Who in the world is "CRIF"? CRIF is one of the two major credit reference agencies in Austria. Credit reference agencies collect data on everyone in Austria in order to assess their creditworthiness and ‘score’ people - without most people knowing about it. These scores are then sold to other businesses like banks, insurers, telecommunication providers, or online traders, etc. who want to assess the default risk for payments of their consumers.
Unlawful processing in our view. We have reason to believe that CRIF has unlawfully collected personal data from almost every adult in Austria. Several courts and the Austrian data protection authority have already found that CRIF has violated the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). These decisions are however not legally binding yet, because CRIF has appealed them.
Inaccurate scores? There is also reason to believe that CRIF's ‘scores’ may often be incorrect. This can lead to rejections of consumers by electricity providers, mobile phone operators or online shops. However, they often do not even know why they have been rejected - given that these scores are only exchanged between companies in the background.
Help us find out more! We want to investigate CRIF's non-transparent and possibly unlawful business practices, which in our view not only constitute unjustified invasions of privacy but can lead to unequal economic treatment and unjustified discrimination against people in important areas of life. If appropriate, we also intend to take them to court.
We are thus looking for people who live in Austria to take part in this two-step project:
Step 1 - Research: First, we want to find out if you are affected by (incorrect) CRIF scoring. To do this, we make use on your behalf of the consumer's right to data access against CRIF and request a copy of your data that CRIF has collected. We will then compare your data with the data of other participants.
This allows you to find out what CRIF stores about you and which companies have requested your data from CRIF. This step will be without costs for you. You also contribute to our comparative study to find out whether CRIF scores are statistically correct.
If CRIF does not provide us with your data in step 1 (see above) or does not provide it in full, we may also be able to assert claims for damages on your behalf.
Step 2 - Enforcement: If you are affected and we can identify violations, we may file a so-called ‘class action’ against CRIF and maybe some of its partners in court. This would aim at stopping their unlawful behaviour. You may also be entitled to damages for the violation of your data protection rights. If we take this step to ask for financial compensation too, you will need to join the "class action" separately - but this will only take a few clicks. Obviously we will offer this option first to people that joined the research step.
Who is noyb? noyb is a non-profit organisation and carries out this research and enforcement project at no financial risk for you. We are designated by the government in Austria as a ‘qualified entity’ and can therefore bring so-called "class actions".
Register now - we'll take care of the rest!