Lloyds asking "What is your net income?" when doing online banking

DocProc

We have a joint Premier current Account (with Vantage) and also other joint Classic current Accounts (also with Vantage).

Whilst my wife was checking the Statement on the main Premier account over the weekend, she was asked to confirm, by putting in pertinent figures into a Table format, as to what her Net Income was.

The word 'legal' was used in the request. She isn't sure and can't remember whether the word was used in the context of:

a. The bank have a 'legal' right to ask this information.
or
b. The bank legally need to ask this information.

All of the accounts are in credit and none of the accounts are in overdraft.

Not that either of us mind giving the requested information. However, it does require a bit of arithmetic on her/our part and/or a phone call to our accountant to refer to her latest Tax Return. This would undoubtedly incur a fee from him.

Unfortunately, she could not answer the question at that time and today when she logged on it has not been re-asked. So now, when she does have the answer, she is not being asked the question. IYSWIM?

Questions:

1. Can anyone throw any light on why the bank are asking this of her (and not me)?

2. Is it a legal (or statutory) requirement for a bank to necessitate asking this question to a customer or is the answer to it just to be used so that the bank's Financial Advisers can give her a Sales Call?

NOTE. We naturally appreciate that it is common sense that the bank does and should have a legal right to ask a customer this information but neither of us are in the process of seeking loans, mortgages or any other bank products. The request for such information at this time does appear to be a bit strange and 'out of the blue'. We both wondered what was the reason for it.

DocProc

A few years ago, we regularly dropped in to the branch and paid in quarterly pension cheques.

Each time we did so, the counter assistant concerned told us:

"I will just have to get this authorised."

When challenged by us with "Goodness Gracious! We are paying this IN. Why on earth does it need authorisation?" all we were told was that it was a "management instruction".

We now know that this was merely a mechanism of sourcing out a potential sales lead for a bank Financial Services (FS) personnel member.

Obviously, experiences like this negatively influence our opinion of the bank. They were just not being open and honest with us.

Is my post above about yet another FS sales prospecting method?

We wonder?

innovate

There is no law that obliges you to give a bank information about your income.

It would obviously be in your interest if you shared this info with them when applying for a loan, mortgage etc, as otherwise your application won't get processed, never mind accepted.

In all other cases, the only reason they want to know about your income is so they can profile you and sell any of their products that they deem of interest to you.

pmduk

Having the legal right to ask a question is not the same as a legal requirement to answer it.

brendon

I believe you have a legal duty to tell them if your financial circumstances change, if you have a credit product from them. I've noticed this option has appeared on my Halifax settings page, but I have not been directly prompted for it. The help section for it says:

Why do you need to keep my details up to date?
We need to keep the details that we hold about you up-to-date and check your records occasionally, to keep you safe and secure online, help prevent online fraud and to comply with regulatory and legal requirements.

For more information, please view our Privacy Policy.

When you click through to Privacy Policy, it says the information will be used to market products to you.

solihullrose

I dont know why the bank would ask what your income is unless when there is a request for a credit product.
DocProc...When the bank asks questions when you are paying money in this is a legal requirement of the bank regarding money laundering.

DragonQ

At least they ask for net income. Most of the time I get asked this question it's gross income, which isn't really applicable to me, so I never know what to put.

innovate

brendon wrote: »

I believe you have a legal duty to tell them if your financial circumstances change, if you have a credit product from them.

Which law details that duty?

You might have signed some T&Cs that commit you to tell your lender of changes in your financial circumstances (negative? positive? both? what counts as a change? what happens if you tell them? what happens if you don' tell them? what happens if you tell them late?) but that's not a law.

I somehow doubt that most lenders will be interested in anything other than your repayments. If you can still meet your obligations, it is neither here nor there what your financial circumstances are. If you are unable to meet your obligations, it would be in your own interest to discuss it with your lender as a matter of extreme urgency.

Prothet_of_Doom

Type in a figure that is clearly wrong, £320000.

Then if it's ever queried you can say "Yes about £3200 a month"

Must have missed the decimal point out and the fact that you wanted it yearly

brendon

innovate wrote: »

Which law details that duty?

You might have signed some T&Cs that commit you to tell your lender of changes in your financial circumstances (negative? positive? both? what counts as a change? what happens if you tell them? what happens if you don' tell them? what happens if you tell them late?) but that's not a law.

I somehow doubt that most lenders will be interested in anything other than your repayments. If you can still meet your obligations, it is neither here nor there what your financial circumstances are. If you are unable to meet your obligations, it would be in your own interest to discuss it with your lender as a matter of extreme urgency.

Well, would it not be covered by contract law? Not all laws are written down (common law).

Thrugelmir

DocProc wrote: »

Whilst my wife was checking the Statement on the main Premier account over the weekend, she was asked to confirm, by putting in pertinent figures into a Table format, as to what her Net Income was.

I've never been asked for personal information when using online banking for day to day activities. Are you sure she was checking her statement?