Annoying cedula problem

waytogo · Dec 10, 2009

I am just wondering if anyone else here in the D.R. is experiencing the same problem with their Cedula.
After coming here for many years prior, I applied for my original Cedula with my first residence card in March of 2008. With the help of an attorney in Santo Domingo I received both in September of that same year, 2008. I then went to Banco Popular and at first they wouldn?t let me open an account because my cedula was still not on the Juntas computer system. I was told by a bank official that I had to return to the Junta in Santo Domingo and pay for certified letters that my Cedulla was in fact good. With this, the bank opened the account. I am in the process of trying to purchase an auto here and I am still being told that my Cedulla is not on the Juntas computer system. Banco Popular told me that I am approved for the loan once I get the cedula problem resolved. I have contacted the attorney who did the original paperwork and she told me I have to return to the capital. I know I will get the runaround. Anybody else have this problem and had success getting it resolved? Any input would be most welcome. I am also being told that my certified letters are now outdated and are worthless.

Robert · Dec 10, 2009

Better make sure your cedula is good. What law firm did you use?

Chip · Dec 10, 2009

I'm surprised they are asking for the cedula. I finally do have mine but before that I had opened up bank accounts at Banreservas, Cooperativa San Jose and Banco Popular only with my passport and W2 forms. I also bought my home here with a loan for over RD3M with the same documents from the coop.

Lambada · Dec 10, 2009

waytogo, just a thought. Click here
JCE.DO - Consulta al Padr?n Electoral

Look on the right hand side & download (descargar) the pdf C?dulas Canceladas-Inhabilitadas & see if your name or number is on it. That list is supposedly current from 2007 to now. There's also a Listado de C?dulas olvidadas por ciudadanos en diferentes lugares in case you wanted to check that, although I doubt if you're in that category.

waytogo · Dec 10, 2009

Lambada said:
waytogo, just a thought. Click here
JCE.DO - Consulta al Padr?n Electoral

Look on the right hand side & download (descargar) the pdf C?dulas Canceladas-Inhabilitadas & see if your name or number is on it. That list is supposedly current from 2007 to now. There's also a Listado de C?dulas olvidadas por ciudadanos en diferentes lugares in case you wanted to check that, although I doubt if you're in that category.

Thank You, I just checked the list you recommended and my name is not there. What is so wierd, in October (2008), I went to the Junta in the capital to purchase the certified letters stateing my cedula was authentic. They brought it up on their computer with my photo, so I just don't understand why it is not on their nationwide computer system. I received the cedula in 2008. Here is another example why this is so aggrevating. Today I went to Claro for new home phone and internet service. Because my cedula was not yet on their computer system, they would only give me a 200 minute per month service with no calls allowed outside of the country AND no calls to Santo Domingo. They said in 3 months they would review the account and if I pay their lousy 2200 pesos per month on time they would ALLOW me to call the capital. What a crock of $***. The 400 minute per month contract would have allowed me to make my long distance calls but they wouldn't budge. I told them I would pay the difference between the 200 and the 400 in advance for the year and a half contract and they said I wasn't approved for that. The mentality here is mind boggling. Not approved for paying in advance??????? I am now starting to think I am really getting tired of jumping through the hoops for nothing. The monies I have spent for identification hasn't meant a thing since nobody here will honor what I now have.

Adrian Bye · Dec 10, 2009

mine isn't either and i've been here since 2001 with multiple bank accounts. i just checked it now twice via the above URL.

foreign cedulas aren't in the main system. get a smarter bank manager they usually know this.

waytogo · Dec 10, 2009

I'm pushing my bank, Banco Popular as hard as I can. I have had a green US dollar passbook account with them for over a year and a large sum is wire transferred to my account every month. They see this and finally issued me their Visa credit card. The vehicle I am considering to buy is the one listed here by Thomas on a previous thread. I am returning to the Junta in the capital tomorrow and see what more I can accomplish. Maybe a few well placed pesos will get the job done. I'll post the outcome.

BushBaby · Dec 11, 2009

waytogo said:
Because my cedula was not yet on their computer system, they would only give me a 200 minute per month service with no calls allowed outside of the country AND no calls to Santo Domingo. They said in 3 months they would review the account and if I pay their lousy 2200 pesos per month on time they would ALLOW me to call the capital. What a crock of $***. The 400 minute per month contract would have allowed me to make my long distance calls but they wouldn't budge.

Might I suggest getting Skype on to your computer? FREE download, easy to use & inexpensive calls out of the country!!! Better still, is if you can get the people you phone regularly to install Skype on their computers ....... as computer to computer Skype calls are FREE!! 1-800 numbers in the States are generally free too!!

