Estonia limits access to new credit register to loan applications only
Nearly one million loans, leases and debts will be consolidated into a single national credit register by 2029, allowing lenders to review applicants' financial obligations — but officials say the data will only be accessible when a formal loan application is made.
The government must appoint a registry operator who will compile information on all individuals' financial obligations, including loans, leases, and debts.
"In fact, it will also include claims held by debt collection agencies. So the amount of information in the register will be quite substantial — we're talking roughly about one million loan agreements," said Thomas Auväärt, Deputy Head of the financial services policy department at the Ministry of Finance.
All credit cards will also be included in the register.
"All similar credit products where a person has been granted a credit limit but may not have used it… those will also be reflected in the register, as they represent a potential liability," Auväärt noted.
The register's data can only be accessed by a lender through a query made on the basis of a loan application, or by the individual themselves. This means people can monitor who has viewed their data.
"Our goal is to set the requirements so that privacy is protected to the greatest extent possible, and other banks or lenders cannot simply browse the register at will — nor can government authorities. Only in very limited and justified cases may certain authorities view a person's financial obligations," Auväärt said.
TKM Grupp, the owner of Tallinna Kaubamaja, is one of the companies — alongside banks — that offers installment payment options to customers. Currently, TKM assesses clients' creditworthiness itself. In the future, however, the company will also be able to use the database. The Estonian Parliament has passed a law under which a credit register containing all Estonians' loan obligations will be established by 2029.
"It will add some administrative burden for us, and credit decisions will likely be examined more closely as a result, but overall we see more benefits coming from it," said Rene Paats, head of partner program development at TKM Grupp. "Under the legislative change, we will be making inquiries against this entire database — or register — and, likewise, we will also be required to provide our own data to it."
According to Maris Lauri (Reform Party), a member of the parliamentary finance committee, this is not a publicly accessible database containing all financial data.
"It is certainly not a 'super database.' It contains only credit amounts and obligations by specific months, in order to assess a person's debt burden and how much they spend each month servicing those loans," Lauri explained.
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Editor: Aleksander Krjukov, Argo Ideon
Source: ERR "Aktuaalne kaamera"
