A credit score is the banking system's grade for how likely a borrower is to pay installments on time. A higher score means lower rates, larger amounts, approval in hours rather than days. In Romania, Biroul de Credit (Romania's credit bureau) keeps the central record; banks and non-bank lenders (IFNs) check it before deciding anything. Alongside it sits the Central Credit Register (CRC), run by the BNR, tracking bank loans with balances above 22,000 lei, plus each lender's internal scoring model.
According to the Biroul de Credit annual report for 2024, p. 23, only 31% of Romanian applicants check their report before applying. The other 69% discover errors or problems only after a rejection. Not a marginal detail: it is how a good score stays buried under an unverified entry.
The score does not arrive raw. Every lender computes an internal score with its own model, on the same Biroul de Credit data plus extra details: income, job tenure, age, location. Models vary. The heaviest factors are the same everywhere: payment history, current debt burden, card utilization, age of credit accounts, product mix, recent applications.
The quick answer
Raising the score over 3-6 months: pay everything on time (factor #1), keep card utilization under 30% of the limit, settle a small active loan if one exists, request the free Biroul de Credit report, fix errors, avoid multiple applications. For a mortgage 6-12 months away, start now, not two weeks before applying. One delay past 30 days can cost 60-100 points and stays on record 4-7 years.
What to know
• On-time payments are by far the most important factor
• A debt-to-income ratio under 40% is the BNR ceiling for consumer loans
• Multiple applications within a month lower the score temporarily
• Biroul de Credit provides one free report check per year
• Changes take 1-24 months to become visible
The factors that really matter, in order
Maria Popescu, former financial journalist at Ziarul Financiar, seven years covering consumer credit: “I spoke with dozens of risk analysts at BCR, BT, ING and Raiffeisen between 2018 and 2024. The answer was the same everywhere: the heaviest factor is payment history, followed by the debt-to-income ratio. The rest, account age, utilization, product mix, contribute 30-35% combined. People worry about things that matter little while neglecting the factor that drives 50% of the decision.”
Romanian scoring models weight factors roughly like this: payment history 35-42%, current debt burden 18-24%, card and active-limit utilization 12-18%, average account age 8-12%, product mix (consumer, mortgage, card) 5-8%, recent applications 3-7%. Figures are indicative, each lender runs its own algorithm, but the ranking holds.
Five things that make a real difference
1) Pay installments on time
The most important factor by a wide margin. One delay past 30 days can drop the score 60-100 points and stays on record 4 to 7 years. An automatic payment a day or two before the due date is cheap insurance.
A common misconception: the due date is not the day a payment leaves the phone but the day the money sits in the lender's account. A transfer sent on the 15th lands on the 16th or 17th. Build in a margin.
2) Keep the debt-to-income ratio under 40%
BNR Regulation 17/2012, last amended through Regulation 6/2022, caps debt-to-income at 40% of net monthly income for consumer loans, 45% for mortgages. Above that, the bank rejects the application, legally. Under 35% is ideal: a stronger profile, cheaper rates.
How the ratio is calculated and what counts toward it: BNR debt-to-income ratio.
3) Watch the number of applications in a short window
Every application at a bank or IFN leaves a hard inquiry in the record. One or two per month barely register. Five in two months reads as “credit shopping”: the score dips 5-15 points temporarily and rejection odds rise visibly.
Bogdan Băicu, former broker at Kiwi Finance, later credit advisor at TBI: “I had a client in 2019 who wanted a 32,500 lei loan and visited a different institution daily. Seven applications, seven rejections, in two weeks. His score fell from 642 to 587 in 15 days. He then waited four months before applying seriously. Compare on aggregators, pick 1-2 offers, apply with precision.” The rule I repeat to readers at Kreditano: the perfect offer does not exist, only a good enough one at the right moment.
4) Don't suffocate the credit card limit
A card with an 8,000 lei limit and a constant 7,500 lei balance signals poor money management. The ideal is utilization under 30%: at an 8,000 limit, under 2,400 lei at the monthly reporting date to Biroul de Credit. Two routes: cut the balance below 30% before the reporting date, or request a limit increase and leave the room untouched.
The second option sounds paradoxical, but it works. A 16,000 lei limit with 2,400 lei in use means 15% utilization, and the system rewards it with a score bonus. The trap is spending the new room.
5) Check the free annual report
Biroul de Credit grants one free request per year, online at birouldecredit.ro or via the form on ghiseul.ro. Under the GDPR (EU Regulation 2016/679), every person may access the data, correct errors and request deletion under the conditions set by law. Mistakes are common: I corrected records for clients at TBI, loans repaid two years earlier still showing active, wrong amounts, due dates that were not theirs.
