Shock to UK Creditors

For many years, credit reporting agencies and credit grantors in England have relied on the voters' roll to confirm a borrower's residential address. However, a retired accountant recently refused to register on the electoral rolls because the metropolitan council in charge of the voter rolls provided names and addresses to third parties. The court found that this practice was a breach of the European Covenant on Human Rights. According to the report in Credit Today, the court found that the interference in his private life was "disproportionate." In essence, if he did not want his address provided to third parties (e.g. a credit reporting agency), his refusal to provide the information would deny him the right to vote. The credit industry is attempting to make the case that a ban on providing information to credit reporting agencies is counter-productive and will decrease the reliability of credit decisions and raise the cost of credit.