Identifying information

56.13 A credit information file may contain information that is ‘reasonably necessary … to identify the individual’.^[6] Under s 18E(3), the Privacy Commissioner has determined that credit information files may contain: an individual’s full name, including any known aliases, sex, and date of birth; a maximum of three addresses consisting of a current or last known address and two immediately previous addresses; the name of the individual’s current or last known employer; and the individual’s driver’s licence number.^[7]

56.14 The identifying information included in credit information files is important as it affects the value of credit reporting information for non-credit related purposes, such as identity verification, and the accuracy of credit reporting because identifiers are used to match credit reporting records.^[8] These issues are discussed further in Chapters 57 and 58.