Credit check or credit assessment – what does that mean?

1. What does creditworthiness mean?

A person's creditworthiness reflects how likely it is that they can and will meet their financial obligations. Both the economic situation and the presumed willingness to pay are considered. Therefore, banks check the credit capacity and creditworthiness of their customers.

2. Credit capacity: Can the customer pay?

Credit capacity addresses whether you, as a customer, are able to repay a loan. Your budget is closely examined: Do you earn enough for the desired loan amount?

The minimum requirements for the credit capacity check are set by law. The borrower must be of legal age and able to repay the loan, including interest, within 36 months. The decisive factor is the freely disposable income, which corresponds to the non-seizable income according to the Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Act and cantonal guidelines.

3. Creditworthiness: Will the customer pay?

Creditworthiness describes the probability that you, as a customer, will repay a loan. Your financial trustworthiness is assessed for this purpose. It includes:

• past payment behaviour

• outstanding liabilities

• any negative events such as debt collection or enforcement measures

Conversely, by maintaining these factors, you can improve your creditworthiness in the medium term. In addition, statistically significant risk factors such as age, nationality, residence status, place of residence or frequency of changes of residence and workplace are taken into account.

Credit banks obtain this information from credit rating databases, the Central Office for Credit Information (ZEK), debt enforcement offices and residents’ registration offices. Your chances of obtaining a loan and the conditions are thus influenced by this data.

In Switzerland, there are four credit agencies that collect and provide credit rating data: CRIF, Intrum Justitia, Dun & Bradstreet and Creditreform. These are not only consulted for granting loans: When ordering goods online on account, concluding mobile phone contracts or even renting apartments, companies and, less frequently, private individuals are interested in checking your credit score. You do not have to consent to the collection of this data. However, the databases must comply with the Data Protection Act. Anyone requesting information must be able to demonstrate a legitimate interest in your data – for example, through a credit application.

Find out more about creditworthiness.

4. Those who do not pass the check will not receive a loan

The credit check is mandatory before any loan is granted. Those who do not pass the check will not receive the desired loan. Every loan application is registered with the Central Office for Credit Information (ZEK). Open applications are stored as long as they are valid. statt. Wer die Prüfung nicht besteht, bekommt den gewünschten Kredit nicht. Jede Kreditanfrage wird bei der Zentralstelle für Kreditinformation (ZEK) registriert. Offene Anfragen werden so lange gespeichert, wie sie gültig sind.

A rejection remains visible to affiliated credit banks for two years. This can make it more difficult to obtain the desired loan or negatively affect the conditions. For this reason, you should avoid loan rejections and multiple applications whenever possible.

Find out what the ZEK stores and how long the data is stored.

The problem from the customer's perspective: For security reasons, banks do not disclose their risk policy. If you are rejected, you usually do not receive a reason.in most cases, no justification is provided.

5. The interest rate depends on creditworthiness

In general: The riskier your profile from the bank's perspective, the higher the loan interest rate. The less risky the bank assesses you, the lower the interest rate. The detailed risk assessments are not the same for every lender, can change at any time, and are only partially publicly available for security reasons. Even in the event of a rejection, you usually do not find out why you did not receive the loan.

Caution: Applying for a loan at several institutions in parallel does not make a good impression. Open applications remain visible to the ZEK as long as they are valid. As a customer, parallel applications make you less attractive to banks. In the event of a rejection, this can affect your chances of obtaining a loan from another bank or lead to higher interest rates. Therefore, submit your application to the bank where you have the best chances based on your circumstances.