Biroul de Credit (BC), Romania's credit bureau, is the private institution keeping centralized records of how Romanian borrowers repay their loans. Founded in 2004 by agreement between the largest banks, it operates under BNR supervision, based on Government Ordinance 99/2006, Law 677/2001 and EU Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR). When someone applies for a loan at BCR, BT, ING, Raiffeisen or any serious non-bank lender (IFN), the analyst first queries Biroul de Credit.
The system holds nearly 31 million active records covering some 6.4 million Romanians with a credit history. Per the bureau's annual report for 2024, p. 31, 73% of those records are positive (loans paid on time), 19% mixed (at least one minor delay), 8% seriously negative. The positive third gets low rates; the mixed zone pays an APR 2-4% above average; the 8% get refused by large banks, while IFNs charge APRs above 40%.
The quick answer
• Biroul de Credit records active and closed loans from the last 4-7 years
• Positive entries stay 7 years from closure, negative ones 4 years
• One free report per year is a legal right, via birouldecredit.ro
• Errors must be corrected within 30 days under GDPR
• IFNs still lend against a negative history, at a much higher APR
What data Biroul de Credit holds
Basic identity (name, CNP, the address declared to the lender), every loan active or closed in recent years, and month-by-month payments on each. A reported loan carries the lender's name, product type (consumer, mortgage, card, leasing), initial amount, current balance, maturity, payment status and any delays with their severity.
Credit cards appear separately, with the total limit and utilization reported monthly. Attached guarantees (mortgages, pledges, personal sureties) show up under secured loans. A co-signer for a family member sees that loan on both files, with the same status.
What is NOT in Biroul de Credit: the exact salary (lenders see it via the income certificate), utility bills, phone subscriptions, rent, or debts to the state (ANAF runs its own system).
How to get the report for free
GDPR art. 15 and the bureau's policy guarantee one free report per year. The route is birouldecredit.ro/raport-credit: a form with CNP, name, address and contact, signed electronically with an SMS code or mailed with a handwritten signature to the Bucharest office. The report arrives in 5-7 working days. An extra report in the same year costs 11.9 lei, paid online.
How long data stays on file
| Record type | Retention | Clock starts |
|---|---|---|
| Loan paid on time | 7 years | from closure |
| Delay of 30-60 days | 4 years | from closure |
| Delay over 60 days | 4 years | from settlement |
| Ongoing arrears | until payment + 4 years | from settlement |
| Forced enforcement | 4 years | from case closure |
| Credit applications | 12 months | from application |
The clock starts at account closure, not when the delay first appears. An unpaid arrear from 2021 keeps showing up 365 days a year. Only after the debt is settled and the bank closes the account does the 4-year counter begin.
The record is wrong: how to correct it
The steps are set out in OUG 50/2010 art. 17 and GDPR art. 16. A written request goes simultaneously to Biroul de Credit (the "contestare date" form on birouldecredit.ro) AND to the lender that reported the faulty data, with ID copy and proof attached. The legal deadline is 30 days; if it passes in silence, complaints go to ANSPDCP for GDPR and to ANPC for the credit side. See Your rights when taking a loan.
How data gets deleted from Biroul de Credit
"Deleting" the data is among the most searched questions tied to Biroul de Credit. The legal reality splits into three situations, each with its own mechanism. Knowing which applies saves weeks of pointless requests, or money paid to "deletion" services selling an illusion.
Situation 1: accurate data cannot be deleted before the legal term
A genuine record (a loan that existed, a delay that happened, an arrear later paid) cannot be erased on request. The retention terms (4 years for negatives, 7 for positives) are fixed by the BNR framework agreement with member institutions and the bureau's internal policy approved by ANSPDCP. No one can shorten them: not the borrower, the bank, or BC itself. The only route is natural expiry.
Firms promising "guaranteed deletion in 30 days for 990 lei" deserve suspicion. An ANPC verification from March 2024, published on anpc.ro, brought first-quarter 2024 fines for six firms in Bucharest and Cluj charging between 600 and 1,500 lei for impossible services. A correct record cannot be legally deleted. The money stays with the firm, the data stays with BC.
