to want to close my bank account after this gross invasion of privacy?

[somanymiles]

I went to get cash out of my bank account this morning to pay the builders (£6,000) and was told I could not take that amount out without hard copy proof of what I was spending the money on eg an invoice. I was given no notice of this so of course did not have anything except a quote on my phone which they did not accept, even though I offered to email it to them. This was not a question of confirming my identity- it was that they have a new policy where you gave to prove what you are spending your cash on. When I asked what the threshold was for the new policy I was told they were not allowed to tell me. I am furious. Surely what I spend my money on us nobodies business but mine. It certainly isn't HSBC's business.I am thinking of closing my accounts there with all the hassle that will entail. AIBU?

last time I checked the terrorists were still terrorising & the drug dealers were still selling

You are suggesting that all attempts to reduce, limit or detect crime are futile and should be stopped?

MLR is indeed a daft sledgehammer to crack a very small nut
but its there
live with it or move overseas

Huge numbers of builders- a big part of the industry- aren't VAT registered. It's really rather odd to think anyone using cash is evading tax.

Serenity
Tax and VAT are not the same thing.

I'm an accountant. Piglet is in the trade.

Class 2 NI kicks in once taxable income is over £5,725
Class 4 NI kicks in at £7,755
Income tax starts at £9,440

VAT is of course based on turnover not profit.

income tax is at a higher rate than VAT. Registration does not apply.

ooops

too slow

LOL - I have the HMRC rates and tables page as my first bookmark

I'm also an accountant. For a major home builder ;) I didn't say tax and VAT were the same thing, I said it was odd to go around assuming people dealing in cash evade tax

serenity
if you work for a house builer you deal zero rated and all your subbies gleefully do not have to charge it

the subbies will be up to their ears in VAT evasion

just hang around in a builders merchant at 7.30 in the morning to watch the cash economy in full swing

it was odd to go around assuming people dealing in cash evade tax

If a trader asks to be paid £6k in cash, and it was not just an eccentric whim of the customer, then I certainly think it is very fishy. It might just be that the contractor is an itinerant with a false name and address who will overcharge for substandard work and flit. Or perhaps there is some decent and understandable reason that did not occur to me.

I'm well aware plenty of people pay cash in this world. It's also not my place to decide whether or not those people submit their tax returns correctly without any evidence.

It's really rather odd to think anyone using £6k cash is not evading tax

Having been doing tax returns for builders for over 20 years
if its in cash it rarely turns up in the tax return
I hassle them all the time and use their petrol receipts to fill in the gaps

With FPS, there is no reason for cash payments if they are being properly declared.
With cash payments the householder has no proof that they are not handing money to benefit cheats / illegal migrants etc etc
and the work is highly unlikely to be covered by any insurance / guarantees

CallmeNancy
They can be dumb like that.
I had a cheque from my Dad at Christmas 2001 that they did not like so they said they would contact his bank branch.
I told them that would be a bad idea and to look at the address on the cheque.
World Trade Center.
They did not get why that was relevant.
It was Lloyds too ....

YANBU. It is to do with money laundering, but that's beside the point. Unless you had been hold in advance of the requirement to provide an invoice in order to be able to it hydras that sum, they were out of order. You should write to head office, copying in the bank manager, ask for an explanation and recompense for the inconvenience and embarrassment caused.

You should write to head office, copying in the bank manager, ask for an explanation and recompense for the inconvenience and embarrassment caused
They will close OP's account and leave her without one.
Banks do not want troublemakers unless they are making lots of money out of them.
They do not make money out of people with savings and ready cash.

TalkinPeace I very much doubt HSBC will close OP's account if she makes a complaint.

HSBC may not close her account if the OP makes a complaint but it is clear from this thread that it would be a complete waste of time. She's certainly not going to get recompense for inconvenience and embarassment.

Talkin that is bollocks.

It sounds as if you're knowingly assisting the builders to evade (loads of) tax, in which case I wouldn't be so righteous about it. It's because of this kind of thing that the rest of us have to pay so much tax ourselves.

It isn't just cash withdrawals or depsoits. I had huge problems buying a house because the cashier wanted me to produce an invoice for the deposit CHAPS transfer (we had done everything with the solicitor electronically, so I didn't have one, had to kick up a huge stink to get it to go through).

Another time I had them asking me what a large some of money I wanted to transfer from my savings account to my current account was for. I said "stuff", they said "it's a lot of money to spend on stuff" so I said "I'm rich" (not true).

I also had an odd discussion with fraud team once who I received a call from following suspiscious activity on my account. They wanted to know what I had withdrawn £500 for - I said it wasn't any of their business and they said "it's just a security question", so I asked how it could possibly be a security question when they couldn't have any idea what I was going to spend it on. It was quite odd.

It does make me irate. Mainly because the people asking these questions either don't seem to understand why they are asking them or they lie to me about why. I haven't had a cashier sayt o me, "I'm sorry fi it seems intrusive, we have legal obligations to try and get to know your financial business because of money laundering regulations" it's always "I'm only trying to help" or "it's for your security" niether of which make much sense to me for the questions they are asking.

I would also be less annoyed by it if they didn't seem to use every bit of information about me to try and make more money out of me regardless of whether or not they are actually helping me and often by misrepresenting. 30 years ago I liked my bank and would have turned to them for advice. Nowadays I assume they are a bunch of sharks with no interest at all in my financial wellbeing, only in how they can get the biggest percentage of my money, so I'm not inclined to think well of their attempts to interrogate me and I trust little fo what they say. This isn't down to money laundering regulations, it's down to the appalling practices of high street banks over the last two decades. So I don't think claims of "poor banks are only enforcing the law" carry much weight. They don't only enforce the law, they also abuse their position to my detriment. If they didn't do this so much they'd be able to enforce money laundering regulations without getting people's backs up so much.

£6000 cash for builders! Umm, sounds a bit dodgy to me.
I have never paid a builder in cash and none have ever asked for it. Bank transfer is immediate, safe and far more convenient. You don't have to leave your house to make the payment.

The most likely reason for a householder to agree to pay in cash is that there is an understanding that there will be a reduction in the cost due to tax evasion. Why would anyone choose a method of payment with no paper trail? Paying by bank transfer provides a record of what has been paid and to whom.

Agree £6k in cash to a trade is more likely to be tax avoidance than not, but you can have a paper trail with cash, you just get a receipt.