Overview: Creditinfo Estonia’s Payment Default Registry in 2023
Creditinfo Estonia’s Payment Default Register was established in 2001 by Estonian banks, being the largest and oldest register in Estonia that gathers consistent and high-quality debt information. The register of payment defaults helps Estonian entrepreneurs make the right credit decisions and enables the application of the principle of responsible lending.
The largest contributors of payment defaults continue to be from the financial sector
In 2023, a total of over 700 companies entered payment defaults in the register. The TOP entrants by activity were:
- Credit institutions
- Financial service providers
- Collection service providers
- Telecom companies
During the entire year, more than 100,000 new payment defaults were added to the register by companies, of which 91% were private payment defaults. Payment defaults of legal entities were published in a total of nearly 9,200 cases.
There are tens of thousands of people with payment defaults in Estonia
As of the end of 2023, there were nearly 57,000 individuals with active payment defaults.
During the liquidation of the debt, the current default is marked as closed – in 2023, there were 111,000 private individuals with a closed payment default. A closed payment default indicates that the debt has been paid, but at the same time it warns the creditor that the person has had problems paying bills in the past and this allows for a more accurate assessment of his creditworthiness. NB! In the case of private individuals, closed payment defaults are published for up to 5 years after the payment default has ended.
As of the end of 2023, there were almost 20,000 legal entities or companies-institutions with active payment defaults.
There were nearly 33,000 legal entities with closed payment defaults. NB! In the case of companies, the information provided will be published for another 7 years after the end of the default.
There are more than 150 thousand active payment defaults in the register
By the end of 2023, there were nearly 130,000 active payment defaults in the Payment Default Register by individuals with payment defaults. The average payment default amount, or debt, of a private person is €2,514. There were almost 363,000 private individuals with payment defaults that were closed.
At the end of 2023, there were approximately 40,000 active defaults of legal entities. There were almost 65,000 closed defaults of legal entities.
The number of valid payment defaults has increased
In total, there were nearly 171,000 active payment defaults published in the Payment Default Register. If we add to this the information on payment defaults in the closed and disputed status, the total number of payment defaults in the Payment Default Register is 600,697, which has increased by approx. 9% compared to 2022.
At the same time, the effectiveness of the Payment Failure Register is maintained. Of all payment defaults that have reached publication, one in four, or 26%, is paid immediately within the first month, and half (47%) within the first three months after publication.
The disclosure has the greatest impact on the debts of the financial sector – 36% of all defaults disclosed by banks and leasing companies are paid already within the first month and almost 63% within the first three months.
Visit www.creditinfo.ee for more information.
