Voluntary ban on credits
A voluntary ban on credits means that you have set a ban on credits for yourself in the Positive credit register. The purpose of this is that a lender requesting a credit register extract about you would understand that they must consider lending with special caution and care.
Setting a ban on credits is voluntary, and you can do it in the e-service. You can set the ban either for a fixed term or for an indefinite period. In addition, you must select a reason for the ban. You can also give consent that information on the credit ban can be disclosed to credit information companies.
Please note that you cannot print out a document stating that you have set a voluntary ban on credits.
These instructions help you to set, edit and remove a credit ban, and provide information about setting a ban on credits for an underage child.
Setting a ban on credits
You can set a voluntary ban on credits for yourself in the e-service. Information about the voluntary ban on credits you have set and about the reason for the ban will be shared with lenders on the credit register extract if the ban is in force when the credit register extract is requested.
You must select one of the following reasons for the credit ban:
- risk of identity theft
- control of personal finances
- other reason.
Select the reason that best describes your situation. Lenders decide how your credit ban affects lending.
You decide how long the credit ban is in force. You can set the ban for an indefinite period, in which case it will not be lifted until you remove it. Alternatively, you can define a start date and an end date for the ban. In this case, the ban will be lifted automatically after the end date.
Consent to disclosure of information to credit information companies
You can give consent that information on your voluntary ban on credits may be disclosed to credit information companies. Credit information companies may also be called credit reference agencies in these instructions and in the e-service. There are two credit information companies in Finland at the moment: Suomen Asiakastieto Oy and Dun & Bradstreet Finland Oy. For the time being, however, Suomen Asiakastieto Oy does not accept information on credit bans. They will start accepting the credit ban information and disclosing it further in June 2024.
If you do not give consent that information on your credit ban may be shared with credit information companies, the information is only stored in the Positive credit register. In that case, the information is available only to lenders requesting a credit register extract about your data.
But if you give your consent, the information on your credit ban or changes to it will also be shared with credit information companies. Credit information companies can store the information on your credit ban in their registers and disclose it further for certain purposes of use prescribed by law.
These purposes of use are laid down in section 19 of the act on credit information (527/2007). The credit information companies may not disclose the information for any other purposes.
- granting of a loan, supervision of a loan, and automated lending
- planning of debt recovery
- accepting or providing a guarantee or third-party security
- concluding a rental agreement on a residential apartment
- defining the terms and conditions when the contract concluded is such that it cannot be legally refused
- assessing a job applicant or an employee as provided by law
- assessing a company's or its responsible person's ability to meet their contractual obligations, and selecting a person as the company's responsible person
- a situation where a person requests a credit institution or an insurance institution to draw up a certificate or recommendation regarding the person's ability to fulfil their obligations
- a situation where information is disclosed to certain parties with the reporting obligation so that they can take customer due diligence measures (Act on Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing 444/2017)
- scientific research, statistics or a public authority's planning and reporting duties
- an authority's statutory right of access to data
- a situation where the person is a responsible person in a company for whose operations authorities grant support
- other purpose of use separately prescribed by law.
You can cancel your consent by editing the ban. Each time you edit the ban, you must separately select whether or not you consent to disclosure. If you do not give consent when you edit the credit ban, the credit information companies will be notified that the consent you gave earlier has been removed. After this, the credit information companies will remove the information on your credit ban from their registers.
It should be noted that credit information companies receive information about your credit ban and about your giving or cancelling consent with a delay, for the information is updated to them once a day.
How to set a credit ban
You can manage the voluntary ban on credits by selecting Set or remove a voluntary ban on credits on the home page.
If you do not have a ban on credits yet, you can see the button Set a voluntary ban on credits. When you click the button, the system will take you to a page where you can set a credit ban.
1. Select a reason for a ban on credits
- Risk of identity theft
- Control of personal finances
- Other reason
2. Select a period of validity
- Indefinite
- Fixed term
- Select a start and end date for the credit ban in the calendar. If you select a future date as the start date of a fixed-term credit ban, the ban will enter into force at 0.00 am on the day in question.
Select Next. This pages asks for your consent to disclosure of information to credit information companies, or credit reference agencies.
Select one of the following options:
- I give my consent that the information on my credit ban can be shared with credit reference agencies, which in turn can disclose the information for the purposes laid down in section 19 of the act on credit information.
