BankID, Commfides, Buypass, and MinID are a type of electronic identifiers used to access various online services, including e-banking, tax services, access to your medical records, and government services such as online voting, e-tax returns, and more.
In simple terms, BankID, Commfides, Buypass and MinID are your personal electronic identifier attached to your personal number (Personnummer). The Personnummer is issued once and for life, as your personal number and the national demographic register (analogous to the TIN – individual tax number in Ukraine). This number contains absolutely all the information about you as a citizen living in Norway – your taxes, doctor visits, prescriptions, mobile phone number, police reports, credit rating, requests to the Migration Service (UDI), and much more.
In Norway, BankID is the most widespread among individuals. BankID is considered an important tool for ensuring the security of personal information and confirming the identity of users on the Internet in Norway. A person who registers with BankID is able to use Internet banking and other electronic services of the bank and the state without having to visit the institutions in person. It is also used to sign electronic documents, such as apartment lease agreements and other legal documents, as well as to open accounts with other banks without leaving home.
It is important to remember that a document signed with BankID has the same legal force as your physical signature by hand. Therefore, never share your personal BankID password with third parties or even your family. You are solely responsible for ensuring that only you have access to your digital signature. With BankID, you can apply for a loan or access information about your health status, etc. BankID can only be obtained from the Bank that services your current accounts (Sparebank1, DNB, EIKA, Nordea, etc.). Usually, when you register, you will receive a one-time password generator in the form of a keychain (kodebrikke) and you will be asked to set your personal password. Now you can install the BankID application on your smartphone and in this case you will not need to use the key fob. You will use BankID quite often and you need to get used to it
Buypass and Commfides are widely used by government employees to access internal systems (police, public healthcare workers, UDI, etc.), but are not widely used by the public. To use Buypass, you usually need additional equipment, such as a card reader and a card with a chip that is made in your name.
MinID is usually issued to persons who do not have a personal number (personnummer), or if the bank refused to issue a BankID for one reason or another. It allows you to use some government services online, but you can’t use it to log into an online bank or sign a document.
Here are some services you can use with BankID:
- Tax Service (Skatteetaten). Here you can see all your income, how much you pay in taxes, change your tax deduction card, and change your address of residence when you move https://www.skatteetaten.no/en/person/
- NAV. Here you can see all your social assistance accruals and payments, apply for benefits, and more https://www.nav.no
- HelseNorge. Your Personal Account in the Healthcare System. Prescriptions for medicines are recorded in your patient record, where you can order a European Health Card, see the contact details of your family doctor https://www.helsenorge.no/en/
