Being forced to open Bank Account

JtDB

I have just received a contract for a new job. I was delighted until I read in the small print that one of the conditions of this job is that I open a bank account with a bank which they are affiliated with, and that my salary goes directly into that bank account.

They even included a current account switching form with the contract.
I have an AIB account which I have used for years, and do not wish to switch for many reasons.

What I want to know is, is this legal? Are they allowed to force me into opening a bank account in a different bank?

RuggieBear

you can have more than one bank account. you do not have to close the AIB account.

I think it was similar with a friend who refused and they backed down.
But you can open a new account with the new company and set up a standing order for your salary to be paid into your usual account from the new one?

matrim

bluewolf wrote: »

I think it was similar with a friend who refused and they backed down.
But you can open a new account with the new company and set up a standing order for your salary to be paid into your usual account from the new one?

The problem with that might be a delay in getting your pay. An inter-bank transfer can take up to 5 days (although it's usually 2 or 3)

JtDB

Yes, That is a possibility. But then I will have to wait the 3 business days for funds to clear into my AIB account. Essentially, my payday will be 3 days after everyone else....

Similarly, I could withdraw my wages in cash, walk to AIB and lodge it to get instantly available money. But that defeats the purpose of electronic payment.

Getting paid a salary should not be a hassle!!!

My main concern here is the principal of the matter. Do they have any right to ask me to open on of their accounts?

Also, if they are referring a large number of people (employees) to open accounts in a certain bank, then they must be getting some sort of incentive to do so...

JtDB

JtDB wrote: »

Yes, That is a possibility. But then I will have to wait the 3 business days for funds to clear into my AIB account. Essentially, my payday will be 3 days after everyone else....

Similarly, I could withdraw my wages in cash, walk to AIB and lodge it to get instantly available money. But that defeats the purpose of electronic payment.

Getting paid a salary should not be a hassle!!!

My main concern here is the principal of the matter. Do they have any right to ask me to open on of their accounts?

Also, if they are referring a large number of people (employees) to open accounts in a certain bank, then they must be getting some sort of incentive to do so...

3 days?! They only take 1 day between banks for me!

I'd say it's the deposit holding that makes them look better which is why they insist on it


I don't know, I would be awfully tempted to put my foot down but at the same time it's a new job. I would speak to them about it, if it's just in the small print but not told to you they might make an exception since you feel strongly about it.
Failing that, set up the account then tell payroll your "new" bank details afterwards

I think they can't require it but I don't know for sure

seamus

JtDB wrote: »

What I want to know is, is this legal? Are they allowed to force me into opening a bank account in a different bank?

A contract is an agreement. They're not forcing anything, if you sign the contract then you're voluntarily agreeing to play ball with them.

Technically legal, yes. Though I doubt they have any semblance of a good reason for requesting this. Most likely it's down to a lazy payroll department who run payroll and pay wages into the bank account on the day you're due to be paid. If everyone is with the same bank, this works out fine and all employees get paid on time. However, if some employees are with a different bank, then they will take a day or two to get paid.

Most payroll departments send their payroll to the bank with a payment date on it. So if payday is on the 31st, the payroll department send the payroll file to the bank on the 26th, with a payment date of the 31st, and then all employees get paid on the 31st, regardless of what bank they're with.

My vote is for a lazy payroll department, though if it's a huge company, bluewolf could be onto something with deposit holding.

First thing to do would be to query it - ask them why in bejaysus would you need to have a bank account in a particular bank? If they won't move on it, then it's really up to you to decide if holding onto a particular bank account is more important than this new job

One other solution is to open the new account in the new bank and the "switch" this account to your original account - speak to your current bank. The switcher setup is designed so that all payments will be redirected to the account/bank which you have "switched" to and payroll are none the wiser.

After a year or so you can "forget" about that part of the contract and just give the correct bank details to payroll.

