Bank tellers can see your bank balance and transactions on your savings, chequing, investment, credit card, mortgage and loan accounts. Bank tellers can also see your personal information such as address, email, phone number and social insurance number. Although it’s not needed to review this information in all cases, tellers can access this information on your profile.
As soon as your profile is up on the teller screen, they can see your bank balance. They can also see all your recent transactions – such as who your car insurance provider is, how much your mortgage payments are and where you shop on the weekends.
However, tellers are required to follow strict regulations and practice confidentiality. If you have a joint bank account, the bank teller can also see who the joint account holder is, and what accounts they hold. However, the accounts on the profile of the joint account holder are private between the joint account holder and the bank.
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Can Bank Tellers Steal Your Money?
Bank tellers can steal your money if they wanted to cause financial harm. However, they’ll get caught very quickly and the penalties can be severe. The bank teller can lose their job and any attempt to work at any financial institution. Additionally, the bank has several audits that take place which can detect unauthorized transactions. Depending on the amount of money involved, tellers can receive jail time and fines.
If you’re a bank teller and you suspect your colleague is taking part in some sort of scheme, it is advised you contact your bank’s safe reporting line. These reporting hotlines are available to report fraud anonymously.
Can Bank Tellers See What You Buy?
Bank tellers can only see your transaction amounts and where you shop, so they cannot see what you buy. However, the name of the merchant can give away what you purchased. For example, if you have a bank transaction from “Roll Up City”, it’s clear that you probably purchased a printing service from them. So, banks don’t know what items you purchase.
If you are purchasing something discreet, you might want to pay with cash. If you are buying it online, you can use PayPal to make the purchase – after you have deposited funds into your PayPal account. A purchase that is made using your PayPal balance will not show up on your bank statement. However, if your PayPal account retrieves funds from your bank account or credit card to complete a purchase – your statement will show the name of the merchant.
Can the Bank See What You By on Amazon?
The bank cannot see what items you buy on Amazon. Your bank will only see the Amazon transaction amount and transaction date. Only you and Amazon know what items were purchased, as this is not shared with your bank or credit card company.
Can Bank Tellers Ask Personal Questions?
Bank tellers are trained to ask personal questions to prevent fraud, identify risk and make sure the customer and bank is safe. It is to circumvent any possible money laundering, illegal activity or involuntary transaction. Some questions can seem personal, such as “where did you get this money?” or “who is this money being sent to?” or “what is this money for?”.
Nowadays, banks are very stringent on transactions over $10,000 which requires the teller to file a UTR. A UTR is an unusual transaction report. Even if the teller thinks there may be some foul play, they are advised to bring that forward. A bank teller that is aware of your financial struggles comes across you sending a large sum of money to a country you’ve never done business with – what do you think they will do? A well-trained teller should identify this as being unusual and it will raise a red flag.
At the end of the day, a bank teller can ask you personal questions – but it’s usually to gain insight into your transaction and banking activity.
Can Bank Tellers Notarize?
Bank tellers are not authorized to notarize documents. However, some banks do have trained and authorized officers that can notarize documents for you. You can always ask your bank teller, bank teller lead, assistant manager or branch manager for direction on notarizing your document. A commissioner of Oath is also able to notarize a document, and can be found using this national database.
Can Bank Tellers See Your Credit Score?
Bank tellers cannot see your credit score. Your credit score is provided by one of the credit bureaus such as Equifax or Transunion. Your bank may have an internal credit rating for you – which only tells them what type of products and services you may qualify for. In most cases, you will need to purchase your credit score. A credit score and report will give you full access to information about your current credit score, up to date account information and previous credit inquiries into your file. You can purchase your credit score and credit report from some trusted and authorized sellers:
- Equifax
- Credit Karma
- Transunion
Can Bank Tellers Waive Your Fees?
Bank tellers can waive your fees at the bank. They can waive fees for drafts, certified cheques, bill payments, cheque images, overdraft protection and copies of statements. If a bank teller can justify the reason for waiving the fees, they can do it. For example, if a customer had to wait an extra 15 minutes because of a system issue – that provides enough reason to waive the fees on a bank draft. Customers who have a great relationship with their branch may also receive fees waived for routine transactions, as a goodwill offering.
It never hurts to ask your bank teller to waive the fee – as long as there is enough reason to do so.
Do Bank Tellers Have Sales Goals and Quotas?
Most bank tellers have sales goals and quotas they have to meet every month. These sales goals are linked to the number of hours worked and products, promotions and services offered. Bank tellers are required to push credit cards, overdraft protection, referrals and credit limit increases. When you’re at the branch doing routine banking and you notice the bank teller is pushing a new product or something “that is now available” to you – it’s a sign they are trying to meet their sales targets.
If you want to help out the teller, but don’t want to sign up for a new credit product – you can politely ask what else is offered at that time. Sometimes, something as little as setting up automatic payments to save money can help them.