Consumers need to be on the electoral register to avoid bad credit rating
February 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under News, News-Credit-Cards
Consumers could receive a bad credit rating if they are not on the electoral register, according to experts. 
Equifax, the credit checking service, said that younger people in particular should ensure they are registered as a poor credit rating could prevent them from being approved for a loan.
Neil Munroe, external affairs director at Equifax, said: “You need to be identifiable, and the electoral roll is still one of the key areas that is used to identify somebody.”
“So you need to make sure you’re on the electoral roll if you’ve not been voting,” he warned.
According to Equifax, when checking credit ratings lenders are also ensuring that the consumer is the person they say they are in a bid to combat increasing instances of identity fraud.
In 2006 the Department for Constitutional Affairs estimated that there were at least 550,000 unregistered voters in London.
Figures from the body revealed that one in four Londoners under 24 were not registered to vote compared with only two per cent of over-55s nationally.
