Equifax - Electoral Roll

marty2be2000

I have been reviewing my statutory credit reports. For a while I have only used Noddle, which shows no issues and is clean across the board.

Following a loan decline a while ago, I have decided to try and find out why.

Whilst reviewing the statutory report, Equifax had a big red square which shows that they don't have me as registered on the electoral roll at the current address. Noddle has the registration correct, still waiting for the details on how to access my Experian report. I have lived at this address for nearly 3 years and been registered on the ER since the day I moved in.

The house has a name rather than a number, it's never had a number since it was built more than 100 years ago. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

I have asked a question via the Equifax portal, but ultimately who is responsible for resolving this. My local authority do submit to the CRA's, at least one has it right and one wrong, still waiting for the third...

rabbit_burrow

It would appear that Equifax aren't so good. I have the same problem in that Equifax have erroneous data that Experian and CallCredit don't

I wonder how many people get declined for things due to data errors?

Waino696969

I had a scenario at a previous property where the Electoral Roll used a different address to the official Royal Mail Address.

Because the flats we lived in shared a communal letterbox on the front door the Royal Mail would not acknowledge Flat A, Flat B etc as seperate addresses. However the Electoral Roll and Council Tax DO acknowledge the individual flats. It has and still is causing me a pain with the CRA's.

marty2be2000

Hopefully I have now got to the bottom of the problem. The local authority had an extra line in the address field, which Callcredit seemed to have ignored. They have removed this extra line now, and as it happens are sending the register extracts to the CRA's today. Hopefully once the data has been loaded by the CRA's the issue should be fixed.

conductor71

I have a similar problem to Waino696969. After several unsuccessful attempts to obtain a copy of my credit report from Equifax, I am on the verge of just giving up. Thankfully I have no urgent need to see it, but I thought it was my statutory right.

In their latest response to me, Equifax say:

After further investigation based on information provided to us from reliable sources of address data, we haven't been able to validate your address. Address information held on our database is obtained from a number of sources including the Royal Mail, and the electoral roll register. This information is updated daily.

To be able to add your address, we would suggest that you contact the Royal Mail and ask that the exact format of your address is registered as soon as possible.

We also recommend that you contact your local authority to make sure that your electoral roll information is registered correctly at your address.

The first thing I should point out is that I am a resident of Jersey and I have just become aware that there is a longstanding problem with Jersey electoral registers and the way they are filed with companies like Equifax. However, throughout my dealings with Equifax, they have not specifically stated that the electoral register is the main problem here. In short, Jersey has had a type of 3-year rolling electoral register for the past decade, so if you move and take no action (as many do), you could remain registered to vote at your old address for several years after you have left. This means the electoral records are unreliable and may contain the names of people who have since died or left the island. This is the guidance from the Channel Islands Data Protection Commission website:

At the moment, the Jersey register is not supplied to the credit reference agencies in the same way that they receive the mainland registers. If you have moved in the last four years your electoral register details will not be shown on your credit report.

There is a subject access form that you can complete, whereby the Jersey parish that you are registered to vote in can confirm to the credit reference agencies that your name is listed on the electoral register at that address. I have not completed this form and the problem is that although I changed address in 2010 and later submitted a new electoral form for my new address, this was not acted on at the time and I am therefore still shown as registered at the old address I moved from in 2010. This means that the previous person who lived at my address is still showing as living where I am now, even though he left the island in 2010.

Regarding the apparent discrepancy with the Royal Mail records- I live in a self-contained rented flat within a converted house and this was also the case at my last address. I have my own flat number and the property has a name but not a street number. All tenants in the building share a communal letter box. So I would write my address like this [the following is obviously just a made up example and not my actual address!]

Flat 3, House Name, Street Name, St Helier, Jersey JE2 4**.

However, on the Royal Mail database, the individual flats are not listed. There is just one entry for the property, as follows:

House Name Flats, Street Name, St Helier, Jersey JE2 4**.

I am not sure whether the Jersey electoral register identifies the individual flats in my building or not, so there could possibly be a conflict there with Royal Mail records.

I managed to get a copy of my credit report about a decade ago when I was similarly living in a property whose individual self-contained flats were not listed on the Royal Mail database. On that occasion, a long list of all the names of everyone who had ever been registered to vote in that building (regardless of which flat they lived in) appeared on my credit report, giving the impression it was a communal residence.

I have provided Equifax with copies of bank statements showing both my old and new addresses, as well as my passport, but to no avail. Does anyone think I should try contacting Royal Mail to ask them to register the exact format of my address, as Equifax suggest? Would that mean that all the other flats in the building would still come under the main listing, as now, because those tenants haven't bothered to contact Royal Mail? Would I have to have the permission of my landlord? It seems to be a crazy, out-of-date postcode system that relies on individual tenants making the effort to contact Royal Mail before any changes to address formats are made.

redonion

marty2be2000 wrote: »

Hopefully I have now got to the bottom of the problem. The local authority had an extra line in the address field, which Callcredit seemed to have ignored. They have removed this extra line now, and as it happens are sending the register extracts to the CRA's today. Hopefully once the data has been loaded by the CRA's the issue should be fixed.

Did it fix it?

I have a similar issue with experian: the record is there but has a red icon. They tell me it's because I haven't lived there long enough. Actually my query was not about the red icon but the fact that the record was missing, before they looked at my query. I honestly can't tell whether the red marker is supposed to mean something or is just their pretty little icon for electoral roll.

Do other peoples' experian electoral roll sections have a red icon next to them?

I must have spent several solid days by now with these agencies, over a period of many months, trying to sort out things like this.

Frxn

redonion wrote: »

Do other peoples' experian electoral roll sections have a red icon next to them?

My equifax one has a red icon, apparently because I've been registered at this address less than two years, not sure about experian though I'll be checking it out later but I'm guessing it's the same

pineapple

Maybe I'm just lucky but I haven't been on the electoral roll for about 30 years and have never had a problem getting credit, a mortgage or anything.

black_taxi_2

took me 8 months to sort out,council electoral address,diff to postal address.to save the many phonecalls---get council to send you letter comfirming address,post it to equifax

redonion

black_taxi wrote: »

took me 8 months to sort out,council electoral address,diff to postal address.to save the many phonecalls---get council to send you letter comfirming address,post it to equifax

Different in what way, exactly?

black_taxi_2

council tax 12 1f2,postal 12/5