Experian not updating electoral records for many months - preventing mortgage

Unity99

I registered on the electoral roll on April 14th 2015, and as of today my Experian report still shows that I'm not on the electoral roll. We've just put an offer in on a house and have been given 2 weeks by the vendor to get our mortgage decision in principle otherwise it will go back on the market. However, the mortgage company won't lend without my electoral status showing on my Experian report.

i've called Experian several times over the past few months. Initially i was told it would take 6 - 8 weeks from the date I registered. After this period I was told it can take a little more than 2 months, but should most definitely be on their records by end of June.

Beginning of July and still nothing. I called Experian last week. Unhelpful lady checked the records and said that they hadn't received any electoral updates from Colchester Borough Council since March. So I spoke to the Council. They said that they sent credit information at the end of April, so Experian would have had it since May. Who to believe?

Well, I checked my Equifax report and, lo and behold, it says I'm on the electoral register!

Rang Experian back and finally spoke to someone honest. He said that it is Experian that hasn't updated the electoral information from the council since March, and that Equifax have just been much quicker updating their records. He said he would put an urgent request through to the back office to get them to do it after I explained the situation about the house and mortgage.

However, I checked my report again today and still nothing.

Very worried we will lose the house now and all because Experian haven't updated vital records in months.

If you're in the same situation, phone your council, check they've sent the information (most send it monthly) to the credit agencies, and then get on the phone to Experian. I think complaining is the only way to get anything done.

It's a shame because the Experian report is otherwise excellent.

HappyMJ

Go to another lender. You don't need to appear on any electoral roll to get a mortgage. What if you were not a UK citizen but had indefinite leave to remain? That person cannot be on the electoral roll but can work and live in the UK. What if you've just turned 18? You won't be on the electoral roll yet. What if you're living in temporary accommodation and just not got around to moving your life to that address. It doesn't make sense. I took out a mortgage with the Royal Bank of Scotland. I did not appear on any electoral roll at that time. So my advice instead of chasing some bureaucrat to do their work in the council is just to find another lender.

Unity99

Thanks for your reply but it doesn't help in our situation - because myself and my husband are both company directors with a certain number of years accounts we are only eligible for a mortgage with one lender - we've been to two independent mortgage advisers and two high street banks.

If you're employed, no problem. Self employed or company director and mortgage options are very, very limited.

Unfortunately they one option we have require us both to be on the electoral roll.

GingerBob_3

Why not get other evidence that you're on the electoral roll? If the CRAs aren't up to the job, get a letter from the council. Surely the lender would accept that? Then again ... jobsworths?

HappyMJ

Unity99 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply but it doesn't help in our situation - because myself and my husband are both company directors with a certain number of years accounts we are only eligible for a mortgage with one lender - we've been to two independent mortgage advisers and two high street banks.

If you're employed, no problem. Self employed or company director and mortgage options are very, very limited.

Unfortunately they one option we have require us both to be on the electoral roll.

Quite interesting as I am also self employed...well an employee of the company that I am the director/owner of but effectively still self employed and pretty much the whole market is available to me. There must be something else...I didn't even have accounts. I only had a contract stating what I would charge the client and that secured the mortgage...along with a 25% deposit. Even the contract was only 4 weeks old....although I had previous clients none of that was disclosed to the lender.

Unity99

Thanks. I've got a letter from the council but the mortgage company won't accept it - as you say, jobsworths.

Spoke to another lady at Experian who said that the person that told me they'd put an urgent request through to the back office was just fobbing me off as they can't do that - it's a queuing system and I'll just have to wait. She said to scan through a copy of the council confirmation letter and they *may* update it in 5-10 working days.

I get a different answer every time I ring up!

Unity99

HappyMJ wrote: »

Quite interesting as I am also self employed...well an employee of the company that I am the director/owner of but effectively still self employed and pretty much the whole market is available to me. There must be something else...I didn't even have accounts. I only had a contract stating what I would charge the client and that secured the mortgage...along with a 25% deposit. Even the contract was only 4 weeks old....although I had previous clients none of that was disclosed to the lender.

Thanks MJ. It depends on loads of things - company status, length of service, what industry you're in, what type of accounts and how long, etc. Also depends who you bank with - Nationwide said they could have lended to us if we were existing customers (of at least one year). Two independents both came down to the one mortgage advisor.

Thrugelmir

Unity99 wrote: »

I registered on the electoral roll on April 14th 2015, and as of today my Experian report still shows that I'm not on the electoral roll.

What about the past few years though? Lack of recent registration shouldn't be an issue. Lack of previous history may well be an issue.

Experian_company_representative

Hi Unity99.

Experian does receive the rolling registers from local authorities monthly, and we update from these as quickly as we can. Due to the amount of information it can sometimes take longer than we intend, and I am sorry that this has been the case for you.

I can take a look into this for you and find out what is happening with the requests that you have sent to us. Please [EMAIL="uksocialsupport@experian.com"]email[/EMAIL] your details (name, DOB, address) to me so I can help with this.

Kind regards
Neil

Unity99

Thanks for your response Neil, I've sent an email to you as requested.

Unity99

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Unity99.

Experian does receive the rolling registers from local authorities monthly, and we update from these as quickly as we can. Due to the amount of information it can sometimes take longer than we intend, and I am sorry that this has been the case for you.

I can take a look into this for you and find out what is happening with the requests that you have sent to us. Please [EMAIL="uksocialsupport@experian.com"]email[/EMAIL] your details (name, DOB, address) to me so I can help with this.

Kind regards
Neil

I'd like to thank Neil at Experian's social support team and Andreas DeSilva, a customer service representative at Experian - the only two helpful an knowledgable people I spoke with at the company. My electoral status is now showing on my report thanks to them.