To alter incorrect electoral address info or not?

dellboy102

Hi
This is kinda hard to explain but here goes:
I ordered a copy of my credit file from experian and equifax, everything was fine except I noticed that instead of showing me living at my current address since dec 2000 it showed oct 2002 , I phone up the relevant dept at the council and was told electoral role information cannot be altered and I Can contact the credit reference agencies and tell them to leave a note explaining the mis-information.

What has this to do with credit cards you say?, well I'm planning to apply for a student acct with credit card for students from HSBC and rather then explaining at length about how I had lived at my address longer then it seems shall I just say I have been living at my address since 10/2002, I mean when they look it up on credit file thats whats going to show anyway and I think it'll be less complicated if I just say that date rather then mention the real datre, I have no plans to leave any notes on my credit files. I Reckon that if I say I've lived at my address for 5 years and it appears to be untrue that it cant be good for credit scoring when applying for credit.



What do you guys think?, Thanks in advance for any advice (also a special thx to "grumbler" who has helped me in both instances)

Hope this all made sense, if not just ask and I'll try to explain it better!

Galstonian

I think I would agree. I would say the impact of 5 years as opposed 3 years at the same address is minimal whereas a note on your credit file means it is unlikely you will pass any kind of automatic underwriting systems. For the sake of not being difficult the white lie might be worth it. The only caveat to that would be that there was nothing negative which could be associated to you at your previous adress between 2000-2002

dellboy102

The only caveat to that would be that there was nothing negative which could be associated to you at your previous adress between 2000-2002

what do you mean?, I know there is nothing negative associated as me as I have never taken any serious credit (I didnt even take advantage of any student loans!) + credit card is paid in full via DD every month so I doubt it, if thats what you meant.
Thx for the reply

Galstonian

I didn't say it had to be yours, just associated with you. You say your reports are clean but it may be worth asking for copies run specifically against your old address, I have seen things appear at an old address that were not on my current report.

dellboy102

Thanks galstonian , I'll apply for the HSBC student acct once we're into oct as then it'll be exactly 3 years.