Gap in Electoral Register

Lucus_2

I have been refused credit and after receiving my credit report from Experian I can see that the only problem is that I went back-packing for 12 months whilst renting my house out. I have been at my address for 5.5 years and was removed from the electoral role during the period I was away.


One lender said that they will only deal with people that have been UK residents for at least 3 years. My angle of this is that I am a UK resident and just took a long holiday!


I have had lots of credit over the last 10 years and have completed payments perfectly.


When I applied for a loan recently I informed the operator of the situation at the beginning of the call and he said that he would put this info in the notes of the application, but was then refused immediately after the initial address details were taken from me.


Is there any advice that you can offer me please?

Voyager2002

And are you back on the electoral roll now? How recently did you return? It might be worth having a word with the electoral registration officer of your local council to see if they can do anything to help.

If all else fails, console yourself by remembering how much interest you will save as a result of not borrowing.

mrsplinter

You can now join the electoral register at any time of the year it is now updated an a rolling basis, so if you apply now you can be registered within six weeks or so.

I am sure you are still considered a UK resident despite being out of the for a year. You had a property here and it wasn't permanent or indefinite. The inland revenue has definitions of UK residence and lots of rules and tests to do with tax. I think the question about uk residency on forms is designed more for non-UK citizens as they don't tend to ask if you are British when applying for credit. I guess they would be concerned about people with few ties to this country. If you were not a UK resident then where were you a resident of? You would have to spend a considerable amount of time in one country and a lot of backpackers go to several.

thebaroness

I don't think they're saying you're not a UK resident/citizen, but you haven't resided in the UK for the last 3 years. Obviously any lender has no way to trace your activity outside the UK so, from their point of view, you could have got yourself into any amount of debt while abroad. How long have you been back in the UK? I think some lenders are flexible, if you've been back for, say, two/two and a half years I think it's a bit harsh to penalise you. Are we talking about all credit (credit cards etc) or higher balance loans?

UK007BullDog

are you 100% your credit record is ok? go get your report.

Retired_I.F.A.

Stop borrowing money and learn to live within your means.