Get A Bank Account Without Credit Check

Is it possible to get a Bank account with bad credit score? It actually is. In this article you get to know the most relevant details on this topic.

What Is The Credit Score?

The principle of the credit score is simply explained: There are certain companies that create and store credit reports about citizens. It differs from country to country, if, how and where such information gets collected and is being made accessable.

In the US for instance, it’s certain credit report companies¹ that collect data about people in cooperation with other companies (such as banks, credit institutions or telephone companies or real estate companies). In Germany, for instance, the respective institution is called Schufa².

Those collected data can originate from things like:

• Current accounts
• mobile telephone contracts
• Accounts with retail companies
• credit cards
• open claims, which are outstanding against you
• affidavits you have made
• Insolvency proceedings that are going on against you

So companies such as banks ask these credit score companies how far a private individual or another company is creditworthy. And vice versa, the questioners are the type of companies that also pass on data to the credit score.

Creditworthiness is not a yes-or-no matter. The credit score is calculated on the basis of all the data it has collected about a person or a company, a so-called credit score.

For private individuals, this consists of a percentage between 0% and 100%. The higher the percentage, the greater the credit bureau's estimate of the probability that you will repay loans, leasing contracts or the like.

Why You Should Care About Your Credit Score

The credit check is not very popular with private individuals and small businesses. This is not only because you are rated, but also because in most cases you only become aware of them or your credit score if you do not apply for a loan or if a bank makes it difficult for you to open an account with traditional banks. This is the first reason why you should occasionally get involved with the subject.

Traditional banks usually offer a range of financial products that have to do with credits in one or the other way. Be it overdraft facilities with checking accounts or any kind of loan in general – such products always go hand in hand with credit checks of applicants since the bank not only earns interest with such loan products but also takes a certain amount of risk with new clients. Of course it happens again and again that people don't pay back their loans or get deeper and deeper into dept, and banks have to protect themselves from such customers.

If your credit score is bad for some reason, it's possible that traditional banks even won't give you a bank account anymore.

How You Can Check Your Credit Score Yourself

The second reason why the credit score is important for you is that everyone has the right to get information about their own credit score from the credit bureaus.
Once a year in Germany, for example, this is free of charge at the Schufa. Only if you want to see your credit score more than once, you have to pay for it.

You should also use this legally defined service. Because it happens again and again that the Credit Score data are incorrect or outdated. You can appeal against this to the Credit Score and the cooperation partner of the Credit Score who provided the respective information to the Credit Score.

The credit score entry must be deleted from the credit score if it is incorrect or outdated, and the cooperation partner who provided the information first can help.

Where You Can Check Your Own Credit Score in:

• UK:
  https://www.equifax.co.uk
  https://www.experian.co.uk/
• USA:
  https://www.usa.gov/credit-reports
• Germany:
  https://www.meineschufa.de/index.php
• UAE:
  https://www.aecb.gov.ae/credit-score

There are countries without such centralized credit score systems, e.g. France or the Netherlands. For other countries please check online if there is an official credit score system or not.

Why Do Some Banks Cooperate With The Credit Bureaus And Others Don't?

The credit bureaus advertise that they create trust. That sounds good, but unfortunately it is only true as long as you have a good credit score. Once you have failed to make your payments and therefore your score drops, the confidence of banks or companies to sign contracts with you is quickly gone.

The credit score has advantages for banks. They protect themselves from nasty surprises with a credit check. However, some banks do not cooperate with the credit score.

In particular, new banks in the Fintech industry are actively advertising the credit score. This may have something to do with the fact that the credit score service is not completely free of charge for cooperation partners or involves some technical effort.

The more important reason will often be a different one: the aim is to win customers. Of course, new banks are also trying to assess the risks when they enter into contracts with private customers, the self-employed or small businesses.

Often you get a bank account despite a bad credit score because you don't get a credit with your account or other securities are required from you before you get a credit despite a negative credit score from the bank.

Where can I get an account without a credit score query? Which banks cooperate with the credit offices?

Bank Account Without Credit Check At Bunq

Any self-employed or entrepreneur looking for a bank without credit score cooperation is in good hands with Bunq. The virtual bank does not need to perform credit score queries, as it does not offer credit products in the name of its Internet banking services.

The Dutch FinTech company Bank Accounts offers international customers SEPA bank accounts with IBAN and associated debit cards. The whole thing can be compared to a prepaid system. Customers do not receive any overdrafts and only what is in the account can be spent. So Bunq doesn't care if you used to have any arrears at other institutions.

No Credit Check At PaySera

PaySera also does not carry out credit checks on its customers. Like other credit score-free accounts, this is possible with PaySera because you only get one debit card for your business account, i.e. you can only spend the money that is actually in your account.

Based in Lithuania, FinTech has been in existence since 2004. The company's banking services are now more extensive than ever before in its own history: customers from all over the world receive SEPA bank accounts with IBAN numbers here to make cheap international transfers.

There are private accounts as well as corporate bank accounts. Only bank cards from PaySera can only be sent to residents within Europe. In addition, FinTech offers an intelligent Payment Gateway for Online Shops and much more.

PaySera is one of the best virtual banks for online entrepreneurs, freelancers and people with online shops.

Credit Score and ePayments

Also with ePayments you get both a private and a business account without having to perform a credit check. The Fintech company also promises not to send any data to the credit bureaus.

In concrete terms, this means that you can open a business account with ePayments if your credit score is bad, for example if you have already filed for bankruptcy because of another business and this is noted in your credit score.

Bank Account With No Credit Check With Revolut

Revolut could gain a certain degree of popularity during the last couple of years, being now one of the best-known FinTech banking app on the market. Especially internet entrepreneurs and freelancers are attracted to the banking app since it’s perfectly tailored to their needs.

Revolut also offers a virtual bank account without performing a credit check or without your entries being queried as part of a credit check. Revolut gives you a Mastercard debit card, which you must load before you can use it to pay or withdraw money. However, Revolut explicitly reserves the right in its privacy policy to pass on your data to third parties who will check your creditworthiness.

Credit Score and N26

N26 do credit checks: This virtual bank is also focused on a broader customer base which includes private individuals as well as (rather small) companies. As the Internet Bank also offers credit products, they actually do credit checks which is natural in this case. For this reason, N26 has been working with the Credit Score for some time. The exact conditions can be found at N26 on the website.

Links & Sources

[1] https://www.usa.gov/credit-reports
[2] https://www.schufa.de