My calls to England Telephone lines are about 50 cents for twenty minutes but speaking to friends there via Skype are free of all charges. You CAN use Skype to phone DR landline numbers but the cost tends to be a bit more expensive - almost as much as Claro cell phone rates!! There is a table of rates to all parts of the world on the 'Skype-out' (which is also section where you make the payments to Skype!)

All you do is to pre-pay Skype some US $10, US $20 & top this up when you feel it is getting low & might run out before you finish your next call. It takes about 10 minutes from making your payment (via credit card or PayPal etc) to have it showing in your account at Skype.

Yell me on a PM if you need more info. ~ Grahame.

Lambada · Dec 11, 2009

Adrian Bye said:
mine isn't either and i've been here since 2001 with multiple bank accounts. i just checked it now twice via the above URL.

foreign cedulas aren't in the main system. get a smarter bank manager they usually know this.

They're not in the voting list, no of course, but the list of cancelled cedulas? There were quite a few foreigner cedulas cancelled in the last year (fraudulent ones) - they should be listed somewhere.

waytogo said:
I am returning to the Junta in the capital tomorrow and see what more I can accomplish. Maybe a few well placed pesos will get the job done. I'll post the outcome.

Ask for Don Tito, he's the jefe of the foreigners' cedula section. Tell him his friend the lady from England who lives in Puerto Plata sends her most cordial greetings (he probably won't remember my name but he certainly remembers my face :cheeky: because I've bumped into him well away from the JCE &.........'how could I ever forget you'). Based on my last renewal of cedula, we needed to do a little..........er....... group entertainment whilst waiting.....

Congratulate him on a well run office, fawn & be obsequious, let him know (in words) how grateful you are for his knowledge & his help, works like a charm. I promised him I'd put him in my next book. I have, possibly not quite in the way he envisaged

but.....hush. I wouldn't try bribing, personally. At least, not him. He's a company man, I have a hunch he'd refuse & report.

waytogo · Dec 11, 2009

Lambada said:
They're not in the voting list, no of course, but the list of cancelled cedulas? There were quite a few foreigner cedulas cancelled in the last year (fraudulent ones) - they should be listed somewhere.

Ask for Don Tito, he's the jefe of the foreigners' cedula section. Tell him his friend the lady from England who lives in Puerto Plata sends her most cordial greetings (he probably won't remember my name but he certainly remembers my face :cheeky: because I've bumped into him well away from the JCE &.........'how could I ever forget you'). Based on my last renewal of cedula, we needed to do a little..........er....... group entertainment whilst waiting.....

Congratulate him on a well run office, fawn & be obsequious, let him know (in words) how grateful you are for his knowledge & his help, works like a charm. I promised him I'd put him in my next book. I have, possibly not quite in the way he envisaged but.....hush. I wouldn't try bribing, personally. At least, not him. He's a company man, I have a hunch he'd refuse & report.

Thank you for your advise. I will handle him, if I can get to him, with kid gloves. As you can see I am getting an early start. Can't beat the Metro going from Santiago to the Capital. My gut feelings have always been good to me so if pesos are offered, it will be done quite gently, and not to Mr. Tito. If you really think about it, it's not a bribe, It's an incentive. lets say for doing a job well done. Ugh....I can barely get the words out of my mouth.

MikeFisher · Dec 11, 2009

ha ha ha,
an incentive for a job well done, like a tip for the waitress, just the waiter at a restaurant ghas to serve us nice firstly and gets tipped afterwards, lol.
right,
we have to differe the two cedula systems.
as foreigners we are not allowed to VOTE, that's why our cedulars show on their back in big letters the words ""No Vota"", that means not allowed to vote, so due that we are not in the system of the elections lists, and that's what the list of the JCE (junta central electoral) is.

but that's not the list checked when we show up at a bank.
banks here have the access to the full listings of cedulars.
they even ind you by your name and also by your foreign passport number if you ever used your name/passport for any kind of credit or to get a credit card or to open a bank account.
i got that explained and on the computer shown by the lady who is the manager of BHD bank here in bavaro when applying for a credit 2 years ago.
she got within a minute my whole credit card story (a 30 years old German mastercard not connected to any bank account or any institution on this Island) on the screen.
and i never in my life applied for any dominican credit or debit card, compared to the ole european real ones they are not worth to consider.

for your cedula Ginnie gave you the best hints above,
in case of the bank i would try an other manager/branch/bank also, just to compare the results to the unsuccessful prior results.

good luck on all points
Mike

Grahame,
i will drop you a PM now for that Skype stuff if you have the time, nothing urgent on that.

