Help with electoral roll address issue.

Halloweencat

Hi. I wonder if anyone can advise me on this issue, because I feel completely lost as to how to sort it out. I was applying for my first ever credit building card to build up some credit history but was rejected. I have also had issue in trying to create a new savings account with Atom bank, they were also unable to verify my ID despite supplying them with all the documents they asked for. I have since requested my statutory report from all 3 major agencies, which was difficult in itself as they also said they could not verify who I was at first.

I can now see my statutory reports, and the one issue on all of them seems to be that I do not appear on the electoral roll at my current address to any of them. I know I am definitely listed on it as I have voted in the last two general elections since moving into this address 3 years ago. I have contacted my local electoral officials who confirmed I AM listed on it. I have tracked down the issue to a mismatch of my address format. The issue seems to be that my local council (Highland Council) spells my road name in the Gaelic spelling, while the Royal Mail (and the credit agencies themselves in the drop down boxes you use to specify your address) use the English spelling of the street name. I've been in contact with the credit agencies and they say that if there is an error with the address to contact my local electoral roll office to get it corrected. I then contacted the said office, but the issue isn't that the address is incorrect, it's that two different spellings exist! They directed me to Gazetteer service Scotland whom they draw their address information from, I am yet to hear back from them at all. I had since thought maybe I could specify the address that I'm listed under on the electoral roll via the credit agencies and re-apply, but the spelling used on the electoral roll doesn't even appear in the list of addresses to choose from. So I don't know who I go to to correct this? My bank and utilities all use the Anglicized spelling, I can't change all of those over to use the spelling my council uses because it generally doesn't appear on the drop down selection boxes of any of these companies.

I was aware that I likely had very little history as I lived with my parents for a long time - I have a limiting illness and haven't had the ability to have an extended time in employment, or the need for credit myself. It's only been three years since I moved out and have been able to be more independent on benefits and able to start paying all my own utility bills. Of which I've always kept up to date.) It's just getting me down a bit that I can't seem to get this issue sorted out and have the ability to build up a healthy credit score of my own. Any guidance on how to approach this would be greatly appreciated. Apologies for the length of this post! 

MaryNB

I understand your frustration! I had a similar issue. I lived in a two storey flat. Royal Mail used "Ground floor" for the address, the council used "Basement and ground floor". So much hassle trying to sort it, my credit files were a mess. Although at least it was easier to determine it was the same address. The difficultly with yours is that the address is in a different language so people can't match it.

Most companies use the Royal Mail database so they wouldn't have the council version if it's different and will stick with using the Royal Mail database. Have you got any documentation from the council or royal mail proving the address is the same but just two different languages? 
Would you be able to get proof the addresses are the same, along with the letter proving you are on the electoral roll and send it to the credit rating agencies to see if they can manually sort it? I got one of the credit rating agencies to manually add my other address as a "linked" address on my file and it pulled up some missing financial information. 

You can correct an address via Royal Mail but not sure how easy it is if the whole thing is in a different language and if your neighbours still use the english language version. Have any of your neighbours had a similar issue and managed to resolve it?

macman

Don't worry about 'building a healthy credit score'. It's a fictitious number that lenders don't even see. What they see is your credit history.

Halloweencat

Thanks very much for the replies After your suggestion Mary I'm now in touch with my local council authority department that deals with the address database to see if they can give me a letter or some proof to show these two spellings are in fact the same property, hopefully I'll hear something positive back from them soon, as I'm yet to hear any more from the credit agencies. My neighbours in the same street all also have the Gaelic spelling as their address on the Council details too so presumably they may have also had issues, though they are for the most part retired and may have had previous credit histories while living at other addresses in the past.

I'm not so worried about a score now I know it's less important thanks, but I'm worried that I have zero credit history at all, and having some would be helpful I thought? After I found out I have no correct listing on the electoral roll with the agencies I think that's more important to fix. That was likely the reason I've been unable to apply for any products while I was presuming it was my lack of history? I'm unsure but it was good to know I'm not the only one with these frustrating issues! Thanks again.