Missing financial information

[MassSteff 16]

Hi

 

My wife and I are panicking a bit. We're living with parents, so have no lease or mortgage together (but a notarised letter from the US Citizens parents stating we are living together and they are kindly not charging us rent whilst we save for a mortgage deposit). We do have a joint bank account, but it has hardly no transaction history to it - most of it is a regular deposit from myself to a joint savings account, and from her to the joint credit card. The joint savings and current account came along about 6 months after we got married, since I had no job in that period and didn't really need one (and was unable to get one).

 

The mistake we fear is with the credit card, as this goes back to when we got married. On reviewing our evidence package, we noticed that the joint credit card statement, whilst having me as a joint holder, does not name me on the statement. I'm a named user, and not a named owner.

 

This creates a gap in our financial history, and now we're super anxious that the gap along with the limited transaction history will be a problem. In terms of other evidence, we have several notarised letters of support, joint current & savings account with a balance, named beneficiaries on 401ks and Investment accounts, and named driver on her car insurance, and I am named on her life insurance policy. She is the beneficiary of mine, but it's employer provided and as such I have no access to any usable documentation that states she is the beneficiary. (It just says' Spouse). This is all we have, so it will have to be enough.

 

 

 

Has anyone with a similar issue with their evidence gone through this yet? Are our concerns founded or does the other evidence seem reasonable?

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

[bakphx1 789]

Actually, if it says “spouse” on the insurance policy,  that’s just as good.  That’s no different than having her name.  It’s well-documented that she’s your spouse.  That’s all official enough.  If you’re on joint accounts and investments that sounds pretty good.  It sounds to me like a good amount of information.  Maybe anything showing you’re living at the same address.  W2’s, employer addresses on file.  Oh, what about taxes?

 

 

 

 

[MassSteff 16]

Thanks for replying. It says 'Spouse' on my employer benefits enrolment page, the rest of the documentation is inaccessible which is frustrating. We have W2s, Drivers Licenses, Costco account which all show joint address. We also have the transcripts for tax returns for the last two years 2016 (MFS) and 2017 (MFJ).

[Going through 5,671]

Looking at it from a different angle, here's what you DO have financially:

 

-joint bank accounts

-joint credit card (your name as a user is still good)

-joint/MFS tax returns

-affidavit from parents regarding living arrangements together as a couple

-life insurance showing you as the beneficiary

-401k and investment account showing you as the beneficiary

-joint car insurance

 

I would presume you probably have joint health insurance as well, and perhaps some sort of joint billing (ie. cell phones, utility, memberships).

 

You have a lot more financial evidence than many couples we've seen on VJ at times.

 

 

 

[Sukie 1,460]

As far as the credit card goes - photocopy both of your cards.  Send the statements, of course, but include that photocopy that shows both cards on the same page.  Since you live with parents, they won't expect a large number of transactions.

 

Good luck!

 

Sukie in NY

[xillini 71]

Many of major credit card companies no longer offer "joint credit card" (i.e amex and chase specifically). Some local bank credit card program might have joint bank credit card which means both parties equally is liable for payment whereas major credit card companies have authorized user, who is not necessarily liable on the payment. And i don't like local bank credit card without much benefit due to Chase's 5/24 rules that means Chase credit card will have low chance to be approved if applicants opened 5 credit card within 24 months and all of our expenditure is on credit card

 

So being that said asking your credit company if they can start to write both of your names can help. USCIS is well aware of this end era of joint credit card and what they care is not whether applicants are merely in joint credit card program but more like financial comingle. So with both of your names on statement and transaction history it should be good

[yuna628 9,676]

OP your situation is similar to ours actually, although our joint account does have plenty of transactions. The credit card statement comes in his name, but I am authorized on his account and we have joint cards. You actually sound like you have a lot more evidence than a lot of people do.

 

How about health insurance policy? EOBs? Medical bills? All that stuff would be good to include if you've got it for sure. One of the other big items you could try to include would be living wills, last wills, and power of attorneys.

 

Don't stress too much, I think you've got a good amount of stuff in there.

[Wuozopo 4,293]

It's going to be the totality of the evidence picture. You have great stuff. We seriously did not have a lot of conventional things like beneficiary status on 401k (was her kids), joint home ownership/mortgage (all hers), joint health, phone plan, utilities. Yet they liked what we did have so no issues.  Make you best packet of every small thing that shows you share an address and a life and financials. Then send it with confidence. 

 

We put out our credit cards and ATM cards side by side on the copier. (Five shared cards) His and her named card with exact same account number. We did not send any credit card statements because they did not have both names. While the cards did not provide a date trail, it did show five joint things. 

[AmelieAino 40]

We just got approved without RFE or interview, and submitted a similar amount of evidence. Our joint account was actually very new (opened only 4 months before we filed I-751) but showed some activity like direct deposits and paying for major car and dental work from both cards. We included a letter explaining why we opened an account late, and why there was no monetary activity before that.

 

So yes, your evidence looks reasonable!

Edited June 29, 2018 by AmelieAino

[MassSteff 16]

Thank you so much for the supportive replies, we both really appreciate it!

 

We'll definitely photocopy the cards with the statements - there's several pages (>100) so I think a quarterly sample may be sufficient. 

 

We don't actually have joint health insurance as our both our employers provide really good coverage to us as individuals. Both mandate 'Family Plans' which put the premium up from $40/wk to $190/wk if we joined each others plan. Bit annoying!

[Wuozopo 4,293]

16 hours ago, MassSteff said:

We'll definitely photocopy the cards with the statements - there's several pages (>100) so I think a quarterly sample may be sufficient. 

 

USCIS found four joint bank statements from me sufficient---first one, two middle, last one. And I only sent the first page. Another from an account we closed when we moved. Zero credit card statements.

 

My theory is don't overload so much with repetitive stuff that they miss seeing your variety of good stuff. 

 

 

[MassSteff 16]

26 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

 

USCIS found four joint bank statements from me sufficient---first one, two middle, last one. And I only sent the first page.

 

 

Yeah I was thinking about this. Our statements are usually 4 pages, cover letter, transactions, and the legal T&Cs of the account. I'm tempted to prune the fluff, but then wondered if they would care only getting page 2 when it states how many pages per statement. Perhaps I'm over thinking this.

 

I did also think about only having quarterly statements for the joint account too. As it stands our evidence package is still less than 300 sheets of paper so it's not egregious.

 

 

I'm off to the post office to mail this now. Deep breath.

 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

1 minute ago, MassSteff said:

I did also think about only having quarterly statements for the joint account too. As it stands our evidence package is still less than 300 sheets of paper so it's not egregious.

 

 

Yikes!

And I thought mine was huge at 75 pages including application.😂🤣

It was by far the biggest packet of any...K1 petition to naturalization.

 

You'll be fine. Exhale.