- I do not give consent that information on my credit ban could be shared with credit reference agencies. The information about the credit ban is available only to lenders requesting a credit register extract about my information from the Positive credit register.
Finally, select Send. You will receive a notification saying whether the information was submitted successfully. After you have submitted the information, the system will automatically take you to the Voluntary ban on credits page, where you can see the information you selected:
- Date of credit ban dd.mm.yyyy, hh:mm
- Reason for credit ban
- Period of credit ban
- Consent to disclosure of information
The period of validity is ‘Indefinite (starting dd.mm.yyyy)’ or ‘Fixed term dd.mm.yyyy–dd.mm.yyyy’.
Consent that information on the credit ban can be shared with credit information companies is given in format ‘You have also given consent .../You have not given consent ...’.
You can edit or remove the credit ban by clicking the appropriate button.
Edit a ban on credits
You can edit or remove your credit ban at any time. If you make changes, they enter into force with immediate effect. Lenders requesting credit register extracts about your data will thus receive up-to-date information about your credit ban or its removal.
Note, however, that the information is updated to credit information companies with a delay. If you have given consent that the information may be shared with credit information companies, note that information is updated to them once a day, so the ban will not show in their registers immediately.
How to edit a ban on credits
You can edit the credit ban on the Voluntary ban on credits page by selecting Edit a ban on credits.
The page that opens shows the information at present: the reason you have selected for the ban and the period of validity of the ban. You can edit the information or leave it as it is.
You can change the reason for the ban but you cannot leave it blank.
You can edit the period of validity of a fixed-term ban on credits. You can replace an indefinite ban on credits with a fixed-term ban, or vice versa.
- If the start date of a fixed-term ban is in the past, you cannot change it. The end date can be the current day or a day in the future.
- If you set a credit ban today, the end date must be tomorrow or later. The same date cannot be both the start date and the end date.
- If you replace an indefinite credit ban with a fixed-term ban and the start date is in the past, the start date is the original start date. There is no end date.
A credit ban set in the Positive credit register cannot be suspended, but you can remove the ban and set a new ban when necessary.
Go to the next page by selecting Next. You can also continue without changing the information.
In the next step, you select whether information on the credit ban may also be disclosed to credit information companies. You must make the selection every time you set a new ban on credits or edit information on the ban. Note that your previous selection is not pre-completed. Select whether you want to give consent to disclosure of information on the credit ban.
Consent to the disclosure of information is given in the following format:
- I give my consent that the information on my credit ban can be shared with credit reference agencies, which in turn can disclose the information for the purposes laid down in section 19 of the act on credit information.
- I do not give consent that information on my credit ban could be shared with credit reference agencies. The information about the credit ban is available only to lenders requesting a credit register extract about my information from the Positive credit register.
Finally, select Save changes.
You will receive a notification saying whether the information was submitted successfully. After you have submitted the information, the service will automatically take you to the Voluntary ban on credits page. If you attempt to leave the page before saving the data, the system will ask if you are sure you want to leave the page. If you leave the page, the changes you have made will not be saved.
Remove a ban on credits
You can remove a valid ban on credits whenever you want. If you do so, all information about the ban will be removed from the Positive credit register immediately. The credit ban will not be shown on any credit
you have given consent that information on the ban can be disclosed to credit information companies, they will receive information that the ban has been removed within 24 hours. In other words, the information that you have removed the ban on credits will be updated to their registers with a delay.
How to remove a credit ban
You can remove a credit ban on the Voluntary ban on credits page. Select Remove a ban on credits. If you only want to edit the information, select Edit a ban on credits instead.
The system will ask if you are sure you want to remove a voluntary ban on credits. Select Remove. You will receive a notification saying whether the information was removed successfully.
If you have removed a credit ban and want to set the credit ban again, set a new ban by clicking Set a voluntary ban on credits.
Ban on credits for minors
An underage child cannot set, edit or remove a voluntary ban on credits in the e-service. Further, a ban on credits for minors cannot be managed in the e-service by the underage child’s guardians, either. However, if an underage child has a ban on credits in force, the information on the ban is shown in the e-service.
A guardian can set a ban on credits for their child or edit or remove the ban by filling in a paper form. The form must be signed by all the guardians.