SIC fines company for illegally reporting a citizen to a credit bureau

The Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC), in its role as national authority for personal data protection, sanctioned the company MARKETING PERSONAL S.A. with a fine of $39,000 USD for: failing to timely respond to a citizen's request; not previously inform the citizen that she would be reported as defaulter to a financial information center; not having proof of the existence of the reported obligation; and not having evidence of the citizen's authorization to report it.

The decision was made through Resolution 10999 of March 2021, and derived of the complaint of a citizen who stated that her identity was supplanted because she never signed any contract with the company MARKETING PERSONAL S.A., the same company that reported her as defaulter.

The citizen also stated that she submitted a petition to such company, which was answered extemporaneously and incompletely, omitting to make reference to substantive issues, since the company never indicated the exact reason for the negative report.

Additionally, the report of negative information to CIFIN and EXPERIAN was illegal because such company did not comply with the legal obligation to previously communicate the person to be reported.

It was verified that the reported information was not checkable because there was no evidence of the existence of the obligation and that the reported citizen was the one who effectively contracted a debt with MARKETING PERSONAL S.A. Finally, the sanctioned company also did not show proof of the citizen's authorization to be reported to CIFIN or EXPERIAN.

Appeals for reconsideration may be filed against the decision.