Bank information

montygrump

My bank is asking for me for information on how much my house is worth and how much morgage i have, for no reason but to ' have on file' do i have to give them this info? I'm not applying for a loan or overdraft my account is a current one. Apparently this is required for file. How much information have they a right to ask for ?

Ed-1

montygrump said:

My bank is asking for me for information on how much my house is worth and how much morgage i have, for no reason but to ' have on file' do i have to give them this info? I'm not applying for a loan or overdraft my account is a current one. Apparently this is required for file. How much information have they a right to ask for ?

They can ask whatever they want to satisfy themselves that they "know their customer".

mab3000

How have they asked you for this? 

Ed-1 is right about them being able to ask anything they need information to satisfy themselves for knowing their customer, but asking for this particular information to me does seem more about wanting to know so that they can try and flog you a remortgage down the line rather than needing to know this for regulatory requirements. 

colsten

It's probably an optional question which you can ignore. Which bank are we talking about?

I have applied for many current account and can't recall one that asks for the property value and the amount of mortgage. They do often ask what your income and your monthly outgoings are - - - I give them some approx numbers, or say "would prefer not to answer" if poss.

If it's mandatory, change bank. They merely ask for their own Marketing purposes.

oldagetraveller1

They can ask for information, but whether it's given to them is another matter.

What bank? That could be useful to know one to avoid.

Have they told you what could happen if the information isn't provided?

jonesMUFCforever

OP are you a personal or Business customer - if a Business one and you ignore the questionnaire then you could find your account blocked or even closed.

born_again

montygrump said:

My bank is asking for me for information on how much my house is worth and how much morgage i have, for no reason but to ' have on file' do i have to give them this info? I'm not applying for a loan or overdraft my account is a current one. Apparently this is required for file. How much information have they a right to ask for ?

New bank or a old bank?
As above which bank?

Yes, they have the right to ask, but make sure it is your bank. With some information that is requested, if not provided you card usage can be limited and ultimately they can close the account.

montygrump

Sorry for late response,  bank is HSBC.
They said if i didnt give the information account would stay blocked.
Never had anything like this before,  account never overdrawn,  requested any overdraft or any problems, didn't even know until i tryed to transfer money and couldn't, no information on why account blocked  in the first place. 
Have another account with  other bank for 28 years and never asked for this info. 
Have now closed account but they say will not take this information off file,  even though has  no relevance to the   account 

MovingForwards

HSBC are doing it a lot, based on the posts that pop up on here about it.

dunstonh

They said if i didnt give the information account would stay blocked.

That is a bit of key information that you missed in the first post that changes the context completely.

Accounts do not get blocked unless there is a potential anti-money-laundering concern.   That includes things like fraud, benefit fraud and other crimes and not just AML.    A lot of the concerns end up being false-positives. i.e. you may have done a completely honest and legal set of transactions that just happen to look suspicious.       So, they need to find out more about you and guess how they do that? - ask you questions.

Have now closed account but they say will not take this information off file,  even though has  no relevance to the   account 

For it to get to that stage, it suggests you have either not cooperated or the information you supplied did not satisfy their concerns.

There could also be a risk element to it as well.  i.e. your transactions have created enough concern for them not to want to offer banking facilities to you.  

jonesMUFCforever

dunstonh said:

They said if i didnt give the information account would stay blocked.

That is a bit of key information that you missed in the first post that changes the context completely.

Accounts do not get blocked unless there is a potential anti-money-laundering concern.   That includes things like fraud, benefit fraud and other crimes and not just AML.    A lot of the concerns end up being false-positives. i.e. you may have done a completely honest and legal set of transactions that just happen to look suspicious.       So, they need to find out more about you and guess how they do that? - ask you questions.

Have now closed account but they say will not take this information off file,  even though has  no relevance to the   account 

For it to get to that stage, it suggests you have either not cooperated or the information you supplied did not satisfy their concerns.

There could also be a risk element to it as well.  i.e. your transactions have created enough concern for them not to want to offer banking facilities to you.  

This also could lead to a CIFAS marker - he could find all of a sudden that his other bank of 28 years might be in touch wanting information??