AML/fraud compliance when receiving loan repayment

Minimalist1978

Hi all,
Grateful for any advice on this please.

A few years ago I lent money to a now ex-girlfriend.. and she's now in a position to repay me. It was an informal loan between two friends (no interest) of £52,000. She will be repaying me in chunks of around £10,000 over the next few months, and she will be sending the money from overseas. I had evidence of the original transfer of £52,000 being sent to her account in 2014.

My question is, do you know what documents my bank will require in order to satisfy their Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Fraud compliance checks? 

I'm worried about opening a can of worms as regulations are so strict these days and documentation is required for everything...

Many thanks.

eskbanker

There's nothing specific, and you might not even be asked for anything at all, so it'll just be a case of wait and see, although one precaution you could take is to ensure that you have adequate funds in alternative accounts in case this one is blocked.  Which country will she be sending funds from?

Minimalist1978

From Indonesia. 
I've had so many problems with frozen payments, frozen accounts, compliance checks requiring documents... Revolut is the worst for it, but others like Chase are just as bad really. I don't think it's even the banks themselves who set the algorithms. I think it's BOE that flags up "suspicious activity" and then gets the banks to run the checks (Revolut customer service admitted as much in a conversation once). My banking is "irregular", I'll freely admit it, and it's led to a red flag on my account that now won't go away... so I'm anticipating problems with this one.

Hoenir

Minimalist1978 said:

From Indonesia. 

In the High risk category. Your friend can prove the source of the funds presumably. 

Minimalist1978

Hoenir said:

Minimalist1978 said:

From Indonesia. 

In the High risk category. Your friend can prove the source of the funds presumably. 

Yes, she can. But would she need to if we can prove my original loan to her? I mean that can be argued to be the source of funds - no?

boingy

Minimalist1978 said:

Hoenir said:

Minimalist1978 said:

From Indonesia. 

In the High risk category. Your friend can prove the source of the funds presumably. 

Yes, she can. But would she need to if we can prove my original loan to her? I mean that can be argued to be the source of funds - no?

The banks will probably not see it that way. They'll just see new large payments arriving from abroad and that will most likely trigger their algorithm, which will automatically block the transfer or freeze the account whilst they investigate.

I honestly don't know how they will view repayment of a large, interest-free loan to a friend from 9 years ago but I do know that the regulations are dramatically more strict and somewhat brutal compared with back then.

I guess you try a transfer and see what happens. Maybe consider opening a separate account at a different bank to receive the money, that way if it gets frozen you are not too inconvenienced. It might also be worth considering making the payments in smaller amounts, although I've had a transfer of £100 from me to me blocked in the past!

pridehappy

Not sure this helps, but I’d stay away from Santander and Lloyds Bank. In my experience, these are the worst for stopping payments that I’ve used.

I’ve regularly transferred sums of up to £10,000 with Virgin Money, Nationwide Building Society and Starling Bank, these seem to have more accurate algorithms. 

It might be an idea to try and open an international current account if you can, maybe it would be less likely to be rejected?

Minimalist1978

I figure I'm going to have to evidence it one way or another. I really think all banks are subject to a higher algorithm that they have no control over. I'm sure there is a bit of individual variation in how strict/lenient they are, but if a person has a red mark by their name then the stricter requirements automatically apply by default, so then it doesn't matter who I bank with... But yes, I am anticipating disruption for a while, so will have to adapt accordingly

eskbanker

Minimalist1978 said:

I don't think it's even the banks themselves who set the algorithms. I think it's BOE that flags up "suspicious activity" and then gets the banks to run the checks (Revolut customer service admitted as much in a conversation once).

Minimalist1978 said:

I really think all banks are subject to a higher algorithm that they have no control over. I'm sure there is a bit of individual variation in how strict/lenient they are, but if a person has a red mark by their name then the stricter requirements automatically apply by default, so then it doesn't matter who I bank with

Why would the Bank of England have any involvement with day-to-day transaction processing by other institutions?  I can see why a bank employee might choose to imply that it's out of their hands though....

Minimalist1978

eskbanker said:

Minimalist1978 said:

I don't think it's even the banks themselves who set the algorithms. I think it's BOE that flags up "suspicious activity" and then gets the banks to run the checks (Revolut customer service admitted as much in a conversation once).

Minimalist1978 said:

I really think all banks are subject to a higher algorithm that they have no control over. I'm sure there is a bit of individual variation in how strict/lenient they are, but if a person has a red mark by their name then the stricter requirements automatically apply by default, so then it doesn't matter who I bank with

Why would the Bank of England have any involvement with day-to-day transaction processing by other institutions?  I can see why a bank employee might choose to imply that it's out of their hands though....

Because the central banking cartel have enormous powers over the entire financial industry and government policies, and there are clear signs that they have begun implementing ever tighter, more restrictive policies...leading eventually to the new Central Bank Digital Currencies which will grant Central Banks absolute control over all our day to day transactions. That's why. And when I pressed the customer service rep on who, exactly, sets the current regulations/algorithm which flags up suspicious transactions, etc, they admitted that it was not handled within their own company... and when I suggested that it was a Bank of England system that they are following, they said yes.

Hoenir

Minimalist1978 said:

Hoenir said:

Minimalist1978 said:

From Indonesia. 

In the High risk category. Your friend can prove the source of the funds presumably. 

Yes, she can. But would she need to if we can prove my original loan to her? I mean that can be argued to be the source of funds - no?

No. The funds that are being transferred to you have a source.  Income, sale of asset etc.