BIK of an entrepreneur – what is it?
The BIK Entrepreneur Information System – for that is the full name – is a separate database in which the BIK collects data on all types of liabilities incurred by sole proprietors, freelancers, companies and farmers.
What is most relevant in BIK Entrepreneur is credit history, both positive and negative. What information exactly will we find there?
- company/entity data;
- type and amount of liability;
- number and amount of installments;
- repayment history (including due dates).
Positive credit information
A fact that is often forgotten by those who are interested in taking out a loan is that the BIK collects not only information about unpaid or late obligations. Banks will also find those loans that we are paying reliably and on time, as well as those that we have successfully repaid.
This is important, because a positive credit history can also affect a person’s or company’s rating, and therefore the financial terms of a new loan.
How to check the Entrepreneur’s BIK?
Not only a bank, when it wants to check a company’s liability history, can generate a BIK Entrepreneur report. The entrepreneur himself can also generate the said report – if only to verify his own credit history and make sure everything is in order.
To generate a BIK Entrepreneur report, all you need to do is visit the bik.pl website and set up an account there, providing data from your ID card (including first and last names, PESEL number, document series and number, and date of issue and expiration), email address, phone number and home address, as well as your company’s TIN. After entering all the necessary data, make a verification transfer of PLN 1. Then simply select a single report or an annual package and pay the appropriate fee.
I’ve been given access to my credit history and what’s next?
If everything checks out, you don’t need to take any steps – you can apply for a business loan without any problems.
However, it can happen that the BIK will show incorrect information: for example, about a loan we did not take, or about a late installment that we actually paid on time. It’s a good idea to find out everything you can about your current credit situation before entering the loan process.
Checking the Entrepreneur’s BIK in advance will give us the opportunity to clarify irregularities. This will require direct contact with the institution that reported the incorrect information to the BIK. Sending a request for rectification should, after some time, result in an update of the data in the Credit Information Bureau.
Positive and negative credit information in BIK
The Credit Information Bureau was established to warn financial institutions against dishonest borrowers. Accordingly, negative credit information is stored in the BIK for as long as five years. After this period, the data is transferred to the statistical dataset, where it will spend the next 12 years. The BIK is required to share negative credit information with entities that send a monitoring inquiry designed to show the borrowing company’s credit practices.
The situation is different with a positive credit history. This information can be provided by BIK to third-party companies only if the consent of the company to which the collected data relates is given.
It is worth remembering that company loans also affect personal creditworthiness. This also works the other way around, which only confirms that attention to timely repayment of obligations is crucial in case you apply for more loans in the future.
