Not on the electoral roll? You must register to get credit!

madein83

gglaze wrote: »

Seriously? What does willingness to convert to British nationality have to do with credit worthiness? If you are from the USA, I believe this would require giving up your American passport to get a UK one.

I totally agree. I'm a UK citizen, but the situation is similar abroad. I tried establishing US credit too, but the lack of social security # was a stumbling block... although they are more lenient about handing those out to permanent residences vs. "people who just do business in the US and visit often".

With that said (and not that you should have to), why don't you get a British passport anyway?

You wouldn't have to give up your American one. Both countries recognise dual-citizenship. There's no tax/military burden with having a British passport. All it means is that if you ever committed a serious crime in the UK, you would lose US consular protection.

You can apply when you've been living in the UK permanently for 5 years, or 3 years if you're partnered with a British citizen.

Plus it's just nice to have a British passport anyway for EU travel

gglaze

madein83 wrote: »

With that said (and not that you should have to), why don't you get a British passport anyway?

You wouldn't have to give up your American one. Both countries recognise dual-citizenship.

Thanks..

But whilst I think you may be correct for the UK, I am fairly certain that is not the case at all for US citizens. My understanding is that there is no dual citizenship at all when it comes to US citizens, and once you decide to take any foreign passport, you must give up your US passport. By correlation, someone from the UK deciding to get a US nationality (and passport) would therefore also have to relinquish their UK passport. Someone please correct me if I am mistaken.

I know plenty of people here in the UK with dual passports - such as UK + France, UK + Italy, UK + Hong Kong, even UK + Russia, etc. From what I've understood, those are all ok. But the very few people I know with UK + US all seem to be well aware that they need to fly under the radar with that, particularly when entering back into the US. They all seem to have some interesting story about how they managed to get themselves into that situation, such as being born in the US, then being brought back to the UK with their family as a baby, getting the UK passport, but then being able to come back a few years later to get their US passport because of their birth certificate, and then hanging on to both and keeping it quiet. So I'm almost certain that US + anything is actually not possible through any legal/official means.

...Oh and for the record...yes of course I would if I could, just to avoid the horrendous queues at the airports if for no other reason!

madein83

gglaze wrote: »

Thanks..

But whilst I think you may be correct for the UK, I am fairly certain that is not the case at all for US citizens. My understanding is that there is no dual citizenship at all when it comes to US citizens, and once you decide to take any foreign passport, you must give up your US passport. By correlation, someone from the UK deciding to get a US nationality (and passport) would therefore also have to relinquish their UK passport. Someone please correct me if I am mistaken.

http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/faqs/faq_citizenship.html

"Can I hold more than one passport or nationality? Yes. In the 1980's, the Supreme Court ruled that citizenship is a constitutional right that cannot be taken away from a citizen who does not intend to relinquish it. Therefore, such actions as naturalization in a foreign country, employment with a foreign government, and/or voting in a foreign election do not automatically jeopardize American citizenship. However, please note that all U.S. citizens, even dual nationals, must enter and depart the United States on U.S. passports."

gglaze

Thanks, I guess it is all a huge urban myth then! Honestly I had no idea about this, might seriously have a look into it soon...

madein83

gglaze wrote: »

Thanks, I guess it is all a huge urban myth then! Honestly I had no idea about this, might seriously have a look into it soon...

Personally, I'd grab whatever second passport you have available to you!

I have an American friend who was lucky enough to have Irish, Italian and Polish ancestry. Each of those countries offer passports based on lineage... and he now has 4 of them!

It's quite a common situation for an American (or anyone) to have second citizenships. I know of plenty. Even places like Australia, which historically didn't recognise dual-citizenship, has amended its law books to allow for the changing geographic influx.

The only law that I know of is as quoted above - use your US passport when flying in and out of the US. Otherwise, enjoy your rights to vote and travel the EU freely!

Nine_Lives

Right - just tried printing off the .pdf with the personal details & it's not printing at all.

Page 1 prints fine - straight, but misses bits off the bottom

Page 2 was all skew wiff and also missed bits off the bottom, including the signature part.

???

persa

Nine_Lives wrote: »

Right - just tried printing off the .pdf with the personal details & it's not printing at all.

Page 1 prints fine - straight, but misses bits off the bottom

Page 2 was all skew wiff and also missed bits off the bottom, including the signature part.

???

Same problem here.

Although, I was recently offered £7k of credit without being on the electoral roll...

firsttimerbuyer1

Hi

I've recently applied for a mortgage but been offered a lesser amount possibly due to only being on the electoral role from 2007-2011 at a home I've been living at since 2005.

Today I successfully registered online using the online service for my Borough Council.

Does anybody know if his will make any difference being on it from today or are lenders looking for the past?

Also I was told by my council that the credit report won't get updated until Feb 2014 anyway. Is there anyway I can prove to lenders I'm now on? What I can't understand is that credit cards etc, bank statements etc have all been registered to the same address for 8 years so why the importance on the electoral role?

Tixy

firsttimerbuyer1 wrote: »

Hi

I've recently applied for a mortgage but been offered a lesser amount possibly due to only being on the electoral role from 2007-2011 at a home I've been living at since 2005.

Has the lender said that this is the reason you were offered a reduced amount?

The electoral roll isn't updated now until 1 Feb, so you won't be on the register until then. Then it could take another month or so for that to be reflected on your credit file.

I doubt the mortgage lender would pay much attention to the council confirmation that you have now registered to be on the e/r.

firsttimerbuyer1

Hi Tixy

No, not specifically, they just said 'credit'.

But since I've got a 999 Experian rating and never missing a payment in 6 years my broker thinks this may the reason.

I'm thinking it may be because I've got 5 unused credit cards at '0' balance amounting to £40,000 unused credit though, although the broker doesn't think so.

I've been told I wont be able to close them down in time though even though I have made it clear I don't need them and will do so as soon as possible. Problem is by the time that hits my credit report the vendors of the house we have placed an offer on will prob want to put it back on the market