Credit data: four rights you have against the credit database

Service page: Class actions and consumer claims lawyer.

A mortgage application was rejected, or the interest rate offered jumped without explanation. The first question is who holds the information on which the decision was made, and the answer surprises many people: not the bank, but the Bank of Israel.

The framework is the Credit Data Law. It is important to say what it is not: this is not a matter for the Consumer Protection Law, and there is no “credit rating section” there. Someone who tries to make arguments from the wrong place loses the rights that really exist. When the breach is systematic and affects many customers, the right route is a class action in a consumer matter on a cause of action under the Credit Data Law; the basis for filing it is the Second Schedule to the Class Actions Law, 5766-2006 (for example item 1, a claim against a dealer (a business), and item 3, against a banking corporation).

The first right: not to be in the database

“A customer may ask the Bank of Israel that the credit data about them not be included in the database… Where a customer has submitted a request for non-inclusion of data, the Bank of Israel shall not keep credit data about them that is transferred to the database after the date the request was submitted, and shall delete the customer’s identifying details from the database…”Credit Data Law, 5776-2016, section 22 — Nevo text (unofficial translation)

This is a right to opt out, subject to a qualification: a person about whom data clearly showing non-payment was transferred to the database may not submit such a request until three years have passed from the transfer (section 22(e)). Note the mechanism: the request works forward. It stops the keeping of data that arrives after the date it was submitted, and deletes identifying details already in the database. It does not delete history that was already provided to a third party. Amendment No. 6 to the Law (Sefer HaHukim 3570, 26 July 2026) changes the mechanism from 26 January 2027, unless its commencement is postponed by order: the Bank of Israel will stop providing the data, and the identifying details will be deleted only after a year from the request (section 22(b) as amended).

An example, step by step: a customer submits a request for non-inclusion on 1 March 2027, after Amendment No. 6 has come into force. From the date of the request, or from the date of actual non-inclusion if that is later, the Bank of Israel no longer provides their data, except to the parties the section permits, including the customer themselves. Only after a year, not before 1 March 2028, does the Bank of Israel stop keeping new data about them and delete the identifying details (section 22(b) as amended). If the customer withdraws the request before the year ends, the Bank of Israel resumes providing their data, including the data kept in the database until the request was submitted (section 22(c) as amended). And if data about non-payment was transferred about them after the request and within the year, the Bank of Israel resumes providing their data even though they did not withdraw it (section 22(e)(2)(a) as amended).

The second right: to stay in the database but block transfer

Section 30 offers a milder step: “A customer may ask the Bank of Israel that credit data about them that is included in the database not be provided for the purpose of preparing a credit report”. The data stays, but it does not flow out.

The difference between section 22 and section 30 is practical: leaving the database completely may be read in the market as a signal in itself. Blocking transfer keeps the situation static without deleting positive history that you may want to use in the future.

The third right: to see what is recorded about you

Section 38(a): “A customer is entitled to receive from the Bank of Israel a regular data summary report and a full data summary report.” Section 38(b) adds a requirement that makes things much easier: “the report shall be in plain and clear language”, and it must state, among other things, types of information that are not included in the information provided to a credit bureau.

This is the first step in any inquiry. Without the report there is no way to know whether the problem is wrong data, correct data that you want to explain, or simply the policy of that particular credit provider.

The fourth right: to correct

Section 56(a): “Where a customer believes that information about them included in the database is not correct, complete or accurate, they are entitled to apply to the Bank of Israel with a request to delete the information, complete it or correct it.”

The mechanism in sections 56(b)–(c) is the practical point: if an inquiry with the source of the information is needed, the Bank of Israel will note in the database that an inquiry process is under way regarding that information, and will contact the source of the information. This note is visible to those who receive the report, which means that submitting the request itself changes what the credit provider sees while the inquiry is under way.

The duty on the credit provider

Section 31(a) places an active duty on the other side: a credit provider that received a credit report in order to enter into a transaction, or received a report in order to ensure that the terms of a transaction are being met, and changed the terms of the credit transaction for the worse, must notify the customer of this immediately and give them the details of the credit bureau from which it received the report.

This is an easy point of leverage. If your interest rate was made worse and you did not receive such a notice, there is a breach here, and there is someone to ask for the name of the credit bureau so you can continue the inquiry.

Recommended order of steps

1. Ask the Bank of Israel for a data summary report under section 38, both regular and full.
2. Go over the data and identify what is wrong, missing or not accurate.
3. Submit a correction request under section 56, and make sure that an inquiry process has been noted.
4. If the terms were made worse, demand from the credit provider the notice and the details of the bureau under section 31.
5. Only after the picture is clear, consider whether to submit a request under section 30 or under section 22.

And finally, a clarification: the Law does not promise a particular rating and does not set a formula. What it gives is control: who sees, what is recorded, and what happens when what is recorded is not correct.

Frequently asked questions

Which law regulates credit rating in Israel?

The Credit Data Law, 5776-2016. The database is run at the Bank of Israel, not by the credit providers. This is not a matter for the Consumer Protection Law.

Can you get out of the database?

Section 22 of the Law allows a customer to ask the Bank of Israel that the credit data about them not be included in the database. After such a request, data transferred to the database after the date it was submitted will not be kept, and the identifying details already in it will be deleted. A milder alternative is section 30: a request that the data not be provided for the purpose of preparing a credit report.

How can I see what is recorded about me?

Section 38(a) provides that a customer is entitled to receive from the Bank of Israel a regular data summary report and a full data summary report. Section 38(b) adds that the report must be in plain and clear language. Under section 38(d) the report is provided without charge, on request, once a year; additional reports in the same year involve a payment.

What do you do when the information is wrong?

Section 56(a) gives a right to apply to the Bank of Israel with a request to delete information, complete it or correct it. Under section 56(b), if an inquiry with the source of the information is needed, the database will note that an inquiry process is under way regarding that information.