Creditor (kreditor)
Also known as obligee, holder of the claim, petitioning creditor, fordringshaver, kreditgiver, rekvirent
The creditor is the party that is owed the money — the holder of the claim.
In practice
The creditor is you: the party that delivered the goods or the service and is still waiting for the payment. In legal Danish it is fordringshaver (holder of the claim); in the bailiff’s court (fogedretten) it is rekvirent (the petitioner) — one role, three words.
The creditor can change along the way. If the claim is sold or assigned, the creditor role goes with it, and the debtor must pay the new owner of the claim. That is why an assignment must be notified to the debtor: if he pays the old creditor in good faith, he is discharged.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- Assuming the creditor role can be shared. If you hand a case to a debt collection agency, you are still the creditor. The agency recovers on your behalf — the claim is yours the whole way, unless it has been bought from you.
- The creditor changes without notice to the debtor. Without notification (denuntiation), the debtor can pay the wrong party with discharging effect.