Street address confusion - will it affect credit rating?

TrixA

You don't have a separate address because the house is one dwelling.

There is only one address that you can use and that is the address that you are registered on the electoral roll at, since that will be one of the first things that is checked.

I understand that may be the legal situation, but as explained we have been in the habit of using either 'Garden flat' or 'Lower ground flat' - otherwise all our mail would go to the landlord's residence upstairs. We also have a separate phone connection, electricity and gas meters etc. We are applying for the mortgage with the same bank I do all my banking with and they have the lower ground address.

TrixA

The_Boss wrote: »

You don't have a "credit rating" or a "credit score" so there's not much to answer on that.

Sorry, can you explain that a bit more? I may not be using the right terminology as I don't know very much about this area, that's why I'm asking for advice.

loutalucat_2

Hi I have a slightly similar problem in so far as I have recently had a bank account and credit card application rejected due to my address not being verified. Odd as I've lived here for 18 years. Turns out that Experian have totally the wrong address which they say they got from the electoral register. I contacted the electoral registry and its as I expected, I wrote and told Experian that they had it wrong and that I had been on to the Electoral registry office - they replied saying that they got the address from the electoral register! We're now going round in circles as Experian don't seem to want to correct it. Can anyone advise me what to do next please?

Tixy

loutalucat wrote: »

Hi I have a slightly similar problem in so far as I have recently had a bank account and credit card application rejected due to my address not being verified. Odd as I've lived here for 18 years. Turns out that Experian have totally the wrong address which they say they got from the electoral register. I contacted the electoral registry and its as I expected, I wrote and told Experian that they had it wrong and that I had been on to the Electoral registry office - they replied saying that they got the address from the electoral register! We're now going round in circles as Experian don't seem to want to correct it. Can anyone advise me what to do next please?

When you say totally wrong address do you mean nothing like your current address and not somewhere you have ever lived or had any links to? Is it an address with the same council as where you actually live, or elsewhere in the country?

Have you actually obtained a copy of your statutory credit file from experian to see the full details on there? Are there any other anomolies, e.g. credit accounts that don't belong to you showing relating to this other incorrect address?

loutalucat_2

The address that Experian have seems to be a combination of addresses, half of it is ours and the other half is a house a mile away so the actual address doesn't exist! The name of the house is correct and the postcode is correct. I discovered this when I obtained the credit file from Experian after being told that my address could not be verified. Everything else on the report is correct. They are adamant that the incorrect address is the right one.

clar

TrixA wrote: »

I understand that may be the legal situation, but as explained we have been in the habit of using either 'Garden flat' or 'Lower ground flat' - otherwise all our mail would go to the landlord's residence upstairs. We also have a separate phone connection, electricity and gas meters etc. We are applying for the mortgage with the same bank I do all my banking with and they have the lower ground address.

Did you check Royal Mail as well? to see if they have a different option for you? They have an address finder - it lists all addresses registered at a given post code.

And are you on the electoral roll? If not, you should register using the main address, as I don't think you can add your 'lower ground' address given that it doesn't exist as far as the council is concerned.

As for banks, I'd change the address with them too... but that's just me.

TrixA

clar wrote: »

Did you check Royal Mail as well? to see if they have a different option for you? They have an address finder - it lists all addresses registered at a given post code.

And are you on the electoral roll? If not, you should register using the main address, as I don't think you can add your 'lower ground' address given that it doesn't exist as far as the council is concerned.

As for banks, I'd change the address with them too... but that's just me.

Royal Mail lists two addresses at our street address -let's say I live at number 30, the addresses they list are 30 and 30A. We've never used 30A and can only assume it exists because previous tenants had the same problem (the house has been configured this way for many years). The number on our door just says 30, so I would be worried we'd confuse the postman and other people trying to deliver things to us if we adopted 30A, although in hindsight perhaps that would have been the best compromise.

On the electoral roll we're simply listed at the main house address.

On all our other post, utility bills, mobile phone contracts etc, we either use 'Garden flat', 'Lower ground' or some variant. My bank accounts are actually listed under 'Lower ground flat (side door)' because that's what the landlord told us to use when we moved in. I think he simply meant that was the address the postman recognised. At the time I was newly arrived in the UK and didn't realise the significance of a consistent street address for credit purposes.

I've got my Experian credit report under the main house address and none of my existing credit accounts are listed. I'm assuming this is because it's looking for an exact address match. Is there any way I could get this fixed so the variants of my address link to the main house? I know I could change the addresses on my statements going forward, but I have five years of good credit history which I'd like linked to me.

clar

IMHO:

Because on the electoral roll you are listed at the main address and that is the only one that exists as far as the council is concerned, I think you should change now ALL your bank accounts and credit cards and utilities etc. to that main address - and all your credit files going forward will show that you have a bank account opened in - let's say 2005 - at your current address which is also the one on the electoral roll. They might show a recent address change from garden flat to the main address, but that shouldn't have a negative impact, it will be rather positive (the two addresses will be linked on your credit file so you're not losing history).


ps. there's an Experian rep who answers questions on this forum, check with them too.

TrixA

clar wrote: »

IMHO:

Because on the electoral roll you are listed at the main address and that is the only one that exists as far as the council is concerned, I think you should change now ALL your bank accounts and credit cards and utilities etc. to that main address - and all your credit files going forward will show that you have a bank account opened in - let's say 2005 - at your current address which is also the one on the electoral roll. They might show a recent address change from garden flat to the main address, but that shouldn't have a negative impact, it will be rather positive (the two addresses will be linked on your credit file so you're not losing history).


ps. there's an Experian rep who answers questions on this forum, check with them too.

I'm just not sure that's possible. We have our own electricity meters etc and own phone connection so I don't think the companies would let us just say we live at the main house, but charge us separarately. I seem to remember this was an issue when we got our BT connection.

Also, even if I was to change my address to the main house now, presumably I'd only be able to associate one of the previous addresses with it - either garden flat or lower ground? The better solution would be if Experian etc. would recognise variants of the same address. Do you know how I go about contacting the Experian rep on this forum?

Tixy

You cannot pm the experian representative direct, though one of the may search for their name and come across this thread.

Alternatively you could contact experian customer services and see if they are able to add these variants of your address.

You probably need to also look at your equifax and callcredit files as you may have the same issue with them and need to go through the same process.

The other option for the elec meter, phone etc is to change the account to your name, main house address but for the account to be 'in respect of electricity supplied to garden flat @ main address'.