I need to know some opinions about the intrusive and unsafe way for demanding access to personal bank account to verify the income.After talking with HSBC they are not aware of this and they said I should never log into my online banking through redirections …and never give them acces unless you go to their branch and specified them who needs access and so one…I called OpenRent and like all other organisations they said :my computer is slow or is not responding …call us back at later point. Have your say people .INTRUSIVE or NOT ? SAFE or NOT ?
perfectly safe… done with thousands of applicants a day with no averse results.
If you don’t like it, don’t do it.
But then good luck finding anyone who will rent to you.
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But you/all the landlords know that OpenRent is saying this is not the only way of proving income ? Statements also can be presented to landlords if they are accepting them .So why the landlord would not accept seeing the statements ? Plus why the bank itself doesn’t endorse using this method ?Of course you wouldn’t see adverse results .You just have to think what adverse results can be from using this method.
Do you think if the adverse results were visible Open Rent would still be using it ?
Also when referencing are completed they come back with a red X mark : income not verified and this, I bet is scarring the landlords … The point is landlords shold accept the alternative and not declining tenants just because they didn’t choose that particular method.
if that is what the landlord wants and you do not ,then go elsewhere
Why do you think Open Banking was created?
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Not quite sure what you mean but can you give me an example of where an adverse result has happened?
I get credit checks when I rent out to prospective tenants. If they come back as rejected it could invalidate my insurance if I still choose to rent to them.
Also, what is the alternative?
Hi Lorna4.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.What do you mean by ‘come back as rejected ?’ .
Credit check come back as a report from my experience so far .Is not a rejected application, is only highlighting some facts about the future tenant.
Regarding the alternative, a suitable solution I still belive is to show my payslips and statements to the landlord .This still proves my income . I will give you an example: having a ccj for a £300 for a fine that is got nothing to do with paying my rent ,it will come back as a red mark on the credit check .You will decline a tenant for that ?Or your home insurance will not accept me as a tenant because of that ? Is got nothing to do with my affordability or it doesn’t make me a bad tenant. People now take credit check companies as a best thing ,but is not the case .They are doing more harm then good for all of us if you think at a larger scale . As long as I can prove to you that my income is stable and will cover the rent why can’t you decide from facts(my statements and payslips ) and not from what a credit check company is saying ?
CCJs, iVAs etc shows a lot about a tenants attitude towards debt and must be considered. It takes a lot to get a CCJ. Statistically the risk is higher for any creditor including landlords.
Insurance will not be possible if tenant fails credit check, unless there is a guarantor who is clear.
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These systems were introduced to prevent people from hiding their credit history
Open banking is totally safe and common practice.
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You are completely wrong, Mark10. It doesn’t show anything. A CCJ (County Court Judgment) is not a justifiable debt; it is an imposed debt. It doesn’t take much to get a CCJ. From my experience, an unpaid parking fine can result in a CCJ. Attitude towards an abusive system with private parking fines doesn’t reflect anything related to your affordability or ability to pay rent.Atitutude towards an injust parking fine tells nothing about attitude towards debt.
Regarding the credit check again I highlight in my opinion is not a pass or faill , is only confirming some data are true or false, but if the system doesn’t have the data is considering you as failed.
My opinion again, these systems were intruduced to control the people .Who is using the system for credit checks (zoom back a little bit looking at the bigger picture ) ?? Not an oridinary person --is just goverment and companies associated with it.
Experienced landlords will not agree. CCJs requires a lot of ignoring of letters to get one, or avoidance.
Statistics tell us that someone with a ccj is more likely to default. Will everyone - of course not. They are a good indication though. At the very least it can show financial issues.
This is all we have to go on, when there is an under supply of properties those that are the lowest risk will always win.
Those with ccjs need to volunteer a guarantor, show savings, offer rent in advance etc
Whats abusive about private parking fines? You park on someone’s land and agree to pay the required fee. If you don’t you get a fine, if you don’t pay the fine you get a ccj.
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David122 .
I think if someone is creating a product or service the intention is to create some sort of revenue ;
bogdan5. Do you go to work for no pay ?? A product or service requires payment
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If a prospective tenant enquirer has a £300 CCJ, then it’s likely to be a be a NO from me. If the market wasn’t as competitive I might ask some probing questions about this. To me, a smaller smaller CCJ like £300 is worse than a big one. A smaller one should have been sorted & nipped in the bud. Any CCJ reflects a more intent to pay debts, and that would worry me that future rent payments were at risk.
I don’t mind if you disagree with this opinion. In any case, its the individual Landlords opinion that matters and that will always be the decision which is right for them, their circumstances & their property.
@Bogdan5 - Open Banking is a perfectly legitimate service, provided by UK banks, very secure, and totally under your control via your online banking app, so I fear you or your bank would have been mistaken / misunderstood.
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All the landlord is attempting to verify is to your financial ability to pay the rent and general overheads associated with renting a property.
I agree it is quite invasive to peruse an applicants Bank account but appreciate that the landlord is looking for a consistent earning entry that satisfies the affordability aspect of the application. Normally payslips would verify declared income but in the case of the self employed bank statements provide proof of regular income
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that’s only one of many reasons to see bank statements.
Thankyou for your comment But that’s what I had already stated in my post
This is what your post actually says Geoff, and my point is that “financial ability to pay rent” is not “all the landlord is attempting to verify”.
Statements also give you great insight into a tenant’s lifestyle. Examples I’ve actually experienced include paying for pet insurance (my listing stipulated no pets and they’d told me they didn’t have one!), paying utilties for an address that is different from where they’ve told me they live (the utility payments had a postcode as reference!), multiple and sizeable lottery payments each week (they admitted they had a gambling issue they were getting help with!) and regular payments from a husband when they’d told me they were single (it literally had a reference that said “from hubby”!).
With the arguable exception of the gambler (they weren’t actually spending too much of their disposable income at the time) none of these affected affordability, but they definitely informed suitability!
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I am a Landlord!!! I believe you have lost the thread but not to Labour the point any longer as it’s getting rather petty