Can credit card companies verify income and/or employment?

DJBenson

zerog wrote: »

If they report account throughput then I hope I'd get some good offers.. I cycle £100K through all my accounts a month!

This is why reporting account throughput wouldn't work. You could easily pass money between as little as two accounts and appear to have a great deal more "income" than you actually have.

What about people with multiple jobs? Self employed/limited companies that pay dividends? How would you classify "income"?

From personal experience, I don't think any such activity is currently being undertaken - I started as an IT contractor in August so went from a salary of around £25k to over 3 times income but have not had to "prove" that for the 3-4 credit applications I've made since August.

dalesrider

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Are you saying the banks are reporting my current account throughput and BACS Direct Credit deposits to the CRAs? I don't remember giving them permission to do this (and I do read T&Cs).

I don't know if they do. But if they did you have given them permission to work with credit reference co's and 3rd parties as required by them.

As to the OP.
They can contact your employer to confirm your data.

izools

None of my bank accounts, past and present, report data about turnover on my accounts to any of the three credit reference agencies.

All they share is overdraft limit and overdraft balance data, at least as far as I can see.

I've applied for a few credit cards lately to take advantage of some offers and whilst the first (AMEX) went through instantly the others have written to me asking for proof of ID and Income (Barclaycard), so they will ask for bank statements and payslips if they feel there is cause to.

Tazer1

My credit files show £0 balance for my banks even though i have a couple of thousand in there.

lawstudent

Tazer1 wrote: »

My credit files show £0 balance for my banks even though i have a couple of thousand in there.

It only shows overdraft balances so £0 means you are not using your overdraft facility. Savings accounts or positive balances on current accounts do not show on your credit report.

Zorz_2

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

It's not rocket science to ascertain whether someone really is likely to be on £50K per annum when they're bouncing DDs left, right and centre, and running a £700 overdraft!

You would be surprised! Remember Kweku Adoboli, the UBS rogue trader?

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/kweku-adoboli-portrait-of-a-gambling-addict-8335667.html

"By 2010, he was a rich man, getting basic pay of £110,000 and a whacking bonus of £250,000 - not bad for a single 31 year old." (...) "Evidence given in court reveals a man with some serious issues. He was £130,000 in debt and kept accounts with up to ten pay-day loan companies, those firms supplying a few quick quid to get you to the end of the month at interest rates of 1400 per cent."

Granted, this was an extreme case of a pathological gambler, but still!:eek:

[Deleted User]

Although, for those lenders that use it, National Hunter will verify that data against other applications you might have made in the past.

It'll probably flag up if you're telling NewCardCo that you own your house, have been in the same job for 10 years, and earning £30000 a year, when last year you told OldCardCo that you rented, got a new job six weeks prior, and earnt £8000.

212

All seems a bit too easy to fake - if you stick to the same story, it is only when somebody bothers to check that you're flagged up as a liar! You'd probably end up in prison if/when caught, but if you're not you've just established a credit profile out of nothing!

Someone on long-term unemployed (I know many round here, who would cause mayhem if they knew!) could take Aqua/Vanquis/Capital One etc as unemployed... get that logged on your NHunter. Then run that well for a few months/years, along with any existin g current account, and then one day out of the blue apply to your own bank for a card and say you've been on 20k for 4 months.... If you cycle your benefits around the computer may think you have been (unless underwriters manually look into it, but if you don't go over the top I'd bet you could sneak under the radar). You then may get rejected (short time in job, not good enough for a prime card) but it's on your record you 'got' a job recently. Then keep the funds coming in (/cycling round) and apply again a few months later with 20k for 8 months, 20k for 1 year etc... You could be given some fairly hefty credit limits!

Obviously DWP on your statements would give the game away, but if you had 2+ accounts and used the non-DWP one.... Thinking about it, I remember reading a story where someone on benefits said they had a ridiculous income and got loads of goods then defaulted, can't remember the name to find it though!

Gromitt

I've had several credit card providers ring my employer to see if I actually worked there, then spoke to me, and one of them asked my boss if I had been working there for longer than 12 months (after first asking if they could discuss it with me)

Never asked for proof of income, and my income is significantly higher than it was 10 years ago, but I guess they can put that down as new job, promotion, etc, unless its unrealistic (eg. going from 8K to 80K).