On April 3, 2023 the television program Radar paid attention to the power of the Bureau Krediet Registratie (BKR). The BKR gets into an argument with television judge Mr. Frank Visser and lawyer Deepak Thakoerdien of Dynamite Netherlands.
The program featured some duped people who were unaware of their negative registration with BKR, which prevented them from buying a house. Alexander also told his story. He was personally harassed by the BKR because he had won a lawsuit against them. In retaliation, the BKR registered him with a code 9, preventing him from taking out loans.
Also speaking was journalist Camil Driessen of the NRC. He told about a mysterious website called Dynamiet that competed with Dynamiet Netherlands. Later it turned out that the PR agency of the BKR was behind this site in order to discredit Dynamiet Netherlands and to mislead consumers.
Presenter Antoinette Hertsenberg asked the BKR director critical questions, but he denied all allegations. At the end of the broadcast, Mr. Frank Visser and Deepak Thakoerdien were interviewed. They disagree with the practices of BKR and have therefore established a foundation. Through this foundation, they will take steps to improve BKR policy. In addition, the foundation works as a hotline for aggrieved people.
In the broadcast, three people told of being registered with the BKR with a negative code without their knowledge. Unfortunately, this happens more often. According to BKR rules, banks, lenders and collection agencies are not always obliged to inform consumers. With a light code there is an obligation to report, but not with a heavy code. Dynamite Netherlands does not agree with this and we are convinced that this violates the AVG (the Privacy Act).
Alexander asked the BKR to remove his codes, but the BKR refused. Alexander went to court and won the case. From then on, the BKR made things difficult for him by registering a fabricated code 9 in his name. With Dynamite's help, Alexander went to court again and won again. The BKR removed the code 9 and reinstated the old codes. Alexander went to court a third time and won again. The BKR appealed. According to the BKR, the code 9 represents a "legal conflict."
From one day to the next, a website called Dynamite appeared, spending a lot of money to compete with the real Dynamite Netherlands. Through this site, consumers were given false advice that would prevent them from challenging their registration. In addition, the site tried to discredit the real Dynamite Netherlands. The NRC revealed that the BKR's PR agency was behind this site, and all indications are that the BKR commissioned it.
Peter van den Bosch, the director of BKR, denied all allegations. When presenter Antoinette Hertsenberg asked him whose interests he was representing, he did not want to be transparent. After all, BKR represents the interests of its clients: banks, collection agencies and financial institutions.
According to the BKR, code 9 represents a ''legal conflict.'' Hertsenberg asked him why he had registered this code.
Van den Bosch: ''The AVG law says that if you have a conflict with someone, you have to register it in the database, and that's exactly what we did.''
This is not true. In fact, the law says nothing at all about registering a conflict.
Antoinette Hertsenberg: ' 'The code 9 is not on your website?''
Peter van den Bosch:''That's nonsense, because that Code 9 has been in our regulations for a long time.''
Again, this is not true. This code has only been in the BKR's business regulations since February 2023. These regulations are not accessible to consumers. Alexander was registered with the controversial code 9 in December 2021. In addition, the code 9 has only been on the BKR website since April 7, 2023. Thus, the BKR posted the code 9 on its site after the broadcast in question.
Finally, the director told a confused story about the funding of the competing website. According to him, it was people from the debt relief community who had founded and funded the website. This story came across as very implausible.
Mr. Frank Visser thinks the BKR is no good. He also explains that the success rate in court is many times higher than at the Kifid. Deepak Thakoerdien thinks that the BKR should be supervised. He also explains that the Personal Data Authority should take care of this.
Visser and Thakoerdien have established a foundation whose mission is to get a fairer system. Through this foundation, they will lobby and possibly start legal cases against BKR and parties that do not act from the interest of the consumer.
The foundation also works as a hotline. Consumers can register and complain. But please note that the foundation does not handle individual cases. The foundation is not there to resolve your personal case. You can find the hotline here.
Do you have your financial affairs back in order and are you haunted by unnecessary registration? Then request a telephone interview right away. Within one working day you will usually know where you stand.
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