Debt collection
In May 2019, a comprehensive investigation was launched and the relevant authorities were notified. Since then, we have been working to understand the causes of the errors and to ensure that we rectify these. We will naturally repay the amount overcollected to the affected customers, but we will also compensate customers for the period during which they should have had the money at their disposal. Moreover, the outstanding debt will be adjusted in a large number of cases, and we are still working to recalculate all customer cases in which the original data errors may necessitate an adjustment of the outstanding debt.
During our investigation of the original data errors, we have unfortunately become aware of a number of potential additional issues that we are still investigating. Customers who may be affected by these will be informed on an ongoing basis. While we continue to investigate the matter, the repayment of debt has been suspended for all cases to minimise the risk of overcollection. Moreover, no interest will accrue until each case has been resolved. Until we have clarity of their outstanding debt again, we have also chosen to withdraw our reports of debt collection customers to the RKI credit reference register, where the amount of the outstanding debt is uncertain.
Not until we have completed our reviews and have made the necessary adjustments in our systems can we accurately calculate the outstanding debt and provide final clarification to the customers. Unfortunately, it is currently the assessment that with the new issues identified, customers would not get clarification before the end of 2024, and with a risk of this work extending into 2025, if further issues are identified.
We have also initiated preliminary reviews of the debt collection systems in our other markets. Preliminary reviews indicate that issues similar to some of the issues identified in Denmark potentially are also present in Finland, Sweden and Norway. We will complete extended analyses of the debt collection systems, and in that way clarify the potential action towards affected customers.