MBNA: 'citizen' & 'resident' not the same!

Arrgghh....so frustrated. MBNA will not give hubby and I a Virgin Amex. Why, you ask? Well, b/c we are not on the registered voters list. Why not? Because we are not UK citizens. We are, however, legal residents who live here full-time, work, and pay taxes.

All of the information we have seen say the cards are for 'residents of the UK'. However, the folks at MBNA don't seem to understand that it is possible to be a legal resident of the UK without being a citizen. So we can live here, work here, and pay taxes here, but we can't ever have an MBNA credit card unless we get citizenship and therefore, the right to vote. Seems ridiculous IMHO.

Anyway, I suppose there wasn't much of a point to this post other then to vent my frustration with MBNA over this nonsense.

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by stars
Arrgghh....so frustrated. MBNA will not give hubby and I a Virgin Amex. Why, you ask? Well, b/c we are not on the registered voters list. Why not? Because we are not UK citizens. We are, however, legal residents who live here full-time, work, and pay taxes.

All of the information we have seen say the cards are for 'residents of the UK'. However, the folks at MBNA don't seem to understand that it is possible to be a legal resident of the UK without being a citizen. So we can live here, work here, and pay taxes here, but we can't ever have an MBNA credit card unless we get citizenship and therefore, the right to vote. Seems ridiculous IMHO.

Anyway, I suppose there wasn't much of a point to this post other then to vent my frustration with MBNA over this nonsense.

I cant get one either, I am a citizen, I have a UK address but my work info is for the US, it's MBNA, they suck, I know it, you know it, we all know it, but I guess the fee they are paying VS means VS doesn't know it.

[HighFlyer]

I'm surprised MBNA can spell both those words, never mind differentiating between them.

As annoying as it is, i am sure they are right. Most credit card applications say 'UK resident aged 18 or over' when they really mean 'UK resident on the electoral register, aged 18 or over'.

Just console yourself with the thought that while you may not earn as many miles, you wont have to deal with the customer dis-service that is MBNA

Thanks,
Sarah

[mitchja]

I might be wrong here but isn't it something to do with the credit checks that are undertaken wherenever you apply for credit in the UK. Not being on the registered voters list automatically lowers your credit score as it's the first check thats performed isn't it?

Saying that, I only found out a short while ago that your postcode (ie the area you live in) now also has an effect on your credit score as well [:0]

Regards

The other really silly thing is that if you never have credit then your credit score will be poor and and you are unlikely to be able to get a credit card at all!

So dont have a mortgage, loan, overdraft or a credit card and pay all your bills on time and you are a credit risk...sheesh!!![:(!]

Originally posted by MarkJ
The other really silly thing is that if you never have credit then your credit score will be poor and and you are unlikely to be able to get a credit card at all!

So dont have a mortgage, loan, overdraft or a credit card and pay all your bills on time and you are a credit risk...sheesh!!![:(!]

I had this problem when I applied for the old VS MasterCard ([ii] aaah - such fond memories). I have paid my mortgage - thanks to a redundancy payment rather than prudence on my part - and pay off my Visa bill in toto each month. This coupled with no overdraft, loan or outstanding credit agreement made it very difficult for me to get a MC. In fact I had to fax copies my last 3 months bank statements before my case was considered.

Mea culpa, I'm such a bad risk

From what I have read, MBNA customer service is severely lacking, so yes, I can console myself with not having to deal with them!

As for checking the electoral register being a main component of credit checks in the UK, I have to say I don't understand the logic of that at all.

When I lived in the US I worked in an investment bank and was directly responsible for doing credit checks on people to whom the bank was lending millions of dollars. There were ways of dealing with non-US citizens - they were not just excluded on the basis they were foreign. Then again, the bank probably stood to benefit a great deal more from those loans than MBNA would benefit from a credit card holder who pays off their balance in full every month!

Oh well. At least some banks in the UK have it figured out. Believe me, I would not be living here full-time using only a US dollar based credit card! Too bad the card I have only earns Airmiles. Will have to try to learn how to use those. [?]

There are other similar cards out there though. ISTBC but have you looked at the BAA card? I believe you can trasfer BAA worldpoints to FC miles, though you will only get one WP per pound.

Thanks locotus, I will look into that. I'm also going to look into a regular old Amex card, operated by Amex instead of outsourced to a third party (MBNA). I know member rewards points from my US Amex can be converted into VS miles, so maybe the same goes for UK Amex cards. As I have a long, positive relationship with Amex in the US, they may not be as fussed about my not being on the electoral register in the UK.