JtDB

Yes, I think deposit holding is the most likely reason. While the companies are linked at the moment, over the last day or two it has started to look like that arrangement won't be, uh... permanent.

I know that signing the contract is a choice.... but with the difficulty in getting jobs at the moment, it's not much of a choice really! Over 50 people had applied for this job, so it's quite easy for them to offer the job to the next person in line if I make a fuss over this!

I'll go down the route of signing up initially, and switching after a couple of months.

Thanks all for your help and input!

Corruptedmorals

Just adding that I don't think the delay is that big, if you end up going down that route- where I worked, people with bank of Ireland got paid midnight on Thursday, AIB and everyone else Friday at 9 or half 9 AM.

Jim2007

JtDB wrote: »

I have just received a contract for a new job. I was delighted until I read in the small print that one of the conditions of this job is that I open a bank account with a bank which they are affiliated with, and that my salary goes directly into that bank account.

They even included a current account switching form with the contract.
I have an AIB account which I have used for years, and do not wish to switch for many reasons.

What I want to know is, is this legal? Are they allowed to force me into opening a bank account in a different bank?

I can't speak about the legal side of it, but if it is a financial services company, particularly a European one, then it is not an unusual request and indeed some banking licences and stock exchanges require it. The idea is to help them detect insider trading. You may also be required to provide them with details of any other account you have and agree to them or the financial regulators reviewing transactions on such accounts during an investigation.

Jim (Switzerland)

pow wow

If your employer is who I think it might be I had to have an account with the retail banking affiliate when working there also. All of us were happy to do so at the time so I don't know what they'd say if you did decide that you really didn't want to bank with them.

Bigcheeze

I think you're right not to make a fuss about it. You don't want to be flagged as trouble before you start

I've hired a few people in the past who made a fuss over minor standard stuff in contracts which gave me an uneasy feeling about the employees. Invariably they turned out to be problem employees and I regretted not pulling the offer.

Nothingbetter2d

open the new account

then setup online banking with it and register your main aib account details with it so u can have money transfers go through in a day rather than 3 days.

daigo75

JtDB wrote: »

Yes, That is a possibility. But then I will have to wait the 3 business days for funds to clear into my AIB account. Essentially, my payday will be 3 days after everyone else....

Apologies if what I'm writing is silly, but I don't think it would make much of a difference after the first lodgement. You'll get your salary on your AIB bank account every 30 days like anyone else, with the difference that, instead of getting it every 28th of the month, you'll get it on the 30th. Not as bad as one thinks.

Milk & Honey

There are probably a few reasons why this is done.

1. Cashflow. They can hold onto the money until the last second and transfer it rather than having to do it a few days ahead to get it into accounts on time.

2. Monitoring spending. I know of one bank who took note of where employees withdrew cash and at what times. Making a habit of withdrawing money in temple bar at 3 am sets alarm bells ringing.

3. Loyalty. It is not considered the done thing for an employee to contribute to the profits of competitors.

Being awkward about a thing like this will be a serious negative. Even transferring large amounts of money to AIB will be spotted. In my view it would be better to either refuse the job altogether or else go along with it.

seamus

Milk & Honey wrote: »

2. Monitoring spending. I know of one bank who took note of where employees withdrew cash and at what times. Making a habit of withdrawing money in temple bar at 3 am sets alarm bells ringing.

3. Loyalty. It is not considered the done thing for an employee to contribute to the profits of competitors.

Being awkward about a thing like this will be a serious negative. Even transferring large amounts of money to AIB will be spotted. In my view it would be better to either refuse the job altogether or else go along with it.

His employer will not have access to this information.

Even if he was being employed by a bank, monitoring employee's bank activity in this way would be a gross invasion of privacy and breach of the data protection act and they would be in massive trouble for doing this.

Every time a bank account is accessed, even just to view it, this is logged in the bank's systems (in fact I think it may be a regulatory requirement). There was a very recent case where someone was dismissed from the bank after snooping into his colleague's/employees accounts.