How do you feel about giving national insurance number?

Ubuntootoo001

Hi, I recently saw the article about Trading 212 offer of £40 worth of shares. I downloaded the app but it’s asking for my national insurance number. My concern here is data breaches etc and more of my personal details getting into the wrong hands. 

What are your thoughts on this? 

Thanks

TheSpectator

If you want an ISA, which is what this offer basically is you need to supply your NINO.

Saver73

It is because it's essentially an ISA account. In the MSE email I received earlier this week it says "Though you'll need to be able to use this year's £20,000 ISA allowance, so can't do it if you've maxed that out".

subjecttocontract

Every ISA application you ever make will require you NI number. It's completely normal.

DullGreyGuy

Ubuntootoo001 said:

Hi, I recently saw the article about Trading 212 offer of £40 worth of shares. I downloaded the app but it’s asking for my national insurance number. My concern here is data breaches etc and more of my personal details getting into the wrong hands. 

What are your thoughts on this? 

Thanks

Your concerned someone is going to pay some extra tax for you?

If you want an ISA you are going to have to give your NINO 

masonic

Pretty much all new financial accounts require this. It is used to identify you to HMRC and used to report things like ISA allowance usage and taxable income you received. Think of it as an alternative name that is unique to you.

I'd be more concerned about sharing my address or phone number.

dunstonh

My concern here is data breaches etc and more of my personal details getting into the wrong hands. 

There is more chance of your NI getting into the wrong hands from your records than there is from an FCA regulated firm.

What are your thoughts on this? 

If you don't like it, then don't do it.     However, in the UK, your NI number is your tax identification number and they need it.   

friolento

The NINO is one of the mandatory pieces of infirmation ISA providers need to include in their annual ISA reports to the HMRC.

eskbanker

DullGreyGuy said:

Your concerned someone is going to pay some extra tax for you?

Puts me in mind of this, from Viz:

Kim_13

HMRC would not be able to identify any breaches of the ISA rules or limits if your NINO were not provided, hence a provider cannot open an account for you without it. You presumably downloaded the app from App Store or Google Play Store and it has ratings in the hundreds of thousands so you can be confident you are genuinely dealing with Trading 212 and provide the number.

Any company can have a data breach placing your personal details at risk including your employer but you wouldn’t refuse to provide the information to them. All you can do is make a judgement call about a company and whether you wish to deal with them. 

When I read the title I wondered if you might be referring to a taxable account - I have been asked for it for normal savings accounts also presumably as it allows monitoring of whether any tax is due on interest, now that it is paid gross. It would be a similar set up for investment accounts presumably - due to the small tax free allowances for dividends and capital gains.

eskbanker

Kim_13 said:

HMRC would not be able to identify any breaches of the ISA rules or limits if your NINO were not provided

I don't think that's true - they have to piece together the aggregate picture of all taxpayers' finances, some of which is tagged with NINOs and some not, so identifying unique individuals via data matching from a variety of attributes is fundamental to their operation.  Whether they do it well or not is another story though....