How long before the change shows, concretely
Based on the models most used in Romania, realistic horizons:
| Action | Impact | Visible in |
|---|---|---|
| On-time payments on existing loans | +15 to +35 points | 1-3 months |
| Paying off a small active loan | +10 to +25 points | 2-4 months |
| Cutting card utilization below 30% | +20 to +40 points | 1-2 months |
| Correcting an error in the report | +30 to +120 points | 30-90 days |
| New history, no prior credit | built from zero | 12-24 months |
| A single delay over 30 days | -60 to -100 points | immediate, recovery in 24-48 months |
On-time payments show in 1-3 months. Reduced exposure (an emptied card, a small loan repaid) shows in 3-6 months. A fresh history needs 12-24 months to support a serious loan such as a mortgage.
How to correct an error in the report
The steps come from OUG 50/2010 and the GDPR. For a loan that is not the borrower's, a wrong amount or an abnormal due date:
Step 1. Send a written request to Biroul de Credit (the form is on birouldecredit.ro), attaching a copy of the identity card. The legal response deadline is 30 days, under GDPR art. 12.
Step 2. Send an identical request at the same time to the lender that reported the wrong data (bank or IFN); it must correct at the source, not just at the bureau.
Step 3. If nothing moves within 30 days, two parallel routes remain: a complaint to ANSPDCP (the national data protection authority) on the GDPR side and one to ANPC on the credit side. See Your rights when taking out a loan.
Common mistakes that quietly damage the score
The old card closed abruptly. The age of the history counts. A card held for 8 years contributes positively even when unused. Closing it erases the reported age.
The forgotten co-debtor. Anyone who signed as guarantor for a relative's loan carries those installments too. If the relative pays late, the guarantor's score falls. An annual look at the report catches forgotten old obligations.
The outdated address. It seems minor, but a lender that cannot deliver a payment notification will still apply penalties nobody saw. Address, phone, e-mail: keep them current with every creditor.
Bogdan Băicu, former broker at Kiwi Finance and later credit advisor at TBI: “What I see most often: people aged 35-45, good income, a score of 480-520, who cannot understand the rejections. Pull the report and there it is: a 47-day delay on an Avon credit card from 2019 they forgot they had. One stain. According to the Biroul de Credit annual report for 2024, p. 23, only 31% of applicants check their own report before applying. The other 69% learn about problems only after the rejection.”
Related articles
• BNR debt-to-income ratio: how it is calculated
• Your rights when taking out a loan
• What DAE (APR) is and why it matters
• Calculators → credit score estimate
Frequently asked questions
Is each lender's score visible to the applicant? No, every bank's internal score is confidential; only the Biroul de Credit report, the raw data all lenders use, is accessible. Under OUG 50/2010 a rejecting lender must state the main reason, which indirectly shows what drags the score down.
Does a rejected application hurt the score? Only through the hard inquiry itself, not the rejection. Rejections are not reported to the bureau; the inquiry stays 12 months.
Does personal bankruptcy reset the score? In Romania, personal insolvency (Law 151/2015) is rarely used and its effects on the report last 5 years after closure. Not a reset, a deep stain.
How much does a 10-day delay cost? Delays under 30 days generally go unreported to Biroul de Credit. The bank charges an internal late fee, but no stain reaches the public history. Past 30 days the decline begins, past 60 it accelerates, past 90 the loan becomes “non-performing” and is reported with maximum severity.
Can a credit consultant “clean” a report? Caution. The only legal corrections target real errors. “Washing” a report through private firms is a dubious practice: the client pays for results that arrive anyway once the data legally expires. According to ANSPDCP, correcting genuine mistakes is a personal right, free of charge.
A six-month strategy before a major loan
For a mortgage or consolidation refinance planned 6-12 months out, preparation starts now:
Month -6 to -4. Request the Biroul de Credit report, find any error, open the correction process.
Month -6 to -3. Bring card utilization under 25%. Pay off the smallest active loan if fewer than 4-6 months remain on it.
Month -4 to -1. No new cards, no new credit applications. Let the old inquiries age out of the report.
Month -1. Check the report again. Estimate the score. Apply for the target loan.
For a rough estimate without a real bureau query, the Calculators → Credit score tool on Kreditano shows the starting position. It does not replace the official report but gives an idea before applying.
Biroul de Credit score vs the bank's internal score
A frequent question: “if my Biroul de Credit score is 632, why does the bank say I am below the threshold?”. The answer: the bureau score is only raw material. The bank applies its own internal model, weighing the same data with factors only it sees: job stability (tenure, contract type, sector), current account history, behavior on its own cards even non-credit ones, savings or deposits, length of the relationship.
The report figure is an indicator; the final decision belongs to the bank. Two banks can answer “approved” and “rejected” for the same amount, the same week, on the same Biroul de Credit report. No cause for panic, that is how the system works.
For the debt-to-income ratio that feeds directly into internal scoring, see BNR debt-to-income ratio. For the refinancing context, see Refinancing, when it is truly worth it.
Update after the BNR announcement of March 2026
Updated after the BNR announcement of 18 March 2026: the new Biroul de Credit methodology, phased in since January 2026, adds a coefficient for sustained card utilization above 70% of the limit. A card above 70% for 3 consecutive months now costs an extra 8-14 points on top of the existing impact. Practical move: pay it down in the coming months and hold it under 30%.