Rudeness

woosh0

Does anyone know why I was asked what I needed my money out of one account to put in another in the same buildo (Halifax) and also asked for i.d. I have had accounts for years in this buildo and never had any bother before. I did ask the two members of staff why they needed to know and was told that they are looking after my money so they should be told. I refused to tell them as it is none of their business why I decided to transfer. Attitude or what !

James129

woosh0 wrote: »

Does anyone know why I was asked what I needed my money out of one account to put in another in the same buildo (Halifax) and also asked for i.d. I have had accounts for years in this buildo and never had any bother before. I did ask the two members of staff why they needed to know and was told that they are looking after my money so they should be told. I refused to tell them as it is none of their business why I decided to transfer. Attitude or what !

Happens all the times.

At Natwest, I have been asked this many times. My excuses have always been the same that I need to pay plumbers or refurbish the house etc.

When I actually needed cash to travel abroad or helping family out.

opinions4u

woosh0 wrote: »

Does anyone know why I was asked what I needed my money out of one account to put in another in the same buildo (Halifax) and also asked for i.d. I have had accounts for years in this buildo and never had any bother before. I did ask the two members of staff why they needed to know and was told that they are looking after my money so they should be told. I refused to tell them as it is none of their business why I decided to transfer. Attitude or what !

On your part?

1) Fraud prevention - you'll be amazed how many frauds go through more than one account in the victim's name.
2) Interpretation of Money Laundering Regulations - confused further by Lloyds Banking Group have a New York Stock Exchange Listing which brings it under some very strange USA laws around Homeland Security.

tagq2

woosh0, it's probably a combination of AML and marketing. Of course, any good launderer has a good answer to the question, but there are various scams where naive/vulnerable people are asked to act as "payment processors" and the first time their activity is recognised might be when they honestly answer the question posed. That might be the idea, anyway!

Joe_Bloggs

I was asked the same and similar security questions for over fifty minutes whilst trying to internally transfer Halifax ISAs. Most of the questions were to cover for the inability to get the new computer system to do anything useful. In the end the telephone operator was told to seek a responsible adult by the computer system.

I have no idea of the present status of my accounts so I'll wait for the post.

J_B.

jjlandlord

opinions4u wrote: »

On your part?

1) Fraud prevention - you'll be amazed how many frauds go through more than one account in the victim's name.
2) Interpretation of Money Laundering Regulations - confused further by Lloyds Banking Group have a New York Stock Exchange Listing which brings it under some very strange USA laws around Homeland Security.

Nothing wrong on OP's part and your list of "excuses" is moot.

The bank clerk had no business asking and OP did right by refusing to answer.

opinions4u

jjlandlord wrote: »

Nothing wrong on OP's part and your list of "excuses" is moot.

On what grounds?

The bank clerk had no business asking and OP did right by refusing to answer.

We don't know the exact details of the transaction, but legal obligations are legal obligations. There is doubtless room for debate on how banks interpret those obligations and how they doubtless use them to try and make sales too.

The post makes references to "rudeness" and "attitude" but it doesn't explain in what way the bank staff were rude. Only that they asked questions. The rudeness appears to have been the response of the OP.

EarthBoy

jjlandlord wrote: »

Nothing wrong on OP's part and your list of "excuses" is moot.

The bank clerk had no business asking and OP did right by refusing to answer.

The list of reasons, not excuses, is quite valid. Banks are legally obliged to ask questions if there is a possibility of money laundering. If you refuse to answer the bank can, indeed must, freeze your account until you satisfy them where the money has come from.

Of course, OP didn't state the sum involved and it might just have been a small one, in which case they might have been trying to sell you a different account. If you aren't interested then selling is always annoying, but occasionally they do promote something that you find beneficial.

alanq

The OP was transferring funds from one Halifax account to another Halifax account (their own?) so Halifax knew where the funds were coming from.

Scarlet12

Just tried to post a link where an employee at Lloyd's asked the question, realised an old lady was about to be done over by a handyman and prevented her from losing her money. I can't post links though so if you want to read it it's on the Daily Mail website titled 'Bank worker foils fraudster who tried to con woman, 85, out of her savings'.

This may not be why they ask, but if it helps the odd person like this then its worth it.

Mrs_Money

alanq wrote: »

The OP was transferring funds from one Halifax account to another Halifax account (their own?) so Halifax knew where the funds were coming from.

Exactly! The OP says they "needed my money out of one account to put in another in the same buildo (Halifax)".
The money was theirs anyway - not quite the same as stopping fraud or money laundering. I too, would have refused to answer.
Although, to be fair, it probably wasn't exactly rudeness (although we weren't there so we don't know what their attitude was only what they said) - but it could have just been idiot staff going through the motions of some staff directive they don't actually understand!