Why does Starling Bank want my NI number, and income ?

[Annie Beau]

Ive had a starling account for about two years now and recently keep gettinga pop up message saying I need to give them my tax number (which I assume is my NI number) and also income information. I understand that they may have to ask if i am a UK resident etc but whats with the income requset/ I have accounts with lloyds, halifax and nat west...they havent asked for this information. A friend also keeps getting the same request and when he asked why they need it, all they say is 'just to update our records'

 

[Danilene]

They are worried you might be money laundering. For example, if you have been making too many deposits, it might have triggered an alert on their system. They then ask you for your income info.
I used to work in the financial industry, and when people were investing too much, as in, it wasn't in keeping with their profession/lifestyle, this raised flags. However, when I worked in real estate overseas, I once saw a young woman who had earned 2000€ in the previous tax year, as an actress (B TV series), get a mortgage for 2 million euros, to buy a flat of 3 million euros, with a 1 million euros. All that money came from her daddy... who had negotiated with the bank directly. We ran into trouble when it came to signing the sales contract: the heiress couldn't understand why Daddy couldn't sign it for her, and as she was constantly travelling to New York (to take part in auditions for movies etc.) or to Morocco or Spain (short holidays to recover from the disappointment of having failed her auditions), we couldn't book a date for the signature of the contract! She was such a spoilt brat, so immature...

 

[Annie Beau]

Thanks..with the income that goes into that account, I cant see the money laundering being a thing. Anyway, they mesaged me day after day, I ignoreed it and now theyve stopped .

 

[Danilene]

The fact that you ignored the first couple of text messages might be one of the reasons why they thought you were 'dodgy'. Some people really struggle to understand that not all of us want to spend our life on our mobile phone, answering multiple calls a day.