Application for a bank account

lateben

Hi. I just wondered when applying for a financial product why the application form asks how long you have been with your present bank? Does this impact on your likelihood of being successful? Is it a case of the longer you have been with your bank the better? Thank you in advance.

InsideInsurance

It is a stability question, so longer the better generally, but it can also be an honesty question as the CRA shows when you opened the account.

Paul_01

Bit tricky if its an honesty question, as time with bank and time you've held a particular account could be very different.

I've been with my bank for over 30 years, but only had my main current account for a couple of years.

Vortigern

InsideInsurance wrote: »

the CRA shows when you opened the account.

I just checked my Equifax report. It shows the current accounts I've opened recently, but does not show the one I've had for 20 years - and that's the one I use for new applications to prove stability and honesty

212

Paul_01 wrote: »

Bit tricky if its an honesty question, as time with bank and time you've held a particular account could be very different.

I've been with my bank for over 30 years, but only had my main current account for a couple of years.

Same issue issue with me, opening 2 kids accounts with Natwest years ago. They upgraded both to full current accounts when I was 18 - but they show as being opened a few years ago, rather than the 10/11 years it's actually been.

I guess it helps with fraud checking/National Hunter too though - and so any identity theft - if someone came across enough information to apply for credit, they would (probably) have to guess when you opened the account - if it's massively different it may trigger warnings and at least an investigation

Anthorn

It's not exactly proving stability, etc. because they get the info from your credit report. In most cases it's used for preliminary approval especially for online applications which give an instant decision. If your application doesn't get binned they will go to a credit report from one or more of the CRAs to further process the application and to check the info on the application.

If a bank knows that you have had a bank account they will know they can check over your banking history and hence whether you fulfill their criteria. They can also verify your address electronically by asking your bank for your address in much the same way as is done with card purchase authorisations.

To appraise accounts reporting to the CRAs you need to get all three reports from Experian, Equifax and Call Credit because some lenders only report to one or two of them.

BugsyBrowne

I agree don't think its stability at current address as they would normally look at previous addresses and someone who lives at their current address for 6 months but lived at previous address 20 years I'm sure that would do.