Purchasing, deactivating, rescheduling and cancelling travel products

Whether or not we will process your personal information depends on which travel product you have purchased.

You have several options for travelling with NS. You can choose to use a personal OV-chipkaart, an anonymous OV-chipkaart, an e-ticket, or a single-use ticket. If you choose to use a personal OV-chipkaart or an e-ticket, you will have to provide personal information such as your contact information, date of birth and banking information.

We will also need a passport photo for your OV-chipkaart, which lets us identify you when you're travelling with us. All information required to issue the OV-chipkaart is registered by us and by TransLink Systems B.V. If you consent, we will store your passport photo for a duplicate OV-chipkaart or a future card/carrier.

The OV-chipkaart contains an ID chip. This chip contains an electronic wallet with your balance and an 'OV-module.' The OV-module contains the information concerning your last 10 travel transactions, your last two top-up transactions, your travel product(s), any permissions, such as automatic top-up, and your date of birth.

Do you have or have you requested an NS-Business Card from NS Zakelijk? In that case, we will use your business details if possible. We may obtain this information from your employer.

We don't need any personal information if you wish to purchase an anonymous OV-chipkaart. If you want to stop using your anonymous OV-chipkaart and wish us to refund your current balance, we will use the necessary personal information, such as your contact details and your account number. In that case, you must provide the information yourself.

If you use the Samenreiskorting combined travel discount, we will process your name, the last four numbers of the season ticket holder's OV-chipkaart, and the travel companions. If you travel with a student travel product, we will not process the season ticket holder's name.

We do not process any personal data if you purchase a disposable ticket.

We use your personal data to deliver, deactivate or block travel products, including season tickets, travelling on balance or account and e-tickets, and for delivering travel product carriers, such as the OV-chipkaart. During the ordering process, we check whether the OV-chipkaart on which you want to order a product is still valid, and whether there are any conflicting products on the OV-chipkaart that may prevent you travelling on the NS product or on another carrier's product.

To purchase an NS Flex season ticket, you have to provide us with your phone number. NS may use your phone number if you fail to pay an invoice or do not do so on time. In that case, NS or one of its partners (Webhelp Nederland or BOS Incasso) may reach out to you by phone. To perform the credit check, your surname, initials, address, date of birth and country of birth are passed on to Focum. They need this information to properly verify your identity. As agreed by NS and Focum, this information will not be used to enrich Focum's database.

The basis for the processing is: entering into and executing an agreement

We need the data requested for OV-chipkaarten or personal e-tickets in order to enter into an agreement with you and to execute said agreement. If you do not provide this data, or if you are unwilling to do so, you cannot purchase an OV-chipkaart or  a personal e-ticket. In that case, you can opt for an anonymous OV-chipkaart. When you purchase a season ticket from NS, we will first check if there are any unpaid debts associated with the data you provide. If any payments are in arrears, NS retains the right to cancel your season ticket or refuse to offer a new season ticket.

If you use the Samenreiskorting combined travel discount, the season ticket holder's details will be linked to the travel companions' tickets. Your data will be processed to check the ticket validity and to prevent unsafe situations aboard the train if possible. If you use the Samenreiskorting with a student travel product, then you automatically grant permission for us to check the validity of the student travel product by contacting the DUO. NS will receive a reply indicating only that the product is valid. We will ask for your consent for this, and if you do not consent, then you cannot take advantage of the Samenreiskorting.  This will not affect your ability to travel with the student travel product, and this is the most transparent way for us to process this data. NS also has a clear and legitimate interest in obtaining this data. 

The basis for data processing is: legitimate interest

Some products allow you to travel on account. In this situation, we are offering you credit that you will have to pay back at a later point in time. Because we want to minimise financial risk and consider it important that purchasing this type of products does not leave you with any financial problems, such as debt, we have a credit check performed by Focum before entering into the agreement. All new customers have to undergo a credit check as part of the ordering process. For existing NS customers, we check whether you are in arrears based on the information provided by you, as this would preclude NS from accepting you as a customer for this type of season ticket.

The credit check is an essential part of the ordering process, if we are to enter into an agreement in which we provide you with credit. If you are not an existing NS customer and do not agree to the credit check, you will not be able to purchase an NS Flex season ticket. If the result of the credit check is positive, you can complete the ordering process and finalise your preferred travel product on account.

