Open banking is a secure and safe way of sharing financial information such as bank account balances and transaction history. It was launched by the European Union (PSD2) to give consumers more control over sharing their financial information and data. Open banking and CRIF follow strict rules and stringent standards to keep your data secure.

Irish credit unions are introducing a new option to make sharing financial information, such as your balance and transaction history, easier and faster via open banking. Our open banking partner, CRIF Realtime Limited, allows you to securely share your financial information for loan eligibility without printing, photocopying, downloading, or emailing bank statements. We are doing this to save members time and hassle. When you connect your bank to CRIF Realtime Limited, it will securely send a point in time snapshot of your financial information to your credit union. You do not have to use open banking, but if you do, your loan application and your loan decision will be quicker.

CRIF Realtime Limited is an ‘Account Information Service Provider’ or AISP. An authorised AISP can ask for permission to access bank account data and use information to provide a service. In this case the service would be to verify your income details and recent transactional data.

CRIF Realtime Limited is authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland and licenced to operate in the Republic of Ireland.

When you apply for a loan with us, you will be given the option to share your account data with First Choice Credit Union using CRIF Realtime Limited. This means you are giving First Choice Credit Union access to your latest bank statements. You do not have to contact your bank and request a statement and then wait for it to be delivered. This is a much more secure way of sharing your financial details with First Choice Credit Union when applying for a loan.

The process of sharing your information through CRIF Realtime Limited takes just a few simple steps as shown below. CRIF Realtime Limited will never ask for additional security information. It will only ask you to sign into your online banking.

Your bank statements are securely shared with First Choice Credit Union. No printing or sending statements required. You can share statement with us in a couple of clicks. This results in a quicker turnaround time as we are granted instant access to your statements.

Open banking is a secure way of sharing financial information with other financial providers. It came into place in the European Union in 2018 to give consumers more control over their financial information. If you give your credit union open banking access, you can control what information you give and for how long.

Open banking is very safe and secure. Following the Payment Services Directive (PSD2), open banking was introduced in the EU in 2018 to make sharing financial information safer. Open banking technology follows strict rules and stringent standards to keep your data secure.

None of your data will be shared without your consent, and the only data shared is within the permissions that you set. When you consent and connect to CRIF Realtime Limited, it shares your financial information with your credit union automatically. You will only be sharing a point-in-time snapshot of your finances for the loan application process. You control what data is sent and for how long. At any time, you can revoke your consent.

You can choose to share information from any payment account that can be accessed through online banking with your credit union. A payment account is an account that can be used to make payments to third parties e.g. current, credit card, some deposit and e-money accounts.

Yes, consent can be revoked at any time. Your data is accessible to your credit union for a period of 90 days but only as part of the loan application process. Access can be revoked during that period if you wish by contacting CRIF CRIF Realtime Limited or your bank.

CRIF Realtime Limited will share your bank account information with First Choice Credit Union only after authorisation by you.

This is a new optional service. The choice is yours, but it will enhance your experience and the time taken to process your application.

There is no direct cost to you as a member if you avail of open banking.