Hi all, basically I’m signed up to Experian and have been for quite some time, my credit rating has always been excellent and even now is classed as excellent (rated 999 out of 1000) and I’ve never had a problem getting credit, now the problem I am having is that just recently I applied for something and got knocked back, when I enquired as to why I was told that I should check out my Equifax report.

I did this and was appalled to find that this report was pretty much rock bottom, on further investigation I found that I scored excellent in all the different criteria except the electoral role section ( I have recently moved and just re registered a few months ago). Since then equifax have acknowledged the electoral registration and subsequently revised my credit score up by twenty measly points (still rated poor).

When I phoned customer services to question this I was told that i need to have lived at the new address for several years to appease creditors and that creditors don’t see my report and don’t know my credit score, to which I ask the question – what is the point of these companies?

Has anyone had the same problems and if so how can I get this sorted as I feel I am being held to ransom simply because I’ve moved house!

I had a similar problem last year when adding a savings account to my current account (as a holder of 15 yrs). Turns out the bank run different checks to the norm and were apparently ‘informed’ that I wasn’t on the electoral roll. Complete BS. Called council and they confirmed I/we were on the roll and even sent me letters stating exactly this. Checked my record with Equifax et al and nothing showed up as an issue, i.e. there I was as living at current address for 5 yrs. Nothing I could do though. Had to walk into bank and show ID to prove I was an existing customer and get account opened.

A BS process if you ask me.

You can probably add a notice (little written note explaining what’s happened) to your Equifax statement (and the others). Costs nothing but a few minutes. Will probably be ignored by any computerised checks though. Not sure what else you can do TBH.

the ‘credit score’ these companies offer up on the web is a load of rubbish, no companies that offer credit use that score. All companies that offer credit will have their own credit scoring system based on criteria and their experience of customers. The ‘purpose’ of these companies is to hold info about you and your credit history, if you’ve missed any payments for example which help lenders decide if they want to lend to you. If you’ve been knocked back for credit that’s as a result of the company’s where you’ve applied credit scoring system and not equifax or experian.