The purpose of the ZEK (Association for the Management of a Central Office for Credit Information) is to manage a reporting and information organisation on prospective credit, leasing and credit card customers as well as on the obligations and creditworthiness of borrowers, lessees and cardholders. In addition, official publications from the cantonal gazettes are stored.
Only the members of the association have access to the data collection for the purpose of checking the creditworthiness of their own borrowers, account holders and prospective borrowers as well as applicants for credit cards, cheque cards, ATM cards, account openings, conclusion of contracts, etc. The members of the association are not permitted to use the data for any other purpose. Any use of ZEK data for other purposes is prohibited.
- There is no lending without ZEK inquiry
- Positive, neutral and negative messages are stored
- Only members from the financial services sector have access to the database.
The following data is stored in the Zek database:
Surname and first name of the borrower, date of birth, residential address, occupation, marital status
Information on credit applications (open, rejected, current, expired contracts)
Leasing contracts, credit cards (blocked or withdrawn cards)
Payment history (credit rating code)
Credit bureaus hoard millions of pieces of information about consumers. But by no means all the data stored is correct - with sometimes serious consequences for customers.
Have you ever applied for a bank loan? Is your car leased? Do you have a credit card?
Anyone who answers yes to at least one of these three questions can assume that information about their person is stored at at least one credit bureau. Among the largest data collectors is the Central Office for Credit Information.
The ZEK has only one goal: it enables the affiliated financial institutions to check the creditworthiness of customers down to the last detail. There is no check on the accuracy of the entries in the database.
The consequences of such entries can be severe. In the best case, customers are no longer supplied by mail-order companies; in the worst case, they can neither lease a car nor obtain a credit card or bank loan. And all this without the people affected ever receiving a reason for the rejection.
If the information is incorrect, you can contact the lender company that initiated the ZEK entry and request that it be changed.
Everyone has the right to have incorrect data in the ZEK corrected. To have your data corrected, please contact the creditor who reported the data directly after you have received your database extract.
We will be happy to help you so that you can once again enjoy a good credit rating and thus become creditworthy again!
The most important ZEK codes:
- ZEK Code 01: Open credit application
- ZEK Code 02: Rejected credit application, retention period 2 years from rejection date
- ZEK Code 03: Slow payment with reminders, retention period 3 years, entry negative
- ZEK Code 04: Collection measures / debt collection, retention period 5 years, entry negative
- ZEK Code 05: Partial or total loss, retention period 5 years, no more credit possible
- ZEK Code 21: Blocked credit card, retention period 5 years, entry negative
- ZEK Code 22: Ongoing collection measures, retention period 5 years, entry negative
- ZEK Code 23: Partial or total loss, retention period 5 years, no more credit possible
Here are some more interesting links:
The Central Office for Credit Information (ZEK)
Request for information - application form (ZEK)
Deltavista - Request for information
Ktipp sample letter - How to check your data
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