Automatic consent to credit history request unacceptable: regulator clarifies
When applying for a financial product at a bank or any other financial institution, a person should have a real opportunity to give consent to a request for his/her credit history.
For this, clients should be able to note in the document containing consent to such a request that they agree or disagree to provide access to their credit histories. If consent is requested for several companies, it should be possible to make a similar note in the document against each of them, as recommended by the Bank of Russia.
The regulator has identified cases where a person in reality has no chance to disagree to give consent to a request for his/her credit history, other than to fully reject a financial product, e.g. by refusing to open card and bank accounts, or deposits. Furthermore, sometimes clients have to agree to requests from several companies at once, including those associated with banks or microfinance organisations, with no choice. According to the Bank of Russia, such practices are unfair.