Flat Address Issue - Post Office and Council use different formats

Nitrior

I have an issue with the Council and Post Office storing my address in different formats.

After buying and moving into a flat I was confused that I could no longer get credit. The first issue is (Edinburgh) council store my address in the format:
10 (2f1) Anonymous Street
Edinburgh
(Building no 10, 2nd floor flat 1)

But the Post Office store my address as
10/6 Anonymous Street
Edinburgh
(Building no 10 6th flat)

Both addresses are correct but most of my accounts are with the post office 10/6 format. Its not just me its everyone in my postcode (and everyone in Edinburgh I guess? I sit a wider issue too?)
But! My bank, mortgage and electoral register are all at the other address format 10(2f1). It means according to clearscore i'm not on the electoral register, they also have no record of my mortgage. How can I get these two address formats to match, or at least be included as the same thing?

To make matters worse, my previous address includes just 10 Anonymous street (ie the whole building) and I suspect my credit report is picking up the former owner's mortgage that defaulted on my flat which was a repossession. I have no idea how to clean up the mess!

boo_star

Nitrior wrote: »

I have an issue with the Council and Post Office storing my address in different formats.

After buying and moving into a flat I was confused that I could no longer get credit. The first issue is (Edinburgh) council store my address in the format:
10 (2f1) Anonymous Street
Edinburgh
(Building no 10, 2nd floor flat 1)

But the Post Office store my address as
10/6 Anonymous Street
Edinburgh
(Building no 10 6th flat)

Both addresses are correct but most of my accounts are with the post office 10/6 format. Its not just me its everyone in my postcode (and everyone in Edinburgh I guess? I sit a wider issue too?)
But! My bank, mortgage and electoral register are all at the other address format 10(2f1). It means according to clearscore i'm not on the electoral register, they also have no record of my mortgage. How can I get these two address formats to match, or at least be included as the same thing?

To make matters worse, my previous address includes just 10 Anonymous street (ie the whole building) and I suspect my credit report is picking up the former owner's mortgage that defaulted on my flat which was a repossession. I have no idea how to clean up the mess!

They should base it on the Royal Mail address. Could you point this out to the council because it appears they are in the wrong?

Anthorn

Similar problem: My flat is on a corner with the main entrance in one street and the side entrance on the other street. Both Royal Mail and the local Council use the main street address and energy companies use the side street address. I use the main street address and if the energy companies can't find me that's their problem. But I keep a close eye on my bills.

Norman_Castle

Similar problem. I live in a flat in one of two semi detached houses. The council has three addresses for me. 1/10-12 my street. 1/10 my street and 10 my street. This caused problems for the council when council tax was introduced and recently problems with bin collections. Its also been queried by utility companies and others.
Councils should use royal mails format as this is countrywide rather than their own or an individual employees interpretation of addresses.

OP Contact your council and ask them to change your address format.

onetwothreefourfive

This is standard for anyone in a tenement flat in Edinburgh, and I think other cities in Scotland too. 2F1 is the traditional tenement number, and flat 4 is the modern numbering.
(In fact at my last flat Scottish Power had their own third version and described the flat as 2R)

It is a pain. If you contact the credit agencies they might fix it (eventually). When I was buying my flat (lived in a rented tenement) I sent several emails to the credit agencies and a letter from the Lothian Valuation Board and eventually they fixed my file.

I think the credit rating agencies really ought to do more to address the problem.
I am not sure that the Council should just use the Royal Mail's format- as in this case the Council's format came first...also the Royal Mail's format uses "/" which causes problems as many systems won't accept "/".

Nitrior

Thanks for the replies. I thought that it was a fairly common issue at least in Edinburgh.. You would think the credit agencies could deal with it. But maybe that's why the average credit score in the area is so bad.

DCFC79

Nitrior wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I thought that it was a fairly common issue at least in Edinburgh.. You would think the credit agencies could deal with it. But maybe that's why the average credit score in the area is so bad.

But the score is only seen by you and you only.

ryanm8655

Have this issue...My credit files show me linked to 470 addresses...

Nitrior

Ok so assuming the council and post office aren't going to align their databases. How did others resolve this. Do I need to speak with the credit score agencies, Clearscore etc or with the organisations, banks etc?

beecher2

You'd think the council would use the Post Office address. My flat in Glasgow is called 2/1 or 2L by different agencies (which can be a nightmare when systems don't allow you to type in /) but the council uses the Post Office's 2/1. I'd email your councillors on this one.

creditagenciesareajoke

This issue has had me tearing my hair out over the years. I've scoured the internet to figure out how everyone else gets through it and the best strategy I've come up with is to register all accounts at the address in the format that I'm on the electoral roll, some allow you to do this online and some you need to phone or write to, the agencies can then put the post office format of the address as a linked address on your file and then it takes a fair bit of work and persuasion for the 3 agencies to make sure that they've got your file correct, ie stating that you're on the electoral roll and including all your accounts.


Callcredit are a nightmare though as they only accept the Post Office address so all online reports are blank and I can only get the proper report when I write to them and fill out a form for the £2 statutory report.


It's a real hassle and very annoying of Edinburgh council to insist on using a different format. I still get some pretty odd eligibility checker scores and the off rejection for cards etc with near perfect credit and I think it must be related to this issue in some way.