Unknown applicant – Court Ruling (Netherlands, 2021)

Whenever a consumer in the Netherlands obtains credit, the debt must be registered in a central register of the foundation Bureau Krediet Registratie (BKR). The case at hand involved a person with whom the bank, Rabobank, had made a special agreement. He was to pay part of a loan and was forgiven the repayment of a remaining part of the loan. After he had paid the amount agreed with the bank, Rabobank nevertheless reported him to the BKR register with a special code. This prevented him from taking out new loans, even though he was in a good financial situation. For this reason, he took the matter to court. The claimant had two mortgages on two homes with his ex-partner. Following the couple's divorce, they were forced to sell both houses. After the houses had been sold in 2015 and 2016, a residual debt of €119,979 remained. The partners were jointly responsible for the full repayment of the debt. Almost immediately after the sale of the first home, the applicant voluntarily started repaying the remaining debt at the rate of €500 per month. In November 2015, the applicant's 7 monthly repayments totalled €3500. In February 2017, Rabobank sent a letter to the applicant. The bank had calculated that the applicant could repay €1486 per month, but that this would not enable him to repay the entire debt within 5 years. The bank offered him alternative payment models; if he accepted the special arrangement, he would not have to repay the entire remaining debt. The applicant and the bank agreed that the applicant would pay €1388.89 per month for 36 months (€50,000 in total) and that the bank would pay €62,015.83. It was also agreed that the €3500 that the applicant had already paid would be deducted from the amount that the applicant owed. The applicant fully complied with the payment plan and repaid the debt between September 2017 and May 2020. On 29 May 2020, Rabobank registered the applicant in the BKR's Central Credit Information System with a special code of 3. This c