Responsabilidades de crédito

When entering into a loan agreement, customers are liable for repaying the borrowed capital plus interest, fees and other charges, usually through monthly instalments. The obligation to repay the money lent under the terms agreed is called “credit liability”.

When a customer borrows or agrees to be the guarantor or backer of a credit agreement, they are registered with the Central Credit Register.

Central Credit Register

The Central Credit Register (CCR) is a database managed by the Banco de Portugal containing information provided by the registered entities (credit institutions and other entities) on credit granted to their customers.

The main aim of the CCR is to assist the registered entities in assessing the risk of granting credit, enabling them to consult aggregate information on each customer or potential customer.

Each customer has the right to access the information regarding them contained in the CCR. To this end, they can obtain their credit liabilities report free of charge on the Banco de Portugal website (in Portuguese only). The data subject or their authorised representative can also request this report at any information desk of the Banco de Portugal or by post.

The CCR contains information on the credit types and situations (agreements with initial amounts exceeding €50 or which may reach €50 during the lifetime of the agreement), the outstanding amounts and the maturities of the customer’s loans, among other data.

The CCR includes information on namely:

Performing loans

If the loan is performing, this means that payments are up-to-date, meaning that the customer is able to repay the loan on the agreed date.

Non-performing loans

If the loan is non-performing, this means that there are payments in arrears.

This information is important for credit institutions and other entities registered in the CCR, as well as the customers themselves, to take measures to settle the loan.

It is also used by the registered entities to assess whether their customers are at risk of defaulting on other loans they may have entered into.

The existence of loans in arrears may also lead the entities registered in the CCR to refuse new loans to the customer concerned.

The information held on the Central Credit Register covers:

Actual credit liabilities

The following are examples of actual credit liabilities:

loans for house purchase;
cars loans and loans for the purchase of furniture and other consumer goods or services;
loans to purchase securities (shares, bonds, etc.);
discount of bills of exchange and other commercial bills;
overdrafts on bank accounts;
financial leasing and factoring operations;
owed amounts on credit cards.

Potential credit liabilities

Potential credit liabilities represent commitments, i.e. they are not, but could be, actual debt. The following are examples of potential credit liabilities:

agreed but unused credit card amounts;
agreed but unused credit lines;
unused guarantees given by the registered entities;
endorsements and sureties.

The liabilities of guarantors/backers are identified in the CCR report as potential credit if the credit is performing or, in the event of default on the credit agreement, the guarantor or backer has not been required to replace the debtor. However, if there are payments in arrears and the institution requires the guarantor or backer to fulfil the obligation within a certain time frame and the latter fail to comply, the obligations of the guarantors/backers are identified in the CCR report as being in default.

The customer’s credit liabilities report (in Portuguese only) provides individual information on all their credit agreements, organised by institutions. This report shows for example:

Type of liability

Indicates whether the report’s data subject is the debtor or backer/guarantor of the credit agreement in question.

Financial product

This is the financial product to which the credit agreement corresponds, which can be, for example, a personal loan, a car loan or a loan for house purchase.

Type of negotiation

The negotiation can be:

Renegotiation to avoid default or due to default – The agreement in question results from the renegotiation of a previous agreement to avoid or settle default. This classification applies for a period of six or 12 months to avoid default or settle an actual default respectively.
General – All types of negotiation not covered by the previous point. This classification is used, for example, in new operations, automatic renewals or the renegotiation of the terms of a previous agreement, where this renegotiation was not motivated by default, or risk of default, on the repayment schedule agreed (e.g. commercial renegotiation at the customer’s request to obtain better contractual terms).

This information characterises the type of negotiation of the credit agreement and does not indicate whether the agreement has defaulted or is performing at the time of consultation (information contained in other fields in the report).

Disputes

Credit subject to pending legal proceedings. This indication is shown, for example, where the relevant credit-granting institution appeals to the courts to recover the outstanding amount or where the debtor challenges the claim in court.

Amounts

Information on amounts includes:

Total outstanding amount – The amount the debtor still has to repay over the lifetime of the agreement in question;
Amount in default (and, where applicable, the date of the first payment in arrears) – The total amount of payments in arrears on the agreement in question;
Potential amount – Not an amount that is actually outstanding, but could be in the future, if used. This is the case of approved, but unused, credit card amounts and amounts due on credits in which the report’s data subject acts as guarantor.

The entities that reported the information contained in the credit liabilities report to the CCR are solely responsible for such information, and they (and not the Banco de Portugal) are solely responsible for changing or rectifying it.

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Responsabilidades de crédito

Central Credit Register