Up to 50 borrowers may have been affected by Central Bank error

The Central Bank said it has written to those identified as being at highest risk of being impacted by the error and that lenders will not let this information impact new applications. 

A Central Bank investigation has found that up to 50 people may have had loan applications impacted by a data retention error on its Central Credit Register (CCR).

In August, the Central Bank said an error in its systems meant borrower information was retained for three months longer than it should have been. 

It is usually retained on the CCR for a maximum period of five years after which it is deleted automatically.

The CCR is the register of all loans exceeding €500 in value and ensures lenders can access customer’s credit history. 

However, due a technical error, borrower information from May, June, and July 2018, was not deleted and was subsequently included in credit reports.

The Central Bank said borrowers could only be impacted if the additional months contained in the CCR contained information on loan performance difficulties which could be seen during the loan application process.

Following a review of the error, the records of 20,872 borrowers, who had repayment issues during those three months, were accessed by either lenders or borrowers.

These borrowers were associated with 31,013 enquiries. In 30,963 cases, lenders said that their decisions were not impacted by the excess data.

For nine of the credit enquiries, lenders confirmed that the excess data was one of the factors which influenced their credit decisions. 

In a further 41 enquiries, lenders have not yet been able to confirm if there was any impact.

The Central Bank said it has written to those identified as being at highest risk of being impacted by the error and that lenders will not let this information impact new applications.