Lying about salary on current account

JP2019

This is a hypothetical question before anybody starts screaming.

If you put your salary down as 3k a month when you only truthfully earn 1k, would this lower your internal behaviour score with a bank as they would expect to see 3k come through your account but are only seeing 1k?

I only ask this question as I know a lady who has been on benefits for years and somehow has a 3.5 grand overdraft and a credit card with a 5k limit with the bank (which I think is ludicrous). I can assure you that this woman has never worked a day in her life so there is no way she has the income to warrant that amount of credit.

I don’t imagine a bank would give you that type of credit if you put your income down as £800 a month which brings me back to my original question…

Do they care if the money running through your account matches what you list as your salary or is it more just a case of they care about the money that goes through your account is enough to cover your direct debits etc?

Please keep responses about it being fraud etc etc out of this thread as I already know all that and like I said, it’s just a hypothetical question.

booneruk

She can only  use that 3.5k overdraft once without paying it back, so I doubt it's enabling a lifestyle she's not capable of supporting.

If the account requires a certain amount of salary or cash paid in per month then she'll be at risk of it being pulled if that's not being met.

Zanderman

Re the banks, no they don't mind about saIary in the way you're thinking OP.

You can have multiple current account and when opening each one you will be asked about your income - but that doesn't mean the new bank expect it in the account. It wouldn't be possible if you have more than one account anyway. I have well over 10 and used to have many more.  Only one ever gets my income in entirety.

All the bank want to know is whether you are who you say you are, roughly what you 'earn' (work, pension, investment income or just benefits) and, crucially, what your financial records say about you - by checking credit agency records. 

So the bigger issue to worry about if you lie about income is those credit checks.

If there's a significant mis-match with what's been said before it would raise red flags. 

Multiple 'offences' might mean most banks would simply refuse future account applications  

Edited to add:  by the way I don't see that overdraft and credit card facility as 'ludicrous'.  Many people on low incomes have debts of that order, and those debts have to be somewhere!  Quite sensible to have them with the bank.  And not unusual.

dr_adidas01

JP2019 said:

This is a hypothetical question before anybody starts screaming.

If you put your salary down as 3k a month when you only truthfully earn 1k, would this lower your internal behaviour score with a bank as they would expect to see 3k come through your account but are only seeing 1k?

I only ask this question as I know a lady who has been on benefits for years and somehow has a 3.5 grand overdraft and a credit card with a 5k limit with the bank (which I think is ludicrous). I can assure you that this woman has never worked a day in her life so there is no way she has the income to warrant that amount of credit.

I don’t imagine a bank would give you that type of credit if you put your income down as £800 a month which brings me back to my original question…

Do they care if the money running through your account matches what you list as your salary or is it more just a case of they care about the money that goes through your account is enough to cover your direct debits etc?

Please keep responses about it being fraud etc etc out of this thread as I already know all that and like I said, it’s just a hypothetical question.

To be honest what’s really with this hypothetical question and what are you hopping to achieve by asking this question? 

Whether a person is on benefits or not it’s none of your business and if they have an overdraft of 3.5k and a credit card with a limit of 5k its also none of your business. 

You might consider a credit limit of 5k on a credit card being ludicrous but lots of others on this forum won’t and would consider it a poor limit. 

It’s all down to what the financial institutions are comfortable with lending to an individual and what risk they are prepared to take. 

dcs34

The way different banks will use this information varies but for most it's just to help them figure out what products to market at you.

Of course, if they later decide you aren't using the account as much as they were led to believe you would when you made the application, they have the right to close it for you.

If they don't clearly define "salary" or "main account" then interpret their meaning (and adjust your answers) as you see fit...

williewonder

I'm on benefits. I have a £1000 overdraft with Nationwide and only have £135 a week paid into it that account.

Grumpy_chap

I am not sure why the OP has asked the question.

It does seem reasonable that the bank asks your salary / income as a means to establish likely flow of funds through the account.  This is for obvious business reasons (assessing your profitability and marketing potential) and also anti-fraud / KYC factors - if you told the bank that you work as an administrator earning £15k/year, then the bank will expect to see a bit more than £1k/month flowing.  This can be used to protect the bank and the customer against fraud - it works both ways.

Some accounts require a minimum flow of cash to be eligible for certain advantages (or even for the account itself).  There are some reputable commentators that suggest working this system to count the same money twice is permissible, though I doubt it is what the banks expect.  It is behaviour that is only slightly different to entering an exaggerated salary in a form.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts/

With regard to the salary entered on the form, I can only imagine it is of superficial use to the bank and salaries can vary up or down for all sorts of reasons.  As with any other data offered, a small variance is likely inconsequential but stating a salary of several multiples above reality may result in more adverse outcomes.

born_again

JP2019 said:

This is a hypothetical question before anybody starts screaming.

If you put your salary down as 3k a month when you only truthfully earn 1k, would this lower your internal behaviour score with a bank as they would expect to see 3k come through your account but are only seeing 1k?

I only ask this question as I know a lady who has been on benefits for years and somehow has a 3.5 grand overdraft and a credit card with a 5k limit with the bank (which I think is ludicrous). I can assure you that this woman has never worked a day in her life so there is no way she has the income to warrant that amount of credit.

I don’t imagine a bank would give you that type of credit if you put your income down as £800 a month which brings me back to my original question…

Do they care if the money running through your account matches what you list as your salary or is it more just a case of they care about the money that goes through your account is enough to cover your direct debits etc?

Please keep responses about it being fraud etc etc out of this thread as I already know all that and like I said, it’s just a hypothetical question.

Lets just say that if they got into problems paying any debt back and have to do a statement of affairs. It is going to come out. How will it look to the bank at that point? 
Not going to want to help someone that has lied to them.

A bank can check with employers.

colsten

JP2019 said:

This is a hypothetical question before anybody starts screaming.

If you put your salary down as 3k a month when you only truthfully earn 1k, would this lower your internal behaviour score with a bank as they would expect to see 3k come through your account but are only seeing 1k?

Why would you even hypothetically ask about lying to a bank? You seem to be determined to explore all avenues for wrecking your creditworthiness. Whatever floats your boat....

Shakin_Steve

Banks also ask for your employment status, job title, job sector, name and address of employer, and, sometimes, payroll number. You'd have to be pretty stupid to inflate your earnings (lie) knowing they had all of that information to hand, which they could check if they felt it necessary.

wiseonesomeofthetime

And they (often) ask for your NI Number.

Though whether they have access to how much tax you pay annually is another question.