Electoral Roll question

[bigknickersbigknockers]

When I got the form to fill in for the electoral roll some months ago I noticed that there was a small box that you could tick which meant that your name would be excluded from the public copy of the electoral roll.

I ticked this box thinking that it may help reduce the number of sales people who phone us in the evenings.

I have just been online to request a catalogue for littlewoods and in the small print it says they use credit agencies who check your rating and also check the electoral roll.

I have never had problems getting credit but would the fact that I have ticked this box affect my chances of getting credit or do these credit agencies use the official edit of the electoral roll.

sorry for waffling on, but its bothering me now I have thought of it

As far as I knew, it can effect your credit rating if the credit agencies can't see you on the ER as it goes to prove your address. I'm sure one of the questions I had to answer on some form for a store card or something actually asked if I was on the ER.

You need to register with the telephone preference service to stop sales calls. It's very effective.

Ticking the box doesn't keep your name off the public (hard) copy of the roll - only the electronic version. So it shouldn't affect your rating.

Not being on the roll or having a false name on it will affect your rating.

HTH

It shouldn't affect your actual credit rating, but some companies might want more proof of IS etc from you. We had an issue with someone who wouldn't deliver a laptop to us because they used the commercial copy of the electoral roll and we aren't on it. So they lost a £750 sale after we decided that actually we would prefer not to fax our bank and credit card statements to them as they wanted us to.

I will continue to stay off it though as they do sell it as a database to any company who wants it.

thanks for all the replies, I just thought anyone can view the roll on line and maybe it wouldnt do any harm to stay off it.

Information from the Electoral Commission website:
The full register has the names and addresses of everyone registered to vote and is updated every month. Anyone can look at it by visiting their local council offices, but copies can only be supplied for certain purposes, such as elections and law enforcement. Credit reference agencies are also allowed to use the full register, but only to check your name and address if you are applying for credit, and to help stop 'money laundering'. Anyone who has a copy of the register will be committing a criminal offence if they unlawfully pass on information from it. You do not have a choice about your name and address being on this register.
The edited register will be available for general sale and can be used for any purpose. You can choose not to be on it. It will be kept separate from the full register and updated every month. The edited register can be bought by any person, company or organisation and could be used for different purposes such as checking your identity and commercial activities such as marketing.