Advice on Electoral Roll Registration

vapd

The last time I applied for any credit was in January and I was refused (I wanted a Halifax Clarity as I was, and did, go to Hungary for dental work. Ended up with FairFX) and now I've just got round to trying to find out why I was refused.

First step: I've just been down to my local council office and obtained an Electoral Roll Registration, filled it in and handed it over. Unfortunately I neglected to ask how long it would take to process this and I was hoping that someone would know? Or if there is a way to check on line?

Not sure if this is the best place to put this question but I couldn't see anywhere particularly relevant.

Tixy

The electorall roll is updated once a month (at this time of year). As your form is in after mid month you may have missed the deadline for appearing on the register from 1 June, so it may not be until 1 July. Then it can take up to a month for the credit reference agencies to update their files so could be not until August.
That said someone recently suggested that one of the CRAs (experian I think from memory) is about 2-3months behind with processing so it might take even longer.

vapd

Okay, thanks for that.

I just completed registering for a free trial, via TopCashBack, with CreditExpert. And my rating according to them is 'good' even though I'm not on the electoral roll at the moment.

Now, I dont know if any of you can help me with this or just point me towards a help page but here it is.

I'm looking at moving house (again, I only moved 6 months ago) and as I'll be moving into my own flat rather than living with a friend I'll need to find deposit, admin fees, credit check fees, moving fees and get hold of some furniture. I currently have £550 in savings, two current accounts (one with £1000 overdraft limit and the other with £1500) and a credit card with a £2900 limit. All these cards and accounts are fully paid off or in credit.

Now, what I was thinking was that I could max out the current account that has the £1500 limit and then balance transfer it to another bank which is offering 0% interest for as long as possible. That will pay for the move and some furniture and give me at least 6 months (I believe) to pay it off. I start a new job in a week and want to move closer to this as where I am at the moment will involve an inconvenient amount of travel (I dont drive so I'm looking at walking for half an hour, a train for 40mins and then walking for 10 each way, not too bad in the summer but... And please no one suggest I get a push bike, the road to the train station is full of trucks doing 50).

Anyway, what are my chances of getting such a transfer do you reckon? As I said CEx's rating of me is Good but they only seem to have my credit card on file not the current accounts. If I leave applying for a new account until I appear on the electoral roll then I'll have moved house twice in about 8 months, which is bad for credit risk. But if I try it now I wont be on the roll. Whats best? Advice appreciated.

Tixy

Do you mean a transfer from this current account to another current account that offers a 0% interest? or do you mean transfer a balance from the overdraft to a credit card? The former I would ask on the bank account section of the forum - personally I don't know anything about these deals.

If you mean on to a credit card then only a few card providers allow you to move a debt from a current account to a card.

What card do you have at the moment? how long has it had a nil balance? first option might be to see if they will offer you a 0% deal on purchases for xmonths. If they would you could presumably pay for a number of the things you'll need to pay for by card.
If its one of the few cards that allows transfer to a current account then you could see if they'll offer you a 0% on balance transfers - then for anything you needed to pay cash for you could spend from the current account and then transfer to the card (a transfer fee would apply).

How soon are you expecting to move, likely to be looking to apply? if you are going for a new card, rather than your current one then I would think not being on the electoral roll is likely to mean a decline, same probably for a bank account with an overdraft.

vapd

I'm looking at moving asap. I am very unlikely to be on the roll before I move house.

So you think not being on the roll yet will kill my chances of credit dead? If so I better leave it. But come to think of it, if I've registered here, then move, then I guess I'll have to reregister again at the new address and I'll be back to square one (its going to be a different local authority) or is that wrong?

Tixy

Yep thats right - you'll need to be on the register at the new address you'll be applying for credit at.

Only way round this I would think is if you can use your current card account and get a promo pdeal from them, as obviously that wouldn't be credit scored.

vapd

Damn my laziness. I've been meaning to register for months.

How does one best approach ones bank and ask for a promo deal? Or is that not what you mean?

Tixy

Mostly just by phoning them up and asking if they have any deals at the moment (possibly say you are thinking of closing the account even) - it often works for people, if you check out the more recent posts in this thread you may see what your card co has been offering others. Unoffical Existing Customer Balance Transfers
Usually deals tend to be offered if you've had a nil balance for a couple of months.

vapd

Thanks for the info.