Building A Credit History From Scratch

gemmalmeaton

Hello, 
I am in a similar situation, but none of the credit rating agencies recognise that I exist- they cannot find me at all. I am perplexed as I have been here for over 2 years now. Here is the longer version:

I moved back to the UK in 2019 from abroad. I was in the UK in 2008-2009 while at Uni and before that pre-2002 when I was a minor, and was born here. I was married outside the UK and changed my name. 

I have had a UK bank account the entire time (was told I have been banking with them for 29 years) at a main high street bank. When I arrived back I changed my name on the bank account to my married name, changed my passport name, driving license and informed HMRC of the change. I put myself on the ER, have registered for all utilities, car insurance and been paying Council Tax all on time and up to date. I was offered a credit card by my bank which I took and have been using sparingly and paying in full every month. 

My husband arrived here a year ago ( was not born in the UK and although a UK passport holder has never lived here before) and added his name to the utilities etc did all the same things and HAS now managed to register with the credit ratings agencies and has recently got a phone on contract. 

BUT- I don’t exist??!!!! Every time I try to register on this platform or ClearScore or Experian it says my identity can’t be verified. I have had two addresses here since I’ve been back which I am putting in just the same as my husband is doing (both rented in my own name privately). How is this possible, I’m at a total and complete loss??? What can I do further? I am very worried because we would soon like to be buying a house and applying for a mortgage and I am the main income earner, and at the moment even though I am doing all the right things I don’t think I’m building my credit rating at all? 

[Deleted User]

What have they said in response to your dispute?

In the meantime, check TransUnion.

gemmalmeaton

Deleted_User said:

What have they said in response to your dispute?

In the meantime, check TransUnion.

Thanks I’ll check TransUnion.

I haven’t raised a dispute on any of the others as there is no mechanism that I can see to do so, Experian for example just say ‘we’re working to verify your identity and will email you within 5 days’ nothing ever comes through and there is no way that I can see to get past this. I’ll see if there is any other way to contact them and come back on this forum if I get anywhere.

PRAISETHESUN

gemmalmeaton said:

Deleted_User said:

What have they said in response to your dispute?

In the meantime, check TransUnion.

Thanks I’ll check TransUnion.

I haven’t raised a dispute on any of the others as there is no mechanism that I can see to do so, Experian for example just say ‘we’re working to verify your identity and will email you within 5 days’ nothing ever comes through and there is no way that I can see to get past this. I’ll see if there is any other way to contact them and come back on this forum if I get anywhere.

You need to raise a formal complaint with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Ultimately they should request ID documents from you to verify your identity - offer to provide these if they do not ask for them. Once that's sorted it should be straightforward to get access to your file.

gemmalmeaton

gemmalmeaton said:

Deleted_User said:

What have they said in response to your dispute?

In the meantime, check TransUnion.

Thanks I’ll check TransUnion.

I haven’t raised a dispute on any of the others as there is no mechanism that I can see to do so, Experian for example just say ‘we’re working to verify your identity and will email you within 5 days’ nothing ever comes through and there is no way that I can see to get past this. I’ll see if there is any other way to contact them and come back on this forum if I get anywhere.

I’ve managed to access my TransUnion Credit  Report but the only entry is the car insurance for one car ( only started this one two months ago) that’s on a monthly payment (the other I bought for the whole year) no other information is on there. Their credit score system (credit karma) says my credit report is too thin to verify my identity too, in the same was as Equifax and Experian. I’ve opened a dispute to try and get them to add other information (like my credit card) to the report. I guess I need to wait 28 days for them to get back to me. 

Nightmare, but at least I’m getting somewhere. Thanks for the steer and I hope this helps someone else to navigate this snake put.