Can banks insist on knowing your income, even if you are not a borrower?

GingerBob_3

pinkdalek wrote: »

I was not being childish, just pointing out and saying what the majority of people are probably thinking.

Yes, unfortunately I have to agree with you. The majority of punters here will be thinking just that. The reason being that most people these days don't give a monkeys about data protection and privacy. They would sell their own grandmother given half a chance, and would happily comply with all government edicts no matter how onerous. The sheeple are totally compliant.


Many years ago an old uncle of mine put it like this: "if the government decreed that all men had to have their left testicle removed with immediate effect, the daft b*****ds would be queuing up outside the doctors in the morning".

keiran

Expanding the discussion a little, I think we, as a population, have become indoctrinated about revealing and sharing data at the drop of a hat to any petty official whenever it is demanded of us.

This has come about since the Blair years, mostly under the guise of "protecting your freedom" in the wake of islamic terror threats.

tacpot12

Banks do have a legitimate requirement to understand your sources of income. This is required for anti-money laundering, but they don't need to know the amount of your income unless they are lending to your OR you want to open an account that has a level of income as a criteria.

NotRichAtAll

just pull a random figure out of the sky and use that, does it really matter?

pinkdalek

NotRichAtAll wrote: »

just pull a random figure out of the sky and use that, does it really matter?

You could do, the whole debate has holes in it anyway.

A bank typically would only ask you this when you were either updating your details with them eg moving house or applying for a new product.
Not everyone stays in the same job or on the same income so in effect what is paid in would change.
I am sure banks have systems in place to monitor transactions and flag up anything that may seem suspicious.

Surely they use also for promoting services/products. If you were a higher income earner then maybe the bank would contact you in the future for investment advice etc?
What is the issue anyway? If you tell your bank you are either employed/unemployed/retired they are not stupid, they will know on the whole what kind of amounts are likely on average to be credited.

masonic

keiran wrote: »

Expanding the discussion a little, I think we, as a population, have become indoctrinated about revealing and sharing data at the drop of a hat to any petty official whenever it is demanded of us.

This has come about since the Blair years, mostly under the guise of "protecting your freedom" in the wake of islamic terror threats.

That ain't the half of it. Millions of people have become indoctrinated into giving up their personal information in exchange for nothing of value by this guy:

TheGardener

I'd just give them a random number - anything plausible and not make a fuss to draw attention to yourself (for them to question it)- that way you are both sort of happy. I my lifetime have never been asked by my bank what I earn except at the point I opened the account. Many peoples income changes dramatically over a period of years...

SunnyBanker

Yes, it does matter - because if you tell a bank your income is £50k and they can see a £120k turnover going through the account, it will probably be flagged as suspicious...and depending how risk averse the bank are, could well result in the closure of the account.

TheGardener

But if your income was £25k when you answered the question and 5 years later its £120,000 (ok - in my dreams but hey - a start up business could do really really well...) - but they haven't asked since you opened the account - why would they start flagging it as suspicious and consider closing your account?

noh

SunnyBanker wrote: »

Yes, it does matter - because if you tell a bank your income is £50k and they can see a £120k turnover going through the account, it will probably be flagged as suspicious...and depending how risk averse the bank are, could well result in the closure of the account.

My main current account in the last 12 months has seen more than £200K turnover due to stoozing and moving money around other current accounts and savings accounts to maximise interest plus P2P investments.
My income is around 15% of that. It has never been a problem.
I have had the account for 28 years and have no idea what they think my income is.
I would suggest that for many people who post on these forums their account turnover is not directly related to their income.