"Zero income" in the credit register extract – why don't grants and a self-employed person's earned income show up in the extract?
11/25/2024Why does my income show zero on my credit register extract? Why does my credit report not show the grant I received? Why does my credit register extract not show what I have learned as a self-employed person?
The Positive credit register was launched at the beginning of April. The purpose of the register is to help lenders assess the solvency of credit applicants. The assessment of solvency is based on a credit register extract, which the lender will order from your data when you apply for credit, for example.
The credit register extract contains information on both your credit and your income. Credit information is obtained from lenders who are required by law to report it to the Positive credit register. Credit information includes data on, for example, mortgages and credit cards.
Sometimes, however, EUR 0 will be shown in the income field – why? Read more about the situations in which your income data may be missing from the extract and why.
Only income reported to the Incomes Register is shown in the income data
In addition to credit, the credit register extract will show a summary of your income for the previous 12 months. The information only shows the full calendar months, i.e. data for the current month is not shown.
Income is broken down in the extract by month into wages and benefits and further into gross and net income. The payers of the wages or benefits are not shown, nor is the benefit in question.
Information on the wages and benefits paid to you is available from the Incomes Register. Therefore, only income that has been reported to the Incomes Register can be shown in the income data of the credit register extract.
Payers of wages and benefits report to the Incomes Register information on the income that they are required by law to report. Not all income is reported to the Incomes Register. The Incomes Register does not include, for example:
- income received by self-employed persons working under a business name
- grants, or
- most capital income
If information does not have to be reported to the Incomes Register by law, it will not be included in the register and therefore not on the credit register extract either. That is why the credit register extract can sometimes show EUR 0 as income, even if the person actually has income.
- See the Incomes Register website for more information on what income data and benefits payment data payers must report to the Incomes Register.
Income data may be incomplete at the beginning of a month
Sometimes, there may also be gaps in income data because the information has not yet been reported to the Incomes Register.
There is often a slight delay before the information appears in the Incomes Register, as payers must report information on their wages and benefits to the Incomes Register, usually within five calendar days of the payment date.
Sometimes the delay can be even longer, as some payers report the information on a paper form, in which case the report must be in the Incomes Register within eight calendar days of the payment date. Delays can cause gaps in income data, especially at the turn of a month.
- For example, if your pay day is the last day of the month and the payer reports your wage on the fifth day of the following month, this wage will not appear in the income data on your credit register extract for the first five days of the month.
So, if you happen to apply for credit and the lender orders a credit register extract on your data during those five days, your income data may appear incomplete in this respect.
Lender responsible for credit decision and assessment of customer's solvency
The Positive credit register does not provide lenders with recommendations or guidance on how to make credit decisions and assess their solvency, so the lender makes assessments and decisions in accordance with its own policies.
The Consumer Protection Act regulates the granting of credit and the assessment of creditworthiness. According to the Consumer Protection Act, the assessment of a consumer's creditworthiness must be based on sufficient information on the consumer's income and other financial circumstances in credit registers and other information.
In addition to the Positive credit register, it is therefore also possible for a lender to find out about a customer situation, for example in terms of income, from other sources.
– It is unfortunate that access to credit, especially for self-employed persons working under a business name and grant recipients, has been made more difficult because not all income is visible in the credit register extract. We understand the inconvenience this has caused and we regret the situation. Only income that has been reported to the Incomes Register can be shown in the credit register extract. As data controller, we will continue to emphasise in our stakeholder events and communications that the Positive credit register does not always give a complete picture of a customer's income. We encourage lenders to use sources other than the credit register extract to assess a customer's creditworthiness and especially income data," says Marjaana Ohralahti, the register's operating officer.