More than 15,000 Irish consumers given wrong credit score

The Irish Credit Bureau, which provides financial data to around 300 banks and lenders, reported the breach to the Irish Data Protection Commissioner in July 2019. The commissioner then started an inquiry, which it has given an update on in its annual report.

“A change to the Irish Credit Bureau system inadvertently allowed incorrect updates to be applied to the loan account records of financial institutes’ customers,” the Data Protection Commissioner’s annual report said. “The issue impacted on the credit ratings of 15,238 individuals. In total, 118 individuals had requested their credit report directly from the Irish Credit Bureau while the data was incorrect.”

Financial institutions operating in Ireland which get customers’ credit ratings wrong can face significant financial penalties, meaning that even if a fraction of the 15,238 individuals were denied access to credit, or received less than they could have, lenders could be liable for millions in compensation.

The next step of the inquiry is to furnish a Draft Inquiry Report to the Irish Credit Bureau, the Data Protection Commissioner said.