Bik solutions enhancing security of business activity

BIK solutions enhancing security of business activity

Detailed information about those holding high-profile positions, in particular company owners and representatives, is available publicly. It may be found, inter alia, in the National Court Register, in powers of attorney, contracts, as well as in land and mortgage registers. Such persons are an easy target for criminals and may fall victim, for instance, to credit scams. According to police officials, such basic information as the first and last name, as well as the personal identification number (PESEL), freely available in the National Court Register, is sufficient for thieves to fraudulently take out loans worth hundreds of thousands of zlotys!

In addition to reports presenting the credit history of a given person, BIK offers also products that mitigate the risk of a loan being taken out with the use of someone else’s data. BIK offers also support to those who have fallen victim to criminal activity of fraudsters.

BIK Report – knowledge just in few minutes, available online

The report may be downloaded after registering an account at bik.pl and confirming the user’s identity. The report contains all credit obligations (towards banks and loan companies) that have been reported to BIK for a given PESEL number. A clear, graphic representation of the status of individual loans allows the user to quickly determine whether any payments are overdue, or whether a loan they are not familiar with has been (fraudulently) assigned to their PESEL number. The report provides also a score, enabling the user to get a better understanding of the risk rating that banks are most likely to assign to them. In addition, verification of entries in the BIG InfoMonitor debtor database is performed – the user is able to find out if their invoices have not been registered as overdue.

BIK Alerts provide greater degree of security

In addition to verifying credit obligations on their own, customers are also encouraged to order an automatic monitoring service – BIK Alerts. The service offers automatic text message/e-mail notifications in each situation a financial institution intends to grant a loan based on the service user’s data, and performs a related BIK check. Relevant information will also be provided when a new liability is assigned to our personal data, or when a delay in the payment of an installment occurs. The alert will be also triggered when a check in the BIG InfoMonitor Debtor Register is performed – this will make the alert user aware of an attempt to conclude a mobile phone service contract, with their data used.

The alerts are highly effective, as BIK is the only entity in Poland that cooperates with the entire banking market and with over 70 largest non-banking institutions.

Protection for businesses

Companies may take advantage of the solutions offered by BIK as well – all they have to do is to add a business account (by providing NIP – Tax Identification Number) to the account of a private user. Reports identifying credit obligations of a business may be generated then, and additional Alerts may be triggered to protect against fraud schemes in which company data are used.

Author:

Rafał Bednarek, Vice-President, BIK

Rafał Bednarek is in charge of the Banking and Retail Business Division, hence being responsible for ongoing cooperation with banks, consumer services, anti-fraud products and analyses.

Last Updated on January 25, 2021 by Karolina Ampulska