Electoral roll (non citizen) + company name query for mortgage

smallpurplepill

Hi all

Hoping someone can offer advice (or hopefully reassurance!) on the 2 questions below - any feedback appreciated...

The situation is that I would ideally like to buy somewhere as a FTB, we have been renting for the last 9 yrs and would like to own somewhere finally!

1. Electoral roll - I keep hearing that for a good credit score one needs to be on the electoral roll for current and historical addresses. For me this is fine (have checked credit report and correct addresses do appear on there etc) but husband is not a British citizen (he is from the States) & therefore not eligible to vote or be on the electoral roll. He is listed on some of the utilities (water/elec/gas) and council tax, also has 1 credit card through Natwest held for about 3 years so far. He has indefinite leave to remain ('permanent' residence) since about 2003.

Is there any particular problem with non-citizens applying as obviously it's not a case that he hasn't "bothered" :cool: to get on the register but is not eligible to be on it. (Halifax said it wasn't a problem for them as long as person is a permanent resident but this was about 3 years ago and pre credit crunch!)

Is it worth applying for British citizenship first (bit of a long drawn out process I think as there's the test, forms and everything, you know how it is with these things!) and getting on the electoral roll? all of which could set us back another year but is probably not worth doing if it won't make any difference.


2. I've changed jobs relatively recently (though was at previous job 8 years) due to impending redundancies at previous company.. left before actually being made redundant though as I applied for and got a job paying a 15% increase on the previous job within a couple of weeks! Job is a similar job description and duties, though the employer is in a different industry my actual job role is pretty much the same (though a more 'strategic' role at the new company... involved with management etc).

I've now noticed that the name on the automated (bacs?) salary payment in the "description" bit (ie... when it appears on your bank statement and says something like "BAC JOHN SMITH LTD" or whoever) is not the same as the name of the employer as the company has changed name and the "description" is the old name of the company. There's nothing dodgy about the company setup and I can only assume something in the payroll setup still has an old description but is this likely to be a problem? (Payslips and P60 say the actual current name of the company I work for and corresponds to the contract etc)



Financial situation in case it makes a difference:

- Joint income around £50 k
- Joint savings (in individually held accounts) around £140 k but would not want to use all of this for a deposit!
- No ongoing debts or defaults but I do have a credit card balance paid off fully each month for things like grocery shopping. Total credit available on cards about £10 k (gradually increased by the companies concerned, not actually requested by me :eek:) plus possible overdraft (which I've not used) £1 k. Generally credit card balance across the 3 cards is about £400 a month which is all the groceries, fuel, etc
- Current rent £625 plus all the normal bills etc, we put around £1400 a month between us into savings usually
- Only other "credit" account is a monthly mobile contract normally £10-£15 a month depending on what calls I've made etc, always make payments on time
- Account with Natwest stockbrokers which I think I was credit checked for originally but isn't actually a "credit" account (ie I can't borrow money through it to invest, I have to come up with the money first!)
- Account with Zopa as a lender, believe I was identity (but not credit) checked on Equifax, again it isn't a credit facility, I have to put the money in before I can lend it.

Not sure how to find out my credit "score" (700 out of 999 or whatever) as the reports I've had from the reference companies have just listed out any credit cards etc and haven't attributed a number to it!


Really I am after any suggestions as to things we can do to improve the situation (other than win the lottery :A) as so far it hasn't seemed very encouraging from the information I've managed to find out but perhaps am reading too much into things!

Thanks in advance for any advice etc..