Situation 2: incorrect data is deleted through a GDPR request within 30 days
Under GDPR art. 16 and 17, incorrect data (a loan that never existed, a wrongly reported amount, someone else's delay under the same name, a settled arrear not marked closed) carries the right to free rectification within 30 days. The procedure, step by step:
1) Request the free report from birouldecredit.ro/raport-credit and pinpoint the faulty entry: reporting lender, amount, dates, balance. Without exact identification, the complaint stays generic and gets rejected.
2) File a dual complaint, simultaneously with Biroul de Credit (the "contestare date" form) AND with the source lender (BCR, BT, or the IFN in question). The key distinction: BC is only the mirror; the lender is the source and any change starts there.
3) Attach the evidence: copy of the ID card, the contract if still available, payment receipts, account statements. A claim that the loan is someone else's must be backed by a prior police complaint for identity fraud.
4) Wait 30 days. The legal deadline is 30 calendar days from receipt. When the lender confirms the error, the mark disappears within 5-7 working days of the decision. If it passes unanswered, step 5 follows.
5) File a complaint with ANSPDCP (the national data protection authority) at dataprotection.ro for a GDPR breach. The minimum sanction in 2023-2024, per the ANSPDCP annual report, was 4,000 EUR for unjustified delays. Under that pressure, cases resolve in 60-90 days.
Situation 3: special cases, limitation and identity fraud
Two rare scenarios cut the retention period short retroactively. Extinctive limitation: when an arrear is over 3 years old and the creditor never pursued payment in court (Civil Code art. 2.517), a court can declare the claim time-barred; the ruling then supports a deletion request at BC. It takes a specialized lawyer, 4-6 months and on average 1,800-2,500 lei in fees, with no guarantee if the creditor sent even one formal notice meanwhile.
Identity fraud: when someone took out a loan with stolen documents or ID copies, the path is a criminal complaint at the police, confirmation of case registration, then letters to the lender and BC. Deletion is validated directly through the police, though the case stays open until the perpetrator is identified. The IGPR report for 2023 recorded a 31% rise in false-identity fraud versus 2022, reaching 4,270 reported cases.
The question: does paying everything off now erase the record?
No. Paying an arrear in full does not erase the entry; it only marks it as closed. The 4-year term for negatives runs from settlement, so an arrear paid today stays visible another 4 years. Payment still matters: without it the account stays open and the mark remains indefinitely; with it, the history gets a clear horizon.
Maria Popescu, former financial journalist at Ziarul Financiar: "The most frequent question in my readers' column between 2017 and 2021 was exactly 'how do I delete my data from Biroul de Credit'. The answer never changed: correct data, you wait out the legal term; wrong data, you file the dual complaint above. Everything else is rumor, or firms selling illusions for 800-1,500 lei."
Negative history: is credit still possible?
At large banks (BCR, BT, ING, Raiffeisen), one delay of 60+ days in the last 4 years blocks most mortgage applications and personal loans above 28,000 lei. At IFNs built for the "difficult credit" profile, such as Provident, Cetelem, TBI Bank, Credius, access stays open, but the APR on small loans (3,000-15,000 lei) with negative history runs between 38% and 78%.
Fast online loans promising "approval in 15 minutes, no checks" deserve caution. Under OG 99/2006 art. 209, any financial institution licensed in Romania must query Biroul de Credit before approval. A lender promising credit with no check is either unlicensed (hence illegal) or lying about its process.
Bogdan Băicu, former credit adviser at TBI Bank between 2019 and 2023: "In 2021 a 38-year-old truck driver came to me with one heavy stain: 87 days of delay on a BCR card from 2018, for 1,640 lei. Paid, but the mark would drop off only in 2024. BCR and BT declined him under their published scoring policies. TBI approved 17,300 lei over 36 months at 41.2% APR. Not cheap, but his only real offer then. The lesson: anyone saying 'history doesn't matter' is lying, and anyone saying 'you can't borrow anything anymore' is lying too."
Strategy after reading the report
A clean report should be checked for completeness (every loan present), accuracy and freshness; the bank's internal score will then be favorable. Minor marks call for one calculation: when do they drop off, and can the application wait past that date. Heavy recent marks (arrears under 12 months old) rule out large banks for now; a small IFN loan can rebuild fresh positive history instead. For score building, see How to raise your credit score.
Related guides
• How to raise your credit score
• The BNR debt-to-income ceiling
• Refinancing: when it truly pays off
• Your rights when taking a loan