Unexpected request to confirm tax residency - Halifax

Missus_Hyde

Some people will say, "Well thats all very well for them to collect information from the dirty foreigners, but I have had an account with Lloyds since I saw that nice Mr Smith at my local village branch in 1957, how DARE they say they would like me to confirm I am only a resident of the UK. I am likely more British than them, down to my union jack underpants!".

And referring to me in your sarky little crack above!

I'm not really interested in whether the banks are justified in their enquiries and certainly didn't find them "distressing" ( it would take more than a badly written missive from some poxy little bank clerk to "distress" me!! )

I am positive you cannot have received one of these letters or you would know why we are complaining.

Quite!!

I'm afraid these days there are far too many people wanting to know your business ( and holding out their grubby little hands for a piece of the action! )

LoopyLoop

Hello all,

I am also in the club! Thanks to all the posters...it may have taken me hours to read through the thread but read through it I have ��

I'm going with the train of thought that it isn't a scam and just a general Halifax check so to save time and effort I logged on to my online banking and updated my info, it specifically asks to state country of residency and goes on a bit about tax which I can't remember it doing before (but that doesn't mean it didn't!)
Hopefully that'll satisfy their needs ��

badmemory

LoopyLoop wrote: »

I logged on to my online banking and updated my info, it specifically asks to state country of residency and goes on a bit about tax which I can't remember it doing before (but that doesn't mean it didn't!)
Hopefully that'll satisfy their needs ��

Thanks for the above. I logged into mine & that part certainly is fairly new. I have now put in my town of birth but they seem to have filled the rest in from my form.

How much simpler it would have been to email me (they have my email address) or put a message on my account and ask me to log in & fill in those details, with a sensible deadline. I would have done that with no problem and it would have been over within 5 minutes & without any of the concerns.

Pollycat

My friend's 16 year old daughter has just received one of these letters - in the last few days although the date on the letter is 21/12/2016.

She is still in college, has had a part-time job for a couple of months so opened an account at the TSB so her wages could be paid in.

She has no financial connection to the USA.
She has never had any financial connection to the USA.
She's not even a tax payer here in the UK.

Her Mum has an account at the same branch but hasn't received a letter.
I think her Mum is going to go into the local branch with her to see what they say.

Could it be that they have somehow connected her with a US citizen with the same name?

badmemory

Pollycat wrote: »

Could it be that they have somehow connected her with a US citizen with the same name?

I doubt that. I was one of the first & have never been to or had any connection with the USA.

Ladylove

Apparantly this is genuine. We went to our bank (TSB) after getting one of these.
Bank manager had not tsken note of our DOBs and NIS no. I have to say I was furious
at first as we thought this may have been a scam...but bank manager reassured us
that hundreds of these were being sent out at random...including to 16 year olds who
probably don't pay tax.
We're just going to fill in minimum and redirect to bank who now have all the relevant
details.
Remember your tax affairs are no business of anyone's unless you have a huge
mansion in Hollywood which you rent out for an enormous sum to a wealthy
renter...LOL

Pollycat

Ladylove wrote: »

Apparantly this is genuine. We went to our bank (TSB) after getting one of these.
Bank manager had not tsken note of our DOBs and NIS no. I have to say I was furious
at first as we thought this may have been a scam...but bank manager reassured us
that hundreds of these were being sent out at random...including to 16 year olds who
probably don't pay tax.
We're just going to fill in minimum and redirect to bank who now have all the relevant
details.
Remember your tax affairs are no business of anyone's unless you have a huge
mansion in Hollywood which you rent out for an enormous sum to a wealthy
renter...LOL

But why do they need to know the tax residency of someone who doesn't pay tax and is unlikely to pay tax for the next couple of years?

Ladylove

Indeed...it seems rather odd. Same situation for us..letter came to my husband, who
is a 76 year old pensioner with a traumatic brain injury..which really made me mad as he cannot cope with unexpected and official stuff and was distressed....
but as the nice lady at the bank said..."they couldn't have known"!! If I were you I
would see my bank manager and make sure ...like us..that the relevant details are
with your bank account and write on form that your details are with your bank.

Pollycat

Pollycat wrote: »

Could it be that they have somehow connected her with a US citizen with the same name?

badmemory wrote: »

I doubt that. I was one of the first & have never been to or had any connection with the USA.

What I meant was, could there be a US citizen called 'badmemory' and they've written to a 'badmemory' (you) thinking that you are they?

Ladylove wrote: »

If I were you I
would see my bank manager and make sure ...like us..that the relevant details are
with your bank account and write on form that your details are with your bank.

It's not me, it's a friend's daughter and yes, they are going to go into their local bank branch.

badmemory

Pollycat wrote: »

What I meant was, could there be a US citizen called 'badmemory' and they've written to a 'badmemory' (you) thinking that you are they?

Yes, sorry I should have explained more fully. When I google 'badmemory' I only come up with me. No authors, no-one on linkedin, no phone numbers, nothing. My surname is even less common in America than it is in the UK.