Bank account snooping

Frank_Cannon

A "friend" is about to claim housing benefit, yet he and his missus have capital of about £20,000 in national savings and premium bonds.
I understand the capital limit for claiming is about £16,000.
He is just not going to mention it. Do they- can they- check?
Do they need his permission to check, or is this implicit in signing the claims form?
Ta, Frank.

healy

Frank_Cannon wrote: »

A "friend" is about to claim housing benefit, yet he and his missus have capital of about £20,000 in national savings and premium bonds.
I understand the capital limit for claiming is about £16,000.
He is just not going to mention it. Do they- can they- check?
Do they need his permission to check, or is this implicit in signing the claims form?
Ta, Frank.

They do not need permission from the claimant to check and they can check via other departments.

[Deleted User]

Frank_Cannon wrote: »

A "friend" is about to claim housing benefit, yet he and his missus have capital of about £20,000 in national savings and premium bonds.
I understand the capital limit for claiming is about £16,000.
He is just not going to mention it. Do they- can they- check?
Do they need his permission to check, or is this implicit in signing the claims form?
Ta, Frank.

not mentioning it will be fraud,which can and will lead to prosecution and a criminal record,as healy rightly says they have many ways of checking.

catz1ct

The above poster is correct! Its not worth it!

PasturesNew

All bank accounts now seem to be linked to your NI number, they certainly ask for this information when you open accounts ... and one of the first questions on HB forms is NI number.

It's not rocket science for them to check and it doesn't even take a human to do it - they have been developing automated computer procedures to check through things like this for some time now. They're tying up all sorts of information to catch out thieves and liars.

emiai

I didnt tell them about my savings accounts, they knew about them and asked for statements.
I didnt have as much as your friends have mind...

Best to be honest from the start

savagej

You would be surprised about all of the different avenues they have to check you bank balances, working backwards from your interest paid to HMRC is not difficult.

Edit: Dont risk it, unfortunately we are not MP's were they get a slap on the risk, the regular man in the street goes to jail for things like this. It really is, one rule for them and one rule for us.

NASA_2

People should check the small print of what they are signing when they claim benefit.

Indie_Kid

PasturesNew wrote: »

All bank accounts now seem to be linked to your NI number.

Interesting, never heard this before. I know I had to give my NI number when I applied for an ISA and to exempt me from paying tax on my interest for my savings account.

Richard1075

Why is it always a "friend" that is attempting the fraud? Perhaps I am being cynical but don't you think that it actually the OP who is seeing how far they can go?

Sorry and I shall probably get a lot of stick but if I had a "friend" who was cheating the system I would report them without any hesitation.

There is only a certain amount available and even less when the Budget cut hit home so why should genuine claimants be denied so others can fiddle the money?

NASA_2

The OP is probably a troll.