Equifax - Electoral Roll update issues

doh_Boy

Hi,
I was told by my mortgage adviser to update my electoral roll because it was affecting my chances of getting a mortgage.

I applied to update the electoral roll on the 2nd Jan 2013, I got a confirmation letter dated 27 Jan 2013.

I waited until 11th Feb 2013 for the update to propagate onto equifax, most of the week starting the 11th was spent querying the lack of electoral roll update. On Friday (15th) I spoke on the phone to an operator who told me that any updates to the electoral roll will take upto 6 weeks.

I also went on the on-line help system and uploaded a picture of the confirmation letter sent by council. To check there wasn't a mistake, phoned the council to confirm that my update was included on the Feb 2013 update, it was.

So my question is, am I right in thinking they've screwed something up or is 6 weeks for an update ok?

Secondly, if they have messed up, how can I escalate this? They seem to be ignoring me now.

Any help/advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Hazzinho

You just have to wait, check experian and noddle and see if you're on with them, experian is the one most lenders use.

izools

They are right that it can take 6-8 weeks to update I'm afraid.

In future any time you move make sure to download the ER papers from https://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk and fire them off ahead of time to save any more issues like this in future

doh_Boy

Well that sucks , 4 weeks for the council to manage it and a further 6 weeks for the credit agency to accept it!

Thanks for the info.

Buzby

The purpose of the ER is to allow you to VOTE, nothing more. The fact the CRA's sell this information on to 3rd parties who won't consider you trustworthy unless the CRA have you noted 'on their books' is a scandal that is simply accepted - and the CRA's wouldn't want to have it any other way.

But just remember this is simply an abomination, in that we are being manipulated into a situation whereby your life will be seriously affected, simply because the CRA's computer 'says no'.

The sooner these private databases lose their power, the better.

cos_2

Buzby wrote: »

The purpose of the ER is to allow you to VOTE, nothing more. The fact the CRA's sell this information on to 3rd parties who won't consider you trustworthy unless the CRA have you noted 'on their books' is a scandal that is simply accepted - and the CRA's wouldn't want to have it any other way.

But just remember this is simply an abomination, in that we are being manipulated into a situation whereby your life will be seriously affected, simply because the CRA's computer 'says no'.

The sooner these private databases lose their power, the better.

Perhaps the original purpose of the Electoral Roll was simply for voting purposes: however, things move on and it's clearly now a significant source of information for other purposes. Credit reference is one, but it's also used for sales and marketing.

I'm not sure they'll (the CRAs) ever 'lose their power' simply because there's nothing to replace them. It must be an absolute nightmare when they get things wrong, but I can't see any obvious replacement at the moment. I certainly don't want to see a state reference company controlled by politicians.

cos_2

Sorry for going off topic but I just had to relate a wee story.

I used to work in a Scottish local authority and I had a discussion with one of our senior managers about the ER.

I told him I was 'opting out' of the register, which means my information wouldn't be made available to companies who wish to buy it. By the way, companies can buy your ER info and use it for any (legal) purpose they choose. If you opt out, they can't access your info.

This manager was really irritated that I was trying to buck the system and accused me of a lack of trust in the council. I was very happy to tell him where to go. Having spent many years working in IT, designing and writing business systems that used personal data, I was (and am) VERY aware of the possibility for abuse. My development team was responsible for developing and maintaining the authority's ER systems!

I'm happy to register on the ER but always tick the opt-out box.