Why need to declare salary to get ISA?

TanyaMcC

Just trying to register for State Bank of India ISA and it's asking lots of questions I didn't expect to need to answer - what's my salary? who's my employer? mother's maiden name?

Why do I need to disclose these? Should I be wary?

Alter_ego

Some sound like security questions, What's your salary? sounds nosey.

TanyaMcC

Alter_ego wrote: »

Some sound like security questions, What's your salary? sounds nosey.

That's what I thought. Am in 2 minds as to whether to proceed now. But rate's good.

colsten

All banks will try to find out as much as they can about you so they can figure out what they might be able to sell to you.

On a slightly different note: I don't find any of the cash ISA rates appealing. Why are you looking at saving at abysmal rates in an ISA when you can get much better rates in non-ISA accounts?

Flobberchops

colsten wrote: »

All banks will try to find out as much as they can about you so they can figure out what they might be able to sell to you.

Bingo.

Information like age, marital status, income, car ownership, etc, are primarily used for marketing. Imagine how keen banks are to figure out whether you're a homeowner (home and contents insurance), somebody renting but with plenty of income (and presumably looking for a mortgage in the near future), a wealthy singleton (travel insurance, contents insurance), a new parent (life insurance), a skint professional (loans), retired with own home and no dependents (savings and bonds), etc etc. Whatever your demographic, you're a wallet on legs to the marketing peeps.

Other stuff like mother's maiden name, address history, phone numbers, email address, etc, is used for a combination of marketing, security, and anti money laundering/fraud.

Rich2808

This isa account is a loss leader.

They want to sell loans, credit cards, mortgages and current accounts to you - that's why they want to know these details.

As a minimum they do of course need some verification data e.g. NI number and address and possibly employer but why do they need to know your salary when you are paying them money!

Either don't answer or answer truthfully though.