Fear of getting my address Blacklisted.

poppasmurf_bewdley

I was listening to Morning Call on Radio 5 Live yesterday, which was about Payday Loan Companies.

One caller was a lady who's son had Aspergers Syndrome and ADS, and was taking out payday loans in the belief he could use the money to buy friendship. She said the family had paid off these loans on the sons behalf as she feared getting her address blacklisted as she was a private tenant and could lose her home.

When it was suggested she let her son default on the loans, thereby ruining his credit rating and preventing him from taking out further loans, she again said she couldn't for fear of getting her address blacklisted.

Unfortunately, I was driving at the time so couldn't phone in, but I was shouting at the radio "You can't get an address blacklisted", yet the BBC continued to broadcast this notion of blacklisting. Not a single person rang in to clarify the situation.

So if someone from BBC 5 Live is reading this, please issue a correction and put that poor lady out of her misery:

AN ADDRESS CANNOT BE BLACKLISTED - ONLY A SPECIFIC INDIVIDUAL CAN BE IDENTIFIED AT AN ADDRESS.

imoneyop

I read the topic before opening the thread and thought you'd lost your marbles

Clive_Woody

imoneyop wrote: »

I read the topic before opening the thread and thought you'd lost your marbles

Me too. I was worried Poppa Smurf's account had been hacked.


This is why we need financial education in our schools as we even have people in national corporations such as the BBC who are completely clueless.

brendon

You cannot blacklist an address, but banks do sometimes use a postcode to determine creditworthiness. If the average postcode has 20 houses, there might only be 1-2 houses with credit (except mortgages), so the postcode is actually a fairly good proxy for "address blacklisting".

See here for example:

The index blends outgoing commitments together with affluence, economic and lifestyle characteristics. The data is then modelled to postcode level and delivered as a postcode index ranging from 1-100. The most over-indebted postcode areas are represented by a low index, with the least indebted people being at the top of the index.

JuicyJesus

brendon wrote: »

You cannot blacklist an address, but banks do sometimes use a postcode to determine creditworthiness.

True (checkmyfile.com have a free, public "postcode checker" tool which tells you how lenders will supposedly rate your postcode) but VERY unlikely to be the deciding factor in any lending decision.

rizla_king

There's an article somewhere on the BBC site that says that basic bank accounts do not allow debts cards, direct debits, internet banking etc.

OK, some don't, but there are many that will.

BBC journalists are as lazy as the rest. Never let facts get in the way of a good soundbite.