Credit Card refusal due to Stamp 1 (Work Permit)

Hi all,
I am in Ireland on Stamp 1 (Work Permit) and applying for Irish Naturalisation in May 2014. I am banking with my current Bank from last many years and have savings of 20k+ in current & savings with them, I am married and both of our salaries goes into this bank account. I am having my credit card from other bank and always clear my loans/bills on time. and I thought of applying credit card with my current bank, applied online, got call back and they did ICB check and all came fine but only the point when they asked if I have Stamp 4, the girl then stopped and refused my credit card application as I am holding Stamp 1 which is valid till Apr 2015 and I told them will be applying for Irish Citizenship next month. it was no good to Financial Institution which is bailed out by Irish Tax payers.

It is their policy NOT to grant any credit to a person who is on Stamp 1. On the same time, when I filled application form online, it was never asked If I have Stamp 4 and only person on Stamp 4 can apply!!
My understanding was that a person on Stamp 1 has the same rights as an Irish Worker while his/her Work permit is valid. But this does not the seems the case here. Now while they have plainly refused citing reason, I really worried will it affect my future loan applications, such as if I applied for Mortgage, as this bank made the credit check on me and refused my credit application. Am I allowed to appeal to their decision or am I allowed to go to Financial regulator or they will say same, "We only operate for EU/Irish citizens, Nothing for person working on stamp 1". If they call this would this not discrimination or is it not discrimination refuse credit card to person on Stamp 1, what if all banks started operating on this policy then no Non-Eu national worker will get credit card in Ireland!
I ll move all my money from this bank and will move to a bank which have trust in me and given me credit card of 4150Euro, and I always pay back every month whatever I use.
Thanks in Advance

The problem for the banks is that they have given credit in the past to non-citizens who just leave the country and their debts behind them. It's not practical for the banks to chase the debts.

Does your spouse have a credit card? You could become a named user on theirs.

Brendan

They given credit to everyone

The problem for the banks is that they have given credit in the past to non-citizens who just leave the country and their debts behind them. It's not practical for the banks to chase the debts.

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Well, Same can be said about EU citizens, Many EUs left Ireland since 2008, and I dnt know why they think a Non-EU person on Stamp 4 is more likely to stay in Ireland than a person on stamp 1!!

Does your spouse have a credit card? You could become a named user on theirs.

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Well, I have credit card in my own name and my spouse name is added onto it as authorized user, but it is with different bank, not the bank which I use for daily banking etc. I was doing online banking and saw bank's advertisement 'visa Credit card apply now!' and thought I will get this and this will make my online banking at one place!
Now, I have started transferring my money to other bank account.

There are differences between a stamp 1 and stamp 4. If you were to lose your job on a stamp 1 you would not get social welfare or if you are sick you must have your own med insurance. You wouldn't be entitled to the same supports as a person on a stamp 4 basically. Person on stamp 4 is seen to have the same rights as an Irish citizen.

niceoneted said:

There are differences between a stamp 1 and stamp 4. If you were to lose your job on a stamp 1 you would not get social welfare or if you are sick you must have your own med insurance. You wouldn't be entitled to the same supports as a person on a stamp 4 basically. Person on stamp 4 is seen to have the same rights as an Irish citizen.

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If you have enough contributions made nothing stopping you claiming JB

To qualify for Jobseeker's Benefit, you must pay Class A, H or P PRSI contributions. Class A is the one paid by most private sector employees. Class H is paid by soldiers, reservists and temporary army nurses, who do not qualify for Jobseeker's Benefit until they have left the army. To qualify you need:

• At least 104 weeks PRSI paid since you first started work

And

• 39 weeks PRSI paid or credited in the relevant tax year (a minimum of 13 weeks must be paid contributions*)

Or

• 26 weeks PRSI paid in the relevant tax year and 26 weeks PRSI paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year.

*If you do not have 13 paid contributions in the relevant tax year, you must have paid 13 contributions in any of the following years:

• The 2 tax years before the relevant tax year
• The last complete tax year
• The current tax year.

The Relevant Tax Year is the second last complete tax year before the year in which your claim is made. So, for claims made in 2014, the Relevant Tax Year is 2012.

Was this Ulster Bank by any chance? I moved from stamp 1 to stamp 4 in 2012, applied for citizenship in Aug 2013 and was refused a personal loan with UB as I was on stamp 4 which had to be renewed every year. Their reason was that they needed the stamp in my passport to be valid for the duration of the loan. However when moving from Stamp 1 to 4, it must be renewed until Citizenship, LTR etc is granted. The policy is crazy. I have a mortgage with another bank and a permanent job in the public sector. I ended up getting my loan through the same bank I have mortgage with and didn't have a problem. It's times like that though that you feel like a second class citizen and I was so glad when my citizenship was approved earlier this year just to avoid issues like that.

GlenPa said:

Well, Same can be said about EU citizens, Many EUs left Ireland since 2008, and I dnt know why they think a Non-EU person on Stamp 4 is more likely to stay in Ireland than a person on stamp 1!!

Well, I have credit card in my own name and my spouse name is added onto it as authorized user, but it is with different bank, not the bank which I use for daily banking etc. I was doing online banking and saw bank's advertisement 'visa Credit card apply now!' and thought I will get this and this will make my online banking at one place!
Now, I have started transferring my money to other bank account.

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Its a lack of understanding about "non typical" applications. At the moment banks treat anybody who is not Irish, in a permanent job on good money for decades etc as if they have bubonic plague. Unfortunately credit is not a right. The irony is that there is as much anecdotal evidence of Irish people doing a runner owing thousands as there are migrants.