A BIK score allows you to take on new obligations without having to spend a lot of time “convincing” a bank analyst to grant you a loan or credit. A good credit score also makes it possible to obtain financing often on much more favorable terms than for people with poor credit scores. What is “all this scoring” anyway, how much should it be and how to take care of a good credit score? About this in today’s post.
BIK, or the Credit Information Bureau
Before we get to the classic bullet point of proven ways to build and then maintain a good BIK score, we need to explain in a few words what the BIK itself even is. So, BIK is a private institution whose acronym is derived from the Credit Information Bureau. This institution collects and processes all credit obligations of individuals and companies. It doesn’t matter whether these are cash loans, mortgages, car loans or credit cards.
The BIK receives all, literally all obligations entered into with banks throughout the country. The Credit Information Bureau operates on the basis of banking law and has full rights to collect the data going there. This data can be processed by the BIK for a period of 5 years after the repayment of a given obligation, and if the borrower agrees, the BIK can store and process it practically indefinitely.
What is a BIK score / BIK scoring?
The data processed by the Bureau of Economic Information is used to a large extent to reduce the credit risk incurred by banks and financial institutions in Poland. If a borrower fails to repay his obligation on time, this information will be visible in the so-called BIK report. In turn, the report contains information on both the repayment of the obligation incumbent on the borrower itself and its timeliness.
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But let’s return to the scoring, which largely determines whether a financial institution is willing to provide financing, such as a loan or credit. The BIK score is nothing more than a borrower’s rating, which is influenced by several factors. These include:
- timeliness of payment of obligations
- frequency of use of bank products
- the number of loan applications submitted over a certain period of time
- experience of the borrower
How to build a good BIK score?
Once we have explained what the BIK itself is, as well as what a credit score/scoring is in its essence, we can move on to listing ways to build a good credit score. At this point, however, it is worth noting that even a solid BIK score does not guarantee that every financing will be granted, since the credit decision is also based on the applicant’s financial capacity itself, his age, the purpose of the loan, the bank’s credit policy and often the economic conditions, which is discussed in more detail in a separate post.
Building a good BIK score – timeliness
The biggest factor affecting a borrower’s credit score is, naturally, the timeliness of repayment of obligations. It is worth noting that even the slightest, one-day delays in repaying installments of loans or credits appear in the BIK. Although both the BIK and banks insist that delays of less than 30 days do not have a major impact on scoring, any missed repayment date will be visible in the report.
Therefore, if you want your credit score to continually rise or at least not fall, it is worth paying off loan installments without the slightest delay. After all, the financial system around the world is based on trust and punctuality, so we have to reckon with the fact that if we do not repay our obligations on time, the banks’ confidence may be slightly shaken.
Frequency of use of bank products
Another factor, also extremely important, which has a big impact on our credit score, is how often we use banking products. These include all sorts of loans, cash loans, special purpose loans (car loans, home loans, etc.), credit cards, revolving loans, overdrafts, etc.
If we frequently reach for borrowed money, if we take out a lot of obligations, such as installment loans or quick cash loans for any purpose, this will signal to banks that we tend to overborrow, and this will cause our credit score to start dropping.
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So let’s try not to take every possible opportunity to take on a new debt. Let’s also avoid frequent credit card payments or the use of funds under revolving limits. Each of these activities will be recorded in the Credit Information Bureau and may affect our credit score.
How to build a good BIK score? Rarely apply for credit
Another factor that determines our BIK score is the number of credit applications we make over a certain period of time. In the BIK report, we can see that all applications made over the last 12 months will appear in the report, so this time period can be considered, as reported.
Frequent application for loans, credits, revolving limits or credit cards effectively lowers the BIK score, which may lead to the denial of the loan we will want. Remember, however, that applications submitted to different banks over a 14-day period will not be treated as new credit inquiries. The condition, however, is that they relate to the same product, such as a home loan.
Experience
The last factor that can affect the BIK score is the borrower’s experience. In a situation where we have only been using bank products like loans or credits for a short time, the BIK score will automatically be lowered. The longer we have been bank customers, the more this indicator goes up.
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