Housing associations - bank accounts

1878Everton

Hi, I am currently on a shortlist for a housing association and the housing officer has postponed my affordability meeting, as I haven’t disclosed a bank account that is in my son’s name. My question is, Does anyone have the ability to see how many bank accounts you have?

MattMattMattUK

1878Everton said:

Hi, I am currently on a shortlist for a housing association and the housing officer has postponed my affordability meeting, as I haven’t disclosed a bank account that is in my son’s name. My question is, Does anyone have the ability to see how many bank accounts you have?

Any account with a credit facility such as as overdraft would show on your credit report, others will not. 

Not declaring any bank accounts you have when asked would be fraud.

Jude57

1878Everton said:

Hi, I am currently on a shortlist for a housing association and the housing officer has postponed my affordability meeting, as I haven’t disclosed a bank account that is in my son’s name. My question is, Does anyone have the ability to see how many bank accounts you have?

Broadly, yes and no. Police, HMRC, Official Receiver, Trustees in Bankruptcy and some other official bodies all potentially have the right in specific circumstances, to see your financial records. There are strict rules about how and for what purpose such access without the account holder's consent is permitted. Housing associations don't have the right to those records but they do have the right to ask to see them. If you refuse to allow them to see those records, it could affect their decision making in whether to offer you one of their properties. Assuming you're talking about a joint account for a child under 18 years old and/or over 18 with special circumstances that require you to act as their financial proxy, then unless there's reason to suspect you're trying to hide capital that would make you ineligible for a rented property, there shouldn't be any reason not to let them see the relevant information. 

1878Everton

The bank account is for my 5yo, it has less than £100 in it, so I don’t have anything to hide.
i just don’t understand why they have to be so aggressive and demanding. I have given them everything that is to do with me, but the whole process of trying to get a property makes me feel like I have to let them see everything I have spent my money on, especially when I have been paying nearly double the rent for the past 10 years, and my previous landlord has given them a glowing reference and a zero money owed reference.
My world has been turned upside down when the building has been damaged in a road accident, so I have to move into a housing association home as I am otherwise homeless.

Thank you for the comments and advice!!!

luvchocolate

To be honest I was so happy to get my housing association property after being on their waiting list for 3 years, they could see whatever they wanted. 
They did come to see the way I kept my private rental  too. 
But it was in my interest to ablige 

Jude57

1878Everton said:

The bank account is for my 5yo, it has less than £100 in it, so I don’t have anything to hide.
i just don’t understand why they have to be so aggressive and demanding. I have given them everything that is to do with me, but the whole process of trying to get a property makes me feel like I have to let them see everything I have spent my money on, especially when I have been paying nearly double the rent for the past 10 years, and my previous landlord has given them a glowing reference and a zero money owed reference.
My world has been turned upside down when the building has been damaged in a road accident, so I have to move into a housing association home as I am otherwise homeless.

Thank you for the comments and advice!!!

I'm sorry to hear what an awful time you've had. It's very unlikely that the Housing Association are going to forensically examine every item of your bank statements. If anything, they're looking to see that you can afford the rent without going into an increasing overdraft every month. If you had, say, enormous expenditure on non-essentials and were in arrears with your priority expenses, it might give them cause to want to discuss that in more detail but that's clearly not the case for you. As to your son's little savings account, they'll want sight of that to ensure the account isn't being used to launder ill-gotten gains from criminal activity. You and I know that getting into the saving habit early is always a good thing. Most of this approach from the Housing Association isn't personal to you, but is driven by either legislation, regulation or from the experience of the Housing Association itself. Unfortunately, people lie and provide fraudulent references and financial information, much as supermarkets charge extra to cover the costs of shoplifting, so Housing Associations can't just take anything at face value.  I can assure you, your 2.00 a.m. Amazon purchases, so long as you can afford them, are of no interest to the officer looking at your statements. You sound like exactly the right type of tenant for a Housing Association property (I live in one myself) and hopefully once you've given them this final piece of information, it will be just a matter of finding you a home.

Good luck to you and your son in what I hope will be a happy new home.

1878Everton

Thank you Jude57, very kind words and very reassuring!! It’s been a challenge these past few weeks, and if I’m being honest, just emotionally drained and a bit worried about our future. 

Thank you for the advice and reassurance!!!