ERIF Register of Debtors audits its database and encourages other credit information bureaus to go transparent

For the first time in history one of Polish credit information bureaus had its database of debtors verified by an independent audit company. It tries to encourage the remaining two players on the market to also become transparent in order to promote the interests of clients who use the resources of credit information bureaus. Verified by an independent auditor, the report says that at the end of Q1 2011 the ERIF Register of Debtors had a database including close to 600,000 records, with the value of debts recorded there in excess of PLN 2.5 billion.

We realise how precious the knowledge about financial credibility of prospective customers or counterparties is for businesses. In the case of big ticket transactions it may decide about a company's future. Therefore, the underlying goal of the ERIF Register of Debtors has always been to provide reliable information about the creditworthiness of consumers and businesses. Now, we additionally want to show companies using the services of credit information bureaus that the data set gathered in the ERIF Register of Debtors is transparent because its size and structure are verified by an independent auditor (KPMG).

The report shows the database of the ERIF Register of Debtors as at the end of Q1 2011. So far, it has been the only such report on the Polish market. “We will do it every quarter so that our clients can always be sure they know exactly what database they are using. Especially that the database has been growing dynamically all the time and today the number of records is much bigger than, say, two months ago. I hope that our initiative will meet with a positive response from other credit information bureaus operating in Poland and they will also want to make the sector more transparent. We will strongly encourage them to do so,”  says Urszula Okarma, President of the Board of the ERIF Register of Debtors.

In accordance with the report, at the end of Q1 2011, the ERIF Register of Debtors had records about more than 573,000 entities. Among them were 546,000 consumers and 27,000 businesses. In total, the database included information about PLN 2,638,000,000 worth of debts. Close to PLN 2.5bn of that figure  were retail debts and nearly PLN 170m were debts of other entities. Both in the case of debts of retail and other customers, the average debt balance was medium to high. For the first group, the average amount of debt exceeded PLN 4,500, while the debts of businesses had an average balance of PLN 6,200.

Banks were the main creditors for retail debtors.  Amounts owed in connection with loans, credit cards and bank accounts constitute nearly 70% of all reported retail debts in terms of the number of accounts and more than 72% in terms of value. The remaining debts are amounts owed to telephone operators (close to 24% in terms of number and more than 10% in terms of value) as well as other liabilities (including child support).

Debtors who are not consumers have been reported to the ERIF Register of Debtors mainly in connection with their phone bill debts. Such debts constituted more than 64% of the database of businesses in terms of number of records and close to 50% in terms of account value. Companies are also reported as debtors in connection with their unpaid invoices as well as with liabilities relating to their business activity (28% of the database in terms of number of accounts and close to 40% in terms of value).

Every person may check if their details have been reported to the ERIF Register of Debtors. The easiest way to do it is via the InfoKonsument.pl site. After registering on www.infokonsument.pl, users may check if they have been reported as debtors and in connection with what debt and also whether their details have been downloaded from the ERIF Register of Debtors by any company.