Alternative to Electoral Roll?

Sophietherese

Hi,

Being a USA citizen living in Northern Ireland with my Irish-citizen husband means that he is on the electoral roll and I am not eligible to be. This means that when he and I both apply for the same credit card with the same income, he gets a credit limit of £1600 and I get £800 (at best).

We are looking to buy a house in the near future, and I am worried that my not being on the electoral roll is going to prevent us from getting a mortgage. He could apply for the mortgage himself, but then my income won't be taken into account. 

I have a perfect payment history and very low credit utilisation (5%-15%), but because of the electoral roll issue, my credit rating hovers at the border between "fair" and "good."

I understand this is an issue only in Northern Ireland as I would be eligible to vote in England and Scotland (and I think Wales), but does anyone know of an alternative to the electoral roll so that my husband and I can finally move our family out of our awful rental? We can't even get a new rental because landlords consider me "risky" due entirely to the electoral roll issue.

Thanks in advance. 

[Deleted User]

The fair / good rating is irrelevant as no-one sees it unlike the US scoring system.

The best way to improve your situation is to use your low limit credit card every month, pay it off in full after the statement, keep doing that for a while. Get a SIM only mobile contract, pay every month on time. 

There is no alternative to the electoral roll as it is the UK voting register and if you are not eligible then you will never get on it.

The mortgage will come down to many factors including your deposit, your earnings etc, that isn't likely to be stopped by the ER issue if you have a UK bank, pay tax and otherwise have a good credit history which you can build up as above

Shanwick

Don't be concerned about not being on the electoral roll. 

In the USA it is common for mortgage loans to be sold on by the loan originator thus the originators often (but not always) use one of the standard FICO scores when evaluating applications in order to ensure that the loan can subsequently be bundled up and sold on. In the UK many mortgage lenders hold the loans for their duration so each lender tends to use their own evaluation methods. It may be worth looking at how you can make it easy for a lender to say "yes".  e.g. Do you use a mortgage lending entity for your general banking? Having sight of regular salary deposits and the growth of your savings account as you save for a deposit could be one way to make it easier for a prospective lender to agree to your first mortgage. 

landsbeyondthesea

Sophietherese said:

I understand this is an issue only in Northern Ireland as I would be eligible to vote in England and Scotland (and I think Wales)

Anybody legally resident in Scotland and Wales is eligible to vote in their local elections (including elections to the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments), but this is not the case in Northern Ireland or England where different rules apply. I have no idea if registration details for voters ineligible for UK general elections make their way to Credit Reference Agencies.

In any case I'm sure a mortgage broker can help you out with some good advice when the time comes.