waytogo · Dec 11, 2009

Well, as Lambada suggested, I paid a visit to Senior Don Tito at the capital. He was very courteous and quite enlightening. I went there with a friend that translated for me. Senior Tito took us into his office and showed me where my cedula was in fact, on their computer system. He then told me to go to another building and purchase more certified copies like I did over a year ago. I informed him in English that nobody wanted to accept them then so why would I want to spend more money for toilet paper. Luckily, he didn’t understand me. He then said that Santiago and many other areas don’t have the funding to upgrade their software, so that is why it isn’t showing up anywhere but the capital. So, having become a non-believer in pretty much everything I hear, I proceeded to the main branch of Banco Popular in the capital to put it to the test. Was my cedula going to be on the Banks computer system in the capital or was I given another line of bull****. Loh and behold, there it was, my cedula, on their computer. But I have to wonder, will everything I want to do to establish credit here have to be done in the capital. All this time it had nothing to do with being a foreigner with a cedula.

Lambada · Dec 11, 2009

Did you remember to give Don Tito my most cordial greetings?

BushBaby · Dec 12, 2009

waytogo said:
So, having become a non-believer in pretty much everything I hear, I proceeded to the main branch of Banco Popular in the capital to put it to the test. Was my cedula going to be on the Banks computer system in the capital or was I given another line of bull****. Loh and behold, there it was, my cedula, on their computer. But I have to wonder, will everything I want to do to establish credit here have to be done in the capital. All this time it had nothing to do with being a foreigner with a cedula.

Thinking outside the box a bit, have you considered asking Banco Popular in Santo Domingo to send you a fax (signed & stamped by the highest possible signatory available) stating that your cedular number DOES appear on the Santo Domingo version of the JCE system? With THAT documentation you should be able to do all that you wish to do & blame the banks/shops etc for not having the suitable up-to-date software system that Don Tito referred to!

Maybe you already thought of that & picked up the document whilst AT Banco Popular in Santo Domingo?? ~ Grahame.

waytogo · Dec 12, 2009

Lambada said:
Did you remember to give Don Tito my most cordial greetings?

I sure did....In my broken Spanish. He got a big smile on his face and said something in Spanish, which I didn't understand. But he clearly remembered you. He has a distinguished look about him that made him seem out of place at what he was doing. He looked and acted very professional, more like a bank executive.
And it was nice having someone being truthful for a change.
Again, thank you.

waytogo · Dec 12, 2009

BushBaby said:
Thinking outside the box a bit, have you considered asking Banco Popular in Santo Domingo to send you a fax (signed & stamped by the highest possible signatory available) stating that your cedular number DOES appear on the Santo Domingo version of the JCE system? With THAT documentation you should be able to do all that you wish to do & blame the banks/shops etc for not having the suitable up-to-date software system that Don Tito referred to!

Maybe you already thought of that & picked up the document whilst AT Banco Popular in Santo Domingo?? ~ Grahame.

Actually, I was getting a ride back to Santiago with my friend and his wife. They are the owners of OrthoOral Orthodontics in the capital and Santiago. They were behind schedule and had to leave. But, I did get the name and direct phone number (while being rushed out the door) of the lady in customer service who helped me. She said to have anyone call her who doubts my cedulla and she will set them straight. That had to do for the time being. Hyme was already 2 hours late for his patients in Santiago. But at least now I know what avenues to take and get around the problem. If it wasn't for Lambadas help I probably would have never even known about Don Tito and would have talked to a line of idiotas.

noni · Dec 12, 2009

Cedula problem but was able to purchase

I had the same cedula problem and when I went to the main junta central electoral here in Santiago I was told the same thing about the computer software. Every place of business here must purchase something called un padron every year which business don?t often b/c it?s expensive.
With cedula problem and all I have been able to purchase a car, an apt and get a good cell plan. It?s all a matter of where you go. PM me if you are interested in the places I purchased my stuff from.

Lambada · Dec 12, 2009

waytogo said:
He got a big smile on his face and said something in Spanish, which I didn't understand. But he clearly remembered you.

I'm not surprised :cheeky: I've often found over the years that it helps if you leave a lasting impression of one sort or another.........course some are better than others.

waytogo said:
I informed him in English that nobody wanted to accept them then so why would I want to spend more money for toilet paper. Luckily, he didn?t understand me.

Hate to tell you this but.......he understands quite a bit actually, just chooses not to speak it. If you're ever in that office for any length of time waiting, watch the body language. Many 'gringo' conversations are being overheard. But he is much too professional to ever let on that he heard something he wasn't intended to.

Glad it all worked out for you.

waytogo · Dec 12, 2009

For a change I put my foot in my mouth. I hope he thought I was kidding.

Lambada · Dec 12, 2009

Looks like you could have left your own 'lasting impression'.........:laugh:

Annoying cedula problem

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