What does it mean to be registered as a bad payer?

You may have received a letter stating that you are registered (payment remark) as a bad payer in a credit information register, such as RKI or the Debitor List. This is of course unpleasant - perhaps first and foremost because a registration shows that you have financial challenges. It also presents you with a number of practical challenges, as registration will often mean you can't take out bank loans, make new subscriptions, buy things on installments or have a purchasing card or petrol card. You may also run the risk of tradesmen not wanting to work for you.

If you run a business, registration can obviously be very problematic.

Only one way to go

In principle, there is only one way out: full repayment of your debt. If you are unable to pay, you will be registered for up to five years - or as long as there is an outstanding balance.

It is you as a person - or your company - that is registered, but the registration itself is always linked to a specific case/debt item. This means that you can be registered on several cases/debt items, and that the five-year statute of limitations can be shifted so that you will actually be registered for more than five years.

Deregistration doesn't mean that the debt is gone; it just means that it's no longer visible that you have an outstanding debt.

It typically takes between 24 and 36 hours from the time you pay off your debt until you are deleted from the register.

Once you are deleted from the registry, you are completely erased in the sense that there is no history showing that you were ever registered.

Requirements for registration

There are a number of conditions that must be met before you can be registered as a bad payer in an open register. Firstly, the debt must exceed DKK 1,000. Secondly, you must have failed to settle your debt despite several requests to do so, and finally, there must be a so-called foundation in the case - either a signed debt declaration or a judgment from the bailiff court.

There is also a closed RKI register. Here you can be registered if your debt, excluding interest and fees, exceeds DKK 200. At the same time, at least two reminders must have been sent and you must be warned that you will be registered if you do not start paying off your debt. In addition, there must be no disagreement about the debt.

In the closed RKI, only you, the creditor (the company you owe money to) and the debt collector collecting on behalf of the creditor can see the registration.