Little credit for being in two places at once

I ordered a £552 television from Comet using my Timecard and interest-free credit. My credit application was declined, even though I had already twice bought more expensive items this way.

GE Capital, which bought Time, blamed confusion over my address. I live in Orvis Lane, although the entrance is on White Horse Road. They told me to reapply from White Horse Road but I was again declined and advised that doing this had adversely affected my credit status.

I bought the TV without credit and paid £29.95 for connection and tuning, but this was not done. A promised refund never appeared.
TP, Colchester

GE says it declined your credit application because you used 'a number of different versions of your address'. That is illogical because you had used only one address when it first turned you down and Time had already granted you credit at that address. You used the second, incorrect, address only because GE staff told you to.

Experian, the credit reference agency, has found the problem: the Post Office and local authority disagree about your address and gave the house two different postcodes. No one knows why, because the Post Office (which prefers Orvis Lane) gets its information from the local authority (which chooses White Horse Road).

Even so, the local authority has now agreed to adopt Orvis Lane. Contact the local authority, request the change and send a copy of the confirmation to the credit reference agencies.

GE is sending you a cheque for £29.95 and removing the credit searches from your file.

Taxing return to the seaside

I bought a property in Brighton eight years ago that has been rented out since I moved in with my partner six years ago. The relationship recently broke down and I may move back to Brighton, but the flat is small so I want to buy a house instead.

How long do I have to live in my flat before I am exempt from capital gains tax?
GB, London

You will not avoid the possibility of capital gains tax, however long you move back for, although how much (if anything) you have to pay depends on when you sell, how much the flat has increased in value, and how much you can deduct for charges, lettings relief and the annual CGT exemption.

Oddly, you will pay less tax if you sell without moving back, unless you stay for a long time. You do not pay CGT while the flat is your main residence and, on top of the two years you have lived there so far, you can add the final three years before you sell, whether you live there or not.

That means, if you sold now, without moving back, you can exclude five of the eight years you have owned it and you are not charged for three of the years it was rented out. CGT would be calculated on three-eighths of the increased value between purchase and sale. If you move back for three years and then sell, you live in the flat during the 'last three years' rule so would be taxed on all six years that you rented out the flat - in total, six-elevenths. If you stayed for eight years, CGT is based on six-sixteenths.

You can further reduce the CGT bill by deducting certain costs and you can claim lettings relief while it was rented out.

Mortgage on the wrong track

We took a Halifax tracker mortgage in February 2001, lasting until December 2005. I recently discovered that in April 2001 we were changed to another product with a capped rate of interest which lasted only two months and, since that expired, we have been on a worse rate.
SW, London

You chose to move from the tracker because you wrongly assumed that moving on to a variable rate after two months would be the same as the tracker rate.

Halifax says it is unusual to sell a product lasting only two months but does so if customers ask for it.

The bank appreciates your misunderstanding and, as you are a long-standing customer, has agreed to put you back on to the original tracker mortgage. Your monthly payments will come down and the overpayments you have already made will be used to reduce the loan.

Bargain of a lifetime

My wife and I have worked in Africa for the past 13 years. My wife is now a full-time mother and we plan to return to the UK.

Since 1990, neither of us has paid voluntary national insurance contributions. We could now pay the arrears but is it really worthwhile, as it would add up to a significant amount of money?
GA, Kampala

There is no question. This is the best bargain you can buy. You can catch up on six past years' contributions. Class 3 contributions from 1996/97 to 2003/04 cost £2,693 in total (you don't have to pay it all at once) and the basic state pension is currently £4,027 a year, which, after retiring, you could receive for 30 years. An annuity to provide the same pension costs about £80,000.

You will still be missing some years, so you will not get the full pension, losing roughly 2 per cent for each missed year.

As you are employed, you can get an even better deal if you pay Class 2 contributions, which cost £104 a year yet earn the same state pension. But you do need a three-year contribution track record to be eligible.

You can check your record with a state pension forecast available on www.thepensionservice.gov.uk, find out more by phoning the Inland Revenue (from abroad on 44 191 225 481) and reading its leaflet RD171 on www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk Adviser Wilfred T. Fry's website includes a leaflet for expatriates on NICs.

A novel complaint

I paid QPD book club £4.24 for books that arrived last October when I was quite ill. I paid in December but today am faced with threats for £192 from a debt collector.
HA, Lisburn

QPD admits to being unsympathetic, has cleared your account and waived the rule that you have to buy more than five books to qualify for the special price.

· Email Margaret Dibben at money.writes@observer.co.uk or write to Margaret Dibben, Money Writes, The Observer, 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER and include a telephone number. Do not enclose SAEs or original documents. Letters are selected for publication and we cannot give personal replies. The newspaper accepts no legal responsibility for advice.