At the end of 2018, the North Rhine-Westphalia State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (LDI NRW) issued a Guide to data processing in debt collection companies published, noting, among other things,
- that the disclosure of personal data by the creditor to a debt collection agency is based on Art. 6 (1) f DSGVO (legitimate interests);
- that a debt collection agency may obtain creditworthiness information from a credit agency on the same legal basis;
- that a debt collection agency may report unpaid receivables to a credit agency, although Germany continues to have its own regulation in this regard (§ Section 31 (2) BDSGThe registration presupposes that the existence of the claim has been substantiated.)