Friend lied to bank ...could she get wrong?

[minghamstale]

My friend isn't working at the moment and receives universal credit.
She has told me she's just applied for a overdraft online on her online banking and it's been approved.
On the application it asked her if she was employed and she said yes ...

Surely the bank can see she doesn't get money paid into her bank from a job except for UC

What will happen?
Will she get wrong ?

what do you mean by ‘can she get wrong’?

Will she get in trouble from the bank for saying she's employed when she's not

North East dialect for “get in trouble”.

Yeah sorry we are from Newcastle ha ha

Lying on a credit card application is technically fraud by false representation but the chance of anything ever coming of that is slim to none.

However, bank systems do monitor incoming payments and will pick up on there not be a regular BACS/salary payment - I had an unused overdraft cancelled from a bank because I wasn’t paying into it regularly enough. If it’s a small overdraft, kept within the limit etc it should be fine but if it’s large and frequently and a high utilisation rate the bank might get worried - although the worst they will do is give notice that they’re cancelling it.

I have heard this in East Anglia

It’s fraud and could impact her credit moving forward. Thing is, can she afford an overdraft or is it a new debt she’s running up?

Fraud is a criminal offence. People have been convicted of committing fraud by lying on credit applications. It is unusual for it to be pursued as a crime but it's daft to lie to your bank who can see at a glance that your friend depends on means tested benefits.

How is she going to pay it back if they remove the overdraft facility because she lied to them?

Well she has put fraudulent information on a credit application so it could be an issue

I never knew this was regional! I say it all the time

She will have met their affordability criteria for them to have granted the overdraft, which is a bit surprising but not unheard of as some benefits are assessed as income.

Unlikely they'll pick up on her false answer, but if they do, they can cancel the facility and demand it is paid back. If she defaults, that will affect her credit score. She might also have limited options for forbearance if she can't meet the payments.