Credit warning

A credit alert is a safeguard for you as an individual so that companies and lenders don't lend to you without paying close attention.

Often a credit alert will cause the lender to be extra cautious about granting you a loan and therefore often tighten their requirements for identifying who is actually taking out the loan.

In practice, a credit alert is a mark in the CPR register where you as a person warn lenders about granting loans and credits in your name.

Why should I put a credit alert on myself?

Why would you want to warn lenders that you don't want to take out a loan? ... we can almost hear you saying.

You are partly right. But a credit alert is not a waiver from being able to borrow money from a bank or other lender - it's a warning to the lender to be particularly vigilant when taking out the loan.

For example, a credit alert flag may be a good idea if you have been a victim of identity theft, lost your passport, lost your driver's license or lost other important legal documents where someone else can impersonate you.

The credit alert helps signal to lenders that you have been a victim of identity theft, for example - and that they should now be particularly vigilant when you (or the person who stole your legal documents) try to take out a loan in the future.

Challenges and issues with credit alert

We experience from time to time that lenders, banks and other companies that provide credit and are notified of credit alerts do not want to lend money or provide credit if they see a credit alert.

This way, the lender protects both you and itself from lending money to the wrong people - money that the lender will probably never get back.

Therefore, in practice, you may find that some lenders will ask you to remove the credit warning if you want to take out a loan. This is easily done on borger.dk.

Who gets notified of a credit alert?

Most companies with a legitimate interest in lending to you should subscribe to credit alerts - and it's our understanding that all Danish banks and mortgage lenders are notified of credit alerts.

However, there may still be several smaller or foreign lenders that do not receive credit alerts.

In Denmark, it is thus voluntary whether the lender/companies want to subscribe to credit alerts - although there is no logically good explanation for not doing so, as the lender minimizes the risk for themselves - and you as a debtor.