How an alias is created#

An alias appears when the credit reference agencies recognise that you are, or have been, known by another name.

The common triggers:

  • Marriage — taking a partner's surname, or double-barrelling.
  • Deed poll — changing your name outright.
  • A shortened form — applying as Tom when your accounts are under Thomas.

You don't create it and you don't request it. The agencies generate it when a lender reports a name change, and it stays on your report indefinitely.

Why an alias helps rather than hurts#

The agencies match your credit accounts to your report using your full name, date of birth and address. An alias widens that net.

If there's positive credit history recorded under your former name, the alias is what makes sure it still shows — so none of the history you built up gets missed. Your information follows you, and you don't have to tell each agency every time your name changes.

It also makes errors easier to spot. Scanning a short list of aliases will surface a lender that spelled your name wrong, or created a link that shouldn't exist, without you having to click through every account on your report.

An alias should be something you recognise and have used. If it is, there's no reason to try to remove it and nothing to worry about.

Aliases and associations aren't the same thing#

Worth being clear, because they sit near each other on a report and get confused.

An alias is another name for you. A financial association is a link to another person, created when you apply for credit together, hold a joint account, or act as their guarantor.

Both stay on your report indefinitely. But an association can affect your credit applications, because a lender may assess the two of you together — which is why an out-of-date one is worth removing. An alias carries no such risk.

One thing they share: any financial data recorded in an alias name will be returned on your report and will contribute to your score. So if there's adverse history under a previous name, the alias brings it with you.

Updating your name properly#

The quickest route is to go through your lenders.

Have the documentation ready. A marriage certificate, decree absolute, or deed poll.

Tell your lenders. Each has its own process and its own requirements.

Your name change should then show on your report automatically, and the new name creates the alias link. Allow up to six weeks for lenders to report the update.

Then register your new name on the Electoral Roll, and don't leave this one. Electoral Roll data is what other information is matched against. If your accounts are in your new name but your listing is still in the old one, a lender may not see your full report. Changing it can take up to three months to appear, so do it sooner rather than later.

Note that you can't amend an existing Electoral Roll registration — you have to re-register under the new name.

Removing an incorrect alias#

If you've previously been known by the alias, or applied for credit under it, expect it to stay indefinitely. That's correct behaviour.

If it's genuinely wrong, here's the order to work in.

First, check whether the wrong name appears anywhere else on your report. If a lender has recorded it incorrectly on an account, that's the root cause. Tell the lender and they should correct it. You'll need to wait for that correction to come through before a removal request will work — otherwise the alias will simply be recreated.

Then raise a dispute with the agency reporting the alias, asking for its removal. You'll be asked to confirm that the name isn't one you've used. How to dispute credit report errors sets out how the dispute process runs and what to expect.

The key things to remember#

  • Aliases are created automatically when a lender reports a name change.
  • They have no direct effect on your score, and they usually help.
  • Financial data under an alias name does count — including adverse history.
  • An alias is another name for you; an association is a link to another person.
  • Update lenders first, then re-register on the Electoral Roll under the new name.
  • Fix the underlying account error before requesting an alias removal.