SY: Positive credit register stops sole traders from accessing credit – immediate action needed

Suomen Yrittäjät, the Finnish SME association, has received a large number of messages about sole traders’ problems caused by the positive credit register. Sole traders’ incomes do not appear in the register, which makes their access to loans and other credit significantly harder. Suomen Yrittäjät demands the Data Protection Ombudsman intervene in the problem at once.

A lender is obliged to check a credit applicant’s creditworthiness. In practice, this means a bank or other financial institution requests an excerpt on information such as the applicant’s income and debts from the positive credit register.

“Business income that is not in the form of salary does not appear in the incomes register. For this reason, many individuals at present receive an automatic rejection for things like credit card applications, even though they have good incomes and credit scores. We need a rapid change here,” Tiina Toivonen, Legal Affairs Manager at Suomen Yrittäjät, says.

There are over 250,000 sole traders in Finland. Thus, this problem affects a significant group of people in the country.

The Positive Credit Register, maintained by the Tax Administration, gathers information on credit issued to individuals, and on their income.

SY: Data Protection Ombudsman must intervene in problems

The data included in the positive credit register are personal data. Under the law, a data subject has the right to request correction of incorrect or insufficient personal data.

Suomen Yrittäjät has been in contact with the Data Protection Ombudsman. The Ombudsman supervises credit data operations and other credit data processing pursuant to the Credit Information Act.

“It doesn’t look like the credit applicant’s right to be evaluated on the basis of correct, appropriate data is being honoured. A credit applicant should also have the right to have erroneous or inaccurate data corrected,” Suomen Yrittäjät specialist Niko Nurmela says.

SY considers it important for the situation to be resolved quickly under official oversight. The association does not want lenders to be able to make credit decisions about sole traders automatically without applicants being able to provide additional information on their business incomes.

“Credit issuance cannot be based solely on automated decision making, on the basis of the positive credit register’s data, until the register contains all the data that affect someone’s creditworthiness,” Nurmela says.

Impact assessment of Positive Credit Register Act must be done quickly

Suomen Yrittäjät said during the preparation of the Positive Credit Register Act that it could cause problems for sole traders’ access to credit. The Ministry of Justice will not conduct ex-post evaluation of the Act until four years after the launch of the register.

The register was launched on 1 Apr. 2024. Suomen Yrittäjät believes that the evaluation should happen now, not in three years.

“The current situation affects over 250,000 people’s access to credit, which means the impacts of the Act must be assessed urgently,” Toivonen says.

Suomen Yrittäjät has already submitted a report to Justice Minister Leena Meri on the difficult situation sole traders face.

“It’s important for Suomen Yrittäjät to give politicians up-to-date information on our member business owners’ problems. This is not just a set of isolated problems – right now, the structural flaws in the positive credit register unjustly affect a vast number of business owners whose income is not salary,” Toivonen says.

Letter from Suomen Yrittäjät to the Data Protection Ombudsman.

Further information: 
Niko Nurmela, specialist, niko.nurmela@yrittajat.fi, 050 5719009
Tiina Toivonen, Legal Affairs Manager, 041 528 5679, tiina.toivonen@yrittajat.fi