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The Government gave a commitment to the IMF to develop a legal framework that would facilitate the collection and centralisation of information on credit, which has resulted in the creation of the Central Credit Register (the Register).
The Register is a secure database established and controlled by the Central Bank of Ireland, under the Credit Reporting Act 2013. It is used to collect and store personal and credit information on loans of €500 or more from lenders.
From 30 June 2017 and every month after that, your lenders submit information to the Register to enable the updating of your comprehensive credit report. Your credit report will help lenders when it comes to making decisions about your loans and loan applications.
The Register will promote greater financial stability by supporting a full and accurate assessment of loans and loan applications.
The Central Credit Register does not score or grade credit reports.
The Central Credit Register does not decide if a loan is approved or not, lenders make that decision.
Over 500 lenders are included on the Register such as:
From 30 June 2017, and every month after that lenders submit your personal and credit information to the Register. This aoolied to any loans you had of €500 or more at 30 June 2017, and any new loans of €500 or more that you take out after that.
From 30 March 2018, information on loans from licensed moneylenders and local authorities were included in the Register.
Personal and credit information for loans existing at 30 June 2017 will be added to the Register from 30 June 2017. No details about transactions on your loans before 30 June 2017 will be submitted to the Register.
Lenders will be able to access your credit report, when:
You will be able to request your own credit report at any time, and the first report each year is free.
No other party, such as employers, landlords, or any other person or entity can access your credit report.
In addition, your credit report will show each time a lender has viewed your information and the reason why they did so. This is called a ‘footprint’ and means that you will know who has looked at your credit report.
Your credit report will contain factual personal and credit information only.
Personal information includes your:
Credit information includes:
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has set out the strict rules around collecting and processing personal information, which are available at www.dataprotection.ie.
The Credit Reporting Act 2013 requires lenders to submit your personal and credit information to Register. This includes information that they have already collected from you such as your name, date of birth and PPS number. This level of information is necessary to ensure the Register can accurately match your loans, including loans that you may have with more than one lender. It will help avoid instances where an unsound credit decision is made by a lender because your personal or credit information cannot be identified correctly, or is matched erroneously with another person.
Your personal and credit information is stored securely on the Register and released only when you or a lender requests it.
The Central Bank owns the information held on the Register and is a data controller under the Data Protection Acts.
Credit Reports have been available since early 2018.
The Register will promote greater financial stability by:
Online: www.centralcreditregister.ie
Email: consumerinfo@centralcreditregister.ie
Lo-call: 1890 100 050
Landline: 01 224 5500
