Credit reference agencies unite to aid GDPR preparations

This notice will ensure the financial industry delivers standardised, clear and consistent information to consumers to explain how credit reference agencies use and share personal information, the type of information they hold, where it comes from and the legalities of handling personal data.

The document addresses the requirements of GDPR to ensure credit data sharing can continue to support responsible lending, to help combat fraud and money-laundering and to support the fair and proportionate collection of debt.

The credit reference agencies have worked closely with various trade and industry bodies to develop the notice - which is hosted on the agencies’ websites so lenders and other financial providers can easily direct their customers to the information it provides.

Steve Martin, UK data protection officer at Equifax, said: “Data sharing between lenders and credit reference agencies helps consumers access the right products, receive relevant communications and better manage their finances.

“With over 500 lenders in the UK, this one standardised notice will support GDPR’s drive for enhanced transparency for consumers, providing clarity over the role of credit reference agencies in the financial industry.”

Clinton Hook, head of data for consumer information services at Experian, said people should have access to and then understand the information they are given on credit.

Both Hook and Steve McNicholas, managing director of credit and marketing data at Callcredit Information Group, believe the notice will support greater transparency, consistency and clarity, and be of value to all UK lenders as they prepare for GDPR.