Government to correct credit listing inaccuracies
Finance minister Anders Borg has promised to help people mistakenly registered with Sweden’s Enforcement Authority clear their name.
People incorrectly listed as having unpaid debts can be blacklisted by credit reporting companies, essentially barring them from taking out bank loans or credit cards.
The Enforcement Authority’s database serves as both a listing of those with bad credit, as well as a record of the agency’s overall activities. As a result all incoming information and applications are retained, regardless of accuracy, making it especially difficult to expunge or correct faulty records.
Writing in Svenska Dagbladet with Liberal Party parliamentarian Carl B. Hamilton, Borg said a change in the law currently under consideration will create a label for “misleading” information and classify that information as inaccessible to third parties.
Borg and Hamilton hope the change will "increase the protections for individuals’ rights and in the long run strengthen confidence in our authorities."
In 2007, 5,000 people requested the Enforcement Authority to correct inaccurate information. While final statistics for this year are not yet available, in 2006 only one in five requests was accepted.
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People incorrectly listed as having unpaid debts can be blacklisted by credit reporting companies, essentially barring them from taking out bank loans or credit cards.
The Enforcement Authority’s database serves as both a listing of those with bad credit, as well as a record of the agency’s overall activities. As a result all incoming information and applications are retained, regardless of accuracy, making it especially difficult to expunge or correct faulty records.
Writing in Svenska Dagbladet with Liberal Party parliamentarian Carl B. Hamilton, Borg said a change in the law currently under consideration will create a label for “misleading” information and classify that information as inaccessible to third parties.
Borg and Hamilton hope the change will "increase the protections for individuals’ rights and in the long run strengthen confidence in our authorities."
In 2007, 5,000 people requested the Enforcement Authority to correct inaccurate information. While final statistics for this year are not yet available, in 2006 only one in five requests was accepted.
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