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Excessive information required to open a savings account?

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Comments

  • innovate
    innovate Posts: 16,217 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Income figures can change very quickly these days.

    For example, I was unemployed last month, so my income was just benefits, but now I have landed that £250K job at Sainsburys. Or, last month, I was in that £124K job at Vodafone, but I have now taken redundancy and my income for the next 10 years will be zero. Not that I mind, because I will be living off my redundancy which is mainly tax-free and I have chosen to put all the redundancy into an account which earns me no interest (stoooopid, but I did). My partner is supporting me financially, so I have no money worries.

    In the above scenarios, which income would I state on any application to anyone? And more importantly, how & where could they check that the number I gave them is correct? And what obligation do I have to tell them if it all changes tomorrow?

    Let's not forget, this is an application for a savings account.

    there is also a shared database to check to consistency of information on application forms (to flag inconsistency as a possible sign of fraudulent applications). i'd be surprised if it includes income, but i don't actually know.

    What is that database and between whom is it shared? Only "shared DB" I know of are CRA files. They do not register income - not least because 'income' isn't defined, other than for HMRC purposes.

    If there is a shared DB other than the CRA ones, we should know about it because we may not be happy that our rights under the DPA legislation are preserved.
  • le_loup
    le_loup Posts: 4,047 Forumite
    innovate wrote: »
    I was unemployed last month, so my income was just benefits.
    Oh dear! No wonder you're living on bubble and squeak. I will definitely bring the Branston.
  • Kazby wrote: »
    Hi all, I've just tried to open a savings account online with Santander. It's a basic instant access account - mimimum deposit of £1, no overdraft facility, no regular saving requirement.

    When I was going through the application form online, I came to a page where I had to enter my net monthly income, my job title and company name and address to be able to progress with the application. I can't understand why the bank would need this information for a simple savings account - it seems very excessive to me. Does anybody know whether this is a Santander requirement or do they have to gather this information because of some new legislation that I'm not aware of?

    Employer info is not needed unless you are applying for an account which gives credit.

    You may well get asked whether you have a job, in order to establish whether to pay you interest gross or net of tax.

    They are probably collecting this data inorder to sell you other products, such as credit cards or more likely their 1-2-3 account.:mad:
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 120,195 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Source of funds is a money laundering requirement. Now with bank accounts/deposit accounts, someone employed and earning £x would be reasonably expected to be able to save some of that. So, no reason to go looking for further information on typical regular saving contributions. So, asking the question about income can help protect their backside from the regulator feeling they do not do enough about money laundering ID checks.

    The money laundering verification requirements are a set of guidelines left largely open to interpretation. So, firms will interpret things differently. You then also have the FSA involved. If it feels a firm has interpreted the guidelines wrong or not doing enough to satisfy what it feels they should be doing it will instruct the firm to do more. This may include going above and beyond the normal that you see elsewhere because they have been unable to prove they can meet the standards and now not only have to do it but also be seen to be doing it and to a higher standard.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • Gromitt
    Gromitt Posts: 5,063 Forumite
    innovate wrote: »
    What is that database and between whom is it shared?
    I think they are talking about National Hunter, who compares applications to previous applications. One of the major areas of fraud is inflating your income, so going from a shelf stacker @ 12K to that £250K job at Sainsburys may raise a red flag, but they'll only care if your income decides how much credit they will lend you. According to Experian, fake Payslips are on the increase as well, so companies need to find alternative ways of proving a customers income, and we know how easy bank statements are to fake. So I guess sometime in the future there will be another database for your income, perhaps. Maybe it'll be part of your credit report, only available to people who are checking you for available credit.
  • innovate wrote: »
    Income figures can change very quickly these days.

    very true. but if you go on to apply for a mortgage, they may ask how long you've been in your current job.
    What is that database and between whom is it shared?

    i was thinking (but forgetting its name) of National Hunter - see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score#fraud

    looking at their site - http://www.nhunter.co.uk/ - their examples of application fraud include: "[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]An[/FONT]spacer.gif[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]applicant inflates their annual income to facilitate access to additional borrowing"[/FONT] - which might imply that the info they collect includes stated income.
  • They ask for financial data from you because they can then compartmentalise you in terms what they are going to try to sell you beyond what you are asking for. By lumping it in with FSA mandatory stuff they hope that people will just comply.
    No-one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions. He had money as well.

    The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.

    Margaret Thatcher
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