What is a status enquiry request, and how do I raise one?
A status enquiry (also known as a banker’s reference) gives third parties an indication of a person's or business's finances from their bank.
A status enquiry request could be made for any number of reasons. Common requests are from landlords to establish if a