This is the English version of a Turkish article. The original, with further detail and linked petition templates, is at Kredi Notu ve Findeks Kaydı: Düzeltme ve İtiraz.
A credit score is built from the payment data banks share; where an entry is wrong, the first application is to the bank that reported it. That bank is obliged to correct its report. If it does not, both a data protection complaint and a claim for the loss suffered are open.
Your credit application was refused and your score was given as the reason. Looking into it, you find a loan you never took, or a debt you paid off years ago.
This article explains how credit records are built, how to object to a wrong entry, and when the bank is liable.
How a Credit Score Is Built
Credit records are held through the Risk Centre established under Article 73 of the Banking Act and the Credit Bureau.
Banks and financial institutions report information about their customers' credit relationships to those systems, and the score is calculated from those reports.
What affects it: payment regularity, the number of days in arrears, how much of the available credit and card limits is used, the length of the credit relationship, the number of open accounts, and how often new applications are made.
One important point: records are not deleted automatically. Debts paid off continue to show as closed; the effect of adverse entries fades over time, but the entry remains.
So ignore anyone who offers, for a fee, to “delete your credit record”: apart from entries that are untrue, deletion is not possible.
How to Object to a Wrong Entry
1. Obtain your report. Get your credit risk report and establish which institution reported which entry.
2. Apply to the institution that reported it. The power to correct lies with the bank or financial institution that made the report. The Credit Bureau and the Risk Centre cannot change reported data on their own.
Apply in writing, enclosing payment receipts, the closing letter, and any release you hold.
3. If you get no answer, go to the regulator. Where the bank does not resolve it, a complaint may be made to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency. Where the matter is a consumer transaction, the consumer arbitration committee or the consumer court is also open.
4. The data protection route. Credit records are personal data. Under Article 11 of Act no. 6698 you have the right to require personal data processed incompletely or wrongly to be corrected, and the correction to be notified to third parties it was transferred to.
If the application to the data controller produces nothing, a complaint may be made to the Personal Data Protection Board. The periods: the controller answers within thirty days; the complaint to the Board must be made within thirty days of learning the answer, and in any event within sixty days of the application.
| Step | Where | Period / note |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Obtain the report | The credit report service or your banking app | Shows the source of the error |
| 2. Written application to the bank | The institution that reported it | A request to correct |
| 3. Personal data request | The data controller | Answer within 30 days |
| 4. Complaint to the Board | The Personal Data Protection Board | 30 days from the answer |
| 5. Consumer application | Arbitration committee / consumer court | Depending on the monetary threshold |
| 6. Claim for damages | The civil court | For the loss suffered |
A debt already paid still showing as open is a common error; keep the payment receipt and the letter confirming that nothing is owed.
Is the Bank Liable?
A wrong report is not only an entry to be corrected; it can cause loss.
Where a wrong entry meant your credit application was refused, you had to borrow at a higher rate, or you missed a commercial opportunity, those losses can be claimed.
The basis is tort and breach of contract. Where personality rights have been infringed, non-pecuniary damages may also be claimed — damage to commercial reputation falls within that.
For proof: the refusal letters, documents showing the interest difference on the alternative borrowing, the correspondence, and the record of your request to correct.
Article 11/1(ğ) of Act no. 6698 also gives a person who suffers loss through unlawful processing the right to claim compensation.
Situations That Come Up Often
- A loan you guaranteed showing on your record. A guarantee appears on your risk record, and the principal debtor's arrears affect your score.
- A loan taken in your name. Where credit was obtained in your name with false documents, that is fraud: report it to the prosecutor, object to the bank in writing, and bring a claim for a negative declaration.
- A paid debt showing as open. Ask for a closing letter and require the reporting institution to update it.
- A restructured debt showing as in arrears. Produce the restructuring agreement and ask for the correction.
- A deceased relative's record. If you renounced the inheritance, produce the decision and ask for the record to be corrected.
The second is the most serious: where credit was taken in your name, a claim for a negative declaration should be brought to establish that the debt is not yours, with a request to stay any enforcement against security.
The Credit Bureau cannot change data reported to it. Apply in writing to the institution that made the report, with the payment receipts and closing letter attached — and if nothing happens, use the data protection route and, where there is loss, claim damages.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a bad credit record be deleted?
Only where the entry is untrue. Records are not deleted automatically; closed debts continue to show as closed, and the effect of adverse entries fades with time. Anyone charging a fee to “delete” a record is not offering something real.
Who can correct a wrong entry?
Only the bank or financial institution that reported it. The Credit Bureau and Risk Centre cannot change reported data themselves.
What if the bank does not respond?
Complain to the banking regulator, use the personal data route — the controller must answer within thirty days and a complaint to the Board follows — and use the consumer arbitration committee or court where the matter is a consumer transaction.
Can I claim for the loss?
Yes, where the wrong entry caused a refusal, a higher interest rate or a lost opportunity, and for non-pecuniary damages where reputation was harmed. Keep the refusal letters and the correspondence.
Someone took a loan in my name — what do I do?
Report the fraud to the prosecutor, object to the bank in writing, and bring a claim for a negative declaration, asking to stay any enforcement against security.