Rosemarie complained that it was inappropriate for the bank to ask for copies of her partner's bank statements.

Our investigation

In assessing a loan application, a bank is required to assess whether a prospective borrower can repay a loan without suffering any undue hardship. As part of this assessment, the bank must make reasonable inquiries into the customer's income and expenses. This will normally involve collecting bank statements as evidence of the applicant’s financial position.

Rosemarie’s housing, transport and utilities payments came from her joint account, so the bank needed to review the joint account statements to assess her expenses. The bank could not approve Rosemarie's loan application without evidence of her outgoings – including expenses paid from her joint account. We therefore found it was reasonable for the bank to request copies of her joint statements.

Outcome

We did not uphold Rosemarie’s complaint.