If the outcome of the credit check is negative, your request will be rejected automatically and you will not be able to purchase a travel product on account. You will still be able to travel with one of the many other travel products offered by NS. This decision is made automatically by our partner Focum, based on various predefined criteria, such as whether you have a debt with a collection agency. Based on these criteria, Focum determines whether you pose a high non-payment risk. NS has no insight into the results of the credit check and we do not store these results. 

Focum is the data processor responsible for performing the credit check on behalf of NS. NS will therefore never know why your request was rejected. To find out more about the results of your credit check, please contact Focum and submit an online access request. If the information used for the credit check was incorrect, you have the right to have the information corrected. Please send an email to inzage@focum.nl to object to the result of the check and explain in as much detail as possible why your information should be corrected.

If you have any questions about the credit check, please contact NS Customer Service. If you disagree with our decision on the basis of the result of the credit check performed by Focum or any other information, you can inform us of your position, contest the decision, or request that the decision be reassessed by a designated employee. To do so, please submit a request to NS Customer Service. 

If you purchase a personalised travel product, we will pass on this data to TransLink. TransLink is responsible for producing and issuing OV-chipkaarten, ensuring that they work properly, and processing the transactions made with the OV-chipkaart. TransLink is also responsible for processing personal data for the OV-chipkaart. For more information, please see ov-chipkaart.nl

We will also share data with third parties if this is required to guarantee proper national coverage of the OV-chipkaart. A limited amount of functional data may be shared with TransLink and other public transport companies.

If a credit check is required for a certain product, we will pass your data on to Focum. Focum is a business information agency that collects data about people. When combined with the data you provide, this enables us to prevent you from entering into financial obligations that you cannot meet, as well as helping us to minimise our financial risk. NS has made agreements with Focum about the processing of personal data, including the security of personal data. With regard to its database, the credit agency, and the automatic credit checks, Focum is responsible for processing the personal data in question based on the code of conduct of the VvKi (formerly the NVH, the Netherlands Association of Business Information Agencies). Please go to Focum's website to find out more about the data processed by Focum. 

If you fail to meet your payment obligations, we will share your contact details with BOS Incasso to collect the outstanding amount. We will also share your payment data with third parties to facilitate iDeal or credit card payments and to combat fraud.

We also use IT services provided by third parties. These third parties process our data solely for our own internal use, and for no other purpose. We have made agreements about the processing of personal data with these parties, pertaining to how this information is secured and stored, for instance.
Do you have or have you requested an NS-Business Card from NS Zakelijk? In that case, we will share some data concerning your travel history with your employer, depending on the type of season ticket taken out by your employer, e.g. a Trein Vrij or OV Vrij season ticket. If your employer has taken out a Trein Vrij season ticket for you, our invoices will also show your travel history on other forms of public transport (e.g. bus, tram and metro) and the fares paid, as these trips are not covered by the travel product purchased by your employer. Your employer will also be able to see whether you changed your travel class or used door-to-door services (e.g. taxi or OV-fiets). We pass on this information to your employer so that they can pass on the costs to you and/or request corrections (e.g. if you forgot to check out).

We are authorised to provide your personal data to parties outside the European Economic Community under certain circumstances. In that event, we will take suitable measures with these parties, for example by agreeing to the standard provisions required by the European Commission.

Customer data, with the exception of transaction details, is deleted 48 months after the last time you had contact with NS. We will delete your NS account at your request, as explained on this page. You can also use your NS account for other services.

If you use the Samenreiskorting combined travel discount, your data will be processed for the period in which the code is valid, up to a maximum of 3 days. This period may be extended by the period between the purchase of the e-ticket and the actual travel date shown on the ticket. E-tickets can be purchased up to one month in advance. After this period, NS will store how often you used the Samenreiskorting for a maximum of 18 months. The link between the person offering the Samenreiskorting and the recipient will be deleted after the Samenreiskorting validity period. The reply from DUO stating whether a student travel product is valid will be deleted immediately after receipt of the reply by NS.

If the result of the Focum credit check is negative, NS will not store any data and will delete any and all data provided by you after the order is terminated. Focum may not use the personal data it receives from NS to perform the credit check to enrich its own database. For more information about the personal data for which Focum is responsible, please visit the Focum website.