Credit Score - Sweden

Sweden

Sweden also has a system for credit score. This system aims to find people with bad payment attitude. It has only two levels, good and bad. Anyone who does not pay a requested debt payment on time, and also not after a reminder, will have their case forwarded to the Swedish Enforcement Administration (Swedish: Kronofogdemyndigheten), a national authority which collects debts. The very appearance of a company as a debtor in this authority, will render a mark among private credit bureaus - however, this does not apply to a private person. This mark is called Betalningsanmärkning (non-payment record) and can according to the law be stored for three years for a private person and five years for a company. This kind of non-payment record will make it very difficult to get a loan, a rental apartment, a telephone subscription or a job with cash handling. The banks of course use income and asset figures in connection with loan assessments.

If one gets an injunction to pay by the Enforcement Administration, it is possible to object to it. Then the one requesting the payment must show the correctness in district court. Failure to object is seen as admitting the debt. If the debtor loses the court trial, costs for the trial are added to the debt. Taxes and authority fees must always be paid on request unless payment has already been made.

Every person with a Swedish national identification number must register a valid address, even if living abroad, since sent letters are considered to have arrived. For example, the Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang has a Betalningsanmärkning since he forgot to pay the Stockholm congestion tax, and had an old invalid address registered, since he lives in the USA. Letters with payment requests did not reach him on time.