Will my alias affect my credit score?

Changing your name will likely create an alias on your credit report. There are many reasons why your name might change over your lifetime:

• Marriage - You may choose to use your partner’s surname, or double-barrel your surnames.

• Shortened version - You may choose to use an abbreviation of your name, like ‘Tom’ or ‘Tommy’ for ‘Thomas’.

• Deed poll - You may choose to change your name entirely.

No matter what the scenario, an alias will show on your credit report to let lenders know that you’ve been known by another name. The credit reference agencies – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion – create the alias, which will stay on your credit report indefinitely. But this has no direct effect on your credit score. An alias makes sure that your credit history recorded under that name is still linked to your credit report. So, if there’s positive credit history in the alias name, it could actually help your credit health by making sure none of your hard work is missed.

The agencies rely on your personal information to create your credit report: your full name, date of birth, and address. They’ll use this information to match your credit accounts to your credit report. So, if your alias links additional information, you can be sure that you’re seeing everything a lender would see.

An alias is good for your credit health. They make sure that your information follows you, even if you change your name. This means that you don’t have to tell the credit reference agencies each time your name changes.

The quickest way to update your name is to:

Have the required documentation ready – This might be a marriage certificate, decree absolute, or deed poll.

Let your lenders know – They will have their own process on how to update your details and what they need.

You can expect your name change to show on your credit report automatically. It’s best to wait up to six weeks to check that your lenders have updated the information. The new name will automatically create an alias link.

It’s also important to register your new name on the Electoral Roll. Electoral Roll data is often what all other data is matched against to make sure it’s returned on your credit report. If your accounts are in your new name but your Electoral Roll listing remains in your old one, this could impact the information returned on your credit report. Chances are that a lender would not see your full credit report. Changing your Electoral Roll details can take up to three months to show on your report – so it’s best to get this sorted sooner rather than later.

Aliases are a good tool to easily pick out any unexpected names on your credit report. They can help you see which lender may have spelt your name incorrectly, or created an incorrect alias, which means you don’t have to click through each account on your credit report. An incorrect alias can be easily fixed – just let the lender know and they should be able to correct it for you.

An alias should be something that you recognise and have previously used. So there’s no need to try and have it removed. And it’s certainly not something that you need to worry about having on your credit report.