Poor Service

dunstonh

What business is it of theirs whether the money is coming from spare income or another account? Certainly can't be a requirement under money-laundering rules, especially when you're depositing a cheque.

It is their business because of the person taking the funds doesnt do their job properly, they can end up in prison for upto 15 years if they dont and money laundering is involved.

Source of funds is a requirement under money laundering rules.

If it's coming out of my account surely the funds have been already checked when deposited...

You could be "layering". How do they know the person that took the funds in before made the checks?

Fair point. Actually the cashier's attitude changed quite considerably when she noticed I had > £10,000 in an on-line account. Computer says yes!

With respect, £10,000 is chicken feed. It must have been something else that changed the attitude.

But the point about putting your savings into an ISA - which has always niggled at me - is that in saving the bit of tax, you also surrender up to the Government full details of how much you have in savings. And, seeing as they seem to use that information to work out how much it's possible to plunder from State pension schemes.... call me a cynic, but! I still object.

Hope the foil hat still fits

ISAs have no impact on state pensions (basic, graduted, serps or S2P).

regularsaver1

Exactly - could be prison and fines (and reputation) if they don't check

ManAtHome

Still not getting it.

I can present a cheque to add to any savings account without being asked my salary, whether it came from earnings or savings etc, but I can't do the same when opening an account?

My main point is that if you are presenting a cheque from another UK bank or Building Society, surely it has already been through the money-laundering rules and regs.

I still suspect they want your salary details so they can bombard you with "appropriate" (for them) loan offers.

regularsaver1

sorry - yes, when opening the account they must collect KYC info from you

when you add to it, that is different, but accounts are monitored

what if a £50000 cheque was out in someones account in A&L, to disguise where the funds came from, and then once cleared it was out into a new account in Barclays ?- as said they have to ask

dunstonh

I can present a cheque to add to any savings account without being asked my salary, whether it came from earnings or savings etc, but I can't do the same when opening an account?

Perhaps your cheques are not big enough to raise concern. Perhaps they have that information on screeen. Perhaps they have already reported you for money laundering concerns and an investigation has taken place and they didnt find anything (you wouldnt know).

My main point is that if you are presenting a cheque from another UK bank or Building Society, surely it has already been through the money-laundering rules and regs.

You could be layering and that is where it is more likely to happen.

I still suspect they want your salary details so they can bombard you with "appropriate" (for them) loan offers.

Most applications carry an opt out for marketing. Tick that if you have concerns.

jamesd

regularsaver1, people are sensitive about salary because it is traditionally private personal information.

Personally for an online savings account providing only online statements all I'd want to disclose is my choice of password and name to use for the account. Not necessarily my name, perhaps a role identifier rather than human name. Also a security question and answer each fully typed by me. That's sufficient to operate the account...

except for money laundering regulations and tax requirements.

LardyCake

Not much of a check though is it, if they don't require any proof? and this seems to have been the case.

Mr Money Launderer goes into Barclays, cashier asks him for salary, job and source of income, he is quite happy to answer (he lies of course), he opens ISA

OP goes into Barclays, cashier ask him same questions, he objects, he can't open ISA.

LittleVoice

regularsaver1 wrote: »

why are people so secretive over their salary?

nothing is ever hidden from the tax man

The tax man has a reason to know what my pay is - that's fair enough. An institution receiving funds from me doesn't as far as I am concerned.

I imagine that they would use the information to try to sell me more products. Though you can opt out of receiving marketing calls/letters, they can still try to waste your time while they go through the account opening process when they have you sitting in front of them.

The question of "how are you funding this account" I thought was meant to be asking the question that regularsaver1 suggests - is the source of funds a gift, salary, own account, sale of house etc. When I answered with "from savings" when opening a Halifax regular savings account, the assistant said that that was not what she wanted to know but rather whether it would be by standing order or cheque. Given that it was clear that cheques could not be used to open the account, I thought she just didn't know why she was asking or had not used the right words to ask the question she was meant to get the answer to!

dunstonh

LardyCake wrote: »

Not much of a check though is it, if they don't require any proof? and this seems to have been the case.

Mr Money Launderer goes into Barclays, cashier asks him for salary, job and source of income, he is quite happy to answer (he lies of course), he opens ISA

OP goes into Barclays, cashier ask him same questions, he objects, he can't open ISA.

What other information did the Barclays clerk have available to them from existing records? We don't know. It could be that salary was the only missing figure or perhaps a figure they like to keep updated to ensure data they hold is accurate.

jamesd

LardyCake, inconsistency between data supplied to different places and failure of cross-checks can be used as a trigger for investigation. I don't know if the systems in the UK are sophisticated enough to do this outside the context of an existing investigation, but you should exercise caution if there's anything interesting to be found in your finances.

The NSA reportedly has as one of its biggest problems the identification of significant information in the vast amount of irrelevant information it collects. I don't know how much of an issue this is for UK money laundering and other systems, though it seems likely that much inconsistency of the reporting by those with nothing to hide would reduce the benefit of the systems, perhaps to below the point where they are worth the cost of maintaining them.

One trigger which is apparently used for tax purposes is inconsistent self-reporting and financial institution reporting of interest received.

It's entirely possible that I triggered a money laundering report on myself after a financial institution I'd had an account with for ten years or so was taken over by another one and the new one lied about the reason for requesting photo-id and proof of address from all those with accounts with the original institution. I closed the account rather than complying with their request, since I've little interest in a financial institution which lies to me, particularly when it's supposed to be a mutual one looking out for my interests.