Income and credit worthiness

In some situations, organisations want to know if you can pay your bills before entering into an agreement with you. For example, if you want to rent a home or take out a loan. They are allowed to ask for your income data, or check your creditworthiness (credit check).

On this page

  1. General information

Because income data are sensitive personal data, organisations must handle them with due care.

Requesting income data

For example, you may be obliged to provide your income data to:

  • the housing association or letting agent if you want to rent a home;
  • your landlord if you want to object to the income-related rent increase;
  • the municipality if you want to qualify for a remission of municipal taxes.


You can read more about this at: Requesting data about your income.

Credit check

Do you want to take out a loan or mortgage, buy something in instalments or take out a mobile phone or energy contract? The company you want to do this with may first perform a credit check. This means it checks whether you are able to pay your bills.


The credit check may reveal, for example, that you have payment arrears with another company. In that case, the company may refuse you as a customer, or ask for an advance.

You can read more about this at: Checking your creditworthiness (credit check).

Quick answers

Can my employer transfer my personnel data to a bailiff?

Yes. If the judge determined that your wages will be attached, your employer is obliged to provide certain information about you to a bailiff.

If a bailiff asks for information, your employer can ask for the cause list number and the date of the judgment (of the wage attachment) before your employer provides the requested information.

Can I access my data at an organisation, or have them rectified or removed?

Yes, you can. If an organisation uses your personal data, you have a number of rights. This will ensure that you keep a grip on your personal data. These are the most important privacy rights:

Do you want to know what other rights you have? Check out Privacy rights under the GDPR.

What can I do if I have a question or complaint about the use of my personal data?

Always submit your questions or complaints to the organisation that uses your personal data first. Do you have a complaint and are you and the organisation unable to work it out together? Then you can lodge a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA).