separate legal advice on this matter or refer to the Insolvency Service of Ireland for further information at www.isi.gov.ie.

If you wish to apply for your credit report or place an Explanatory Statement on your credit report in connection with the matter, you can start your application here.

Under the Credit Reporting Act 2013, lenders are obliged to submit credit and personal information on loans of €500 or more where the loan is still active. In other words, where payments are being made, or expected to be made, by the lender.

Credit information includes positive credit information, for example that a payment has been made; and negative credit information, for example that a payment has not been made.  This information is submitted by your lender in order to build your credit history and create your credit report.

In addition, they are obliged to report the credit status of each loan. The credit status will indicate for example, if there has been any legal action taken, an overdraft cancelled, or a credit card revoked. It will also indicate if there has been a settlement or write-off of a debt. Finally it will also record if there has been a repossession or voluntary surrender of an asset. If none of the above apply, this is marked ‘n/a’.

While it may be possible that a lender is statute barred from pursuing a borrower for repayment of a loan, the passage of time does not erase the actual debt, and the loan may still be reported to the Central Credit Register.

From time to time, Credit Information Providers (lenders) may sell off loans to other lenders. This means that a loan will then be reported by a new Credit Information Provider. This will result in a change of name from the original Credit Information Provider to the new Credit Information Provider on your credit report.

In addition, institutions may merge or be taken over, and this also will result in a change of name from the Credit Information Provider to the new Credit Information Provider.

In both examples, the new Credit Information Provider is obliged to report information to the Central Credit Register, including their name.

Section 3.11 of the Central Bank’s Consumer Protection Code, sets out the conditions under which such transfers should be notified to consumers. You can read the Central Bank’s Consumer Protection Code and other consumer guides.

See the full list of Credit Information Providers who submit information to the Central Credit Register.

A credit report is created only from the information that is submitted by each Credit Information Provider. The Central Credit Register does not have access to any supporting documentation relating to any loan, such as loan application forms or terms and conditions. If you require more information regarding the transfer of your loan, you should refer directly to the Credit Information Provider named on your credit report.

Lenders are obliged to report information to the Central Credit Register on active loans (loans still in force) where the loan amount was for €500 or more. This obligation includes whether payments have been made, or missed. If payments are missed, the lender must report that information in the Number of Payments Past Due – see Sample Credit Report.

On the credit report produced for lenders, they will see only the last 24 months of payment performance. They will also get a snapshot (a historical analysis) of the minimum and maximum values in certain fields for the last 60 months. This includes the Number of Payments Past due field.

On the credit report that is produced for you, the specific details of the last 60 months of payment performance is included.

No, the Central Credit Register does not score or grade credit reports. Your lender will make a decision on your loan application based on their own credit policy.

If you wish to place an explanatory statement on your credit report at any time, please see our factsheet ‘placing an explanatory statement on my credit report’ on our publications page.  You can start your online application here. The Explanatory Statement must:

• be no longer than 200 words;
• be factual;
• be in English or Irish only;
• relate only to you;
• relate only to your information held on the Central Credit Register.

It should not contain:

• information that could identify another individual (such as their name or workplace);
• obscene or defamatory (damaging) statements about another person;
• frivolous, vexatious or derogatory content;
• offensive or abusive language;
• content to cause the Central Credit Register to be non-compliant with any provision of law.

Loans are included on the Central Credit Register if the loan is for €500 or more and:

• the borrower lives in the State at the time of applying for a loan or
• the loan agreement or loan application is governed by Irish law.

Find out more information on what is included on the Central Credit Register.