§ 5-3. Duty to inform during the credit assessment

This section governs what the bank must tell you while it is assessing your application. The first duty is to tell you that you must provide information and documentation for the assessment and the offer to be made. The bank must also inform you of the consequence of cheating: if it later turns out that you knowingly withheld or falsified information, the bank can cancel the agreement under § 3-51 first paragraph letter a.

This right to cancel is strict. Otherwise, a consumer (forbruker) can only face cancellation if they have first been given a two-week deadline to put things right. That requirement does not apply to the ground for cancellation that consists of knowingly withholding or falsifying information.

If the application is granted, the result of the credit assessment must be communicated to the customer before the money is paid out or the goods are handed over. If the application is refused through automated processing, the bank must without undue delay notify you of the refusal and of whether it is based on a database search. The customer must then also be told the result of the search and be given further information about the database. Beyond this, the bank has no duty to give reasons for the refusal, except what § 3-29 requires. The Government can issue rules on how the result is to be communicated.

Under § 3-29, the bank must already before the agreement inform you that a credit assessment will be carried out, and that you have the right to be told the result of a database search if the service is refused on that basis. The pieces of information are therefore connected: first information before the agreement, then notice of the outcome.

This section is part of a chain. The assessment itself is set out in § 5-2, and under § 5-4 the bank may only lend to a consumer if it is likely that the customer will be able to pay. The duty to explain is set out in § 5-1, and the consequences of breaches are set out in § 5-5. § 6-1 refers to this section for personal guarantees (kausjon). Example: The bank refuses an application after automatic processing based on a database search. The customer must then be told that the search was the basis and what it showed.