Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on victims of identity fraud in particular any adverse credit rating changes and the subsequent impact of such changes on mortgage payments and relationships with credit companies.

Under the Fraud Act 2006, it is a crime to dishonestly make a false representation to make a gain, to cause loss to another or expose another to risk of loss. The Government takes fraud extremely seriously and recognises the devastating impacts that fraud can have on individuals and businesses.

Decisions concerning how lenders assess mortgage applications, including how information from Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs) is used, are commercial decisions for banks and building societies.

It is worth being aware that CRAs do not hold blacklists and do not tell a lender whether it should offer credit. Instead lenders use information from CRAs to come to their own commercial judgement. This means that while one lender may be unwilling to provide a mortgage due to a borrower’s credit history, that is not necessarily the case for other lenders.