Credit cards
While a limited number of credit service providers (CSPs) continue to accept new applications, it's become harder for Jersey residents to access credit cards.
CSPs have the final commercial decision on whether to offer credit cards, but we're working to provide an environment where it's easier for them to do so.
Providers are required to ensure that credit is extended only to those who demonstrate the ability to repay. As a result, some Islanders may find their applications for credit cards declined because their creditworthiness doesn't meet the standards required.
Updated December 2025
Access to information
Credit card providers face challenges in assessing the creditworthiness of Jersey residents because of the difficulty in accessing some personal information.
In the UK, this information is usually accessed from UK electoral rolls by credit reference agencies (CRAs), who provide the information to the CSPs.
Currently, credit reference agencies don't have access to Jersey’s electoral roll data. As a result, credit checks for Jersey residents take longer and require more staff time.
What government is doing
To reduce the administrative burden, we're working to enable CRAs to access the necessary personal information specifically:
To achieve this, we are:
Creating a legal basis to share information
In 2023, Jersey passed an amendment to the Register of Names and Addresses (Jersey) Law 2012 to enable data to be shared with CRAs. After it was passed, CRAs identified a legal issue that prevented our ability to supply data to them.
We're working to deliver an amendment that will permit the processing of information by CRAs for law enforcement purposes as is consistent with the Data Protection (Jersey) Law. This is an issue, as the current Register of Names and Addresses (Jersey) Law restricts this, whilst CRA systems are built to purposefully share with law enforcement.
The Chief Minister has now lodged an amendment, States Assembly | P.109/2025, to the Register of Names and Addresses Law to clarify and expand the purposes for processing information to allow for law enforcement access.
This amendment is scheduled to be debated during the States sitting starting on 20 January 2026.
Developing the digital solution
The technical resources required to build the digital solution for extracting data from Jersey’s database, and transferring it to CRAs, are due to be allocated to this project. This is expected to be reviewed shortly.
Q&A: Credit reference agencies and access to information on blog.gov.je.
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