Cutting the family ties

FROM the end of this month it will be much less likely that applicants for loans and credit cards will be turned down because of someone else's bad debt record. Until now it has been possible to be refused a loan because someone who previously lived at the same house had a bad record.

Credit reference agencies are no longer allowed to do this. They will only supply information to lenders about the applicant and members of their family. People who have family members with black records, but with whom they have no financial connection, can ask agencies to record this so it is not used against them.