The fact that the UK has this nasty concept of “credit history” helps with this, since now all that’s needed to take out credit is basic details to lookup the credit bureau profile and then they “vouch” for you.
In countries where this doesn’t exist, obtaining credit requires providing proof of income (payslip, etc) to the lender which they verify. A mere name/address/date of birth might be enough to open inconsequential accounts such as loyalty cards, but will absolutely not get you credit - therefore the damage to identity theft victims is greatly reduced or even nullified.
Bad payers are still penalised even without a credit bureau system by a register the government operates onto which a debtor is registered for a certain period after legal action by a lender (so this requires significant effort from the lender - you don’t get on this register because of a telecoms billing mishap for example).
With regards to setting a password, I wouldn’t trust CRAs to enforce this. What you can do however is pay for CIFAS protective registration - it’s usually for victims or those at high risk of identity theft but there’s no legal requirement so anyone can pay the admin fee and get added to the register. Lenders check this during credit applications and this puts an instant block on any kind of automated approval and requires them to do further verification.
You’d have to see it to believe it how easy and normal credit is over here in USA. Even coming from uk it surprised me. You can even buy tyres on tick.
In countries where this doesn’t exist, obtaining credit requires providing proof of income (payslip, etc) to the lender which they verify. A mere name/address/date of birth might be enough to open inconsequential accounts such as loyalty cards, but will absolutely not get you credit - therefore the damage to identity theft victims is greatly reduced or even nullified.
Bad payers are still penalised even without a credit bureau system by a register the government operates onto which a debtor is registered for a certain period after legal action by a lender (so this requires significant effort from the lender - you don’t get on this register because of a telecoms billing mishap for example).
With regards to setting a password, I wouldn’t trust CRAs to enforce this. What you can do however is pay for CIFAS protective registration - it’s usually for victims or those at high risk of identity theft but there’s no legal requirement so anyone can pay the admin fee and get added to the register. Lenders check this during credit applications and this puts an instant block on any kind of automated approval and requires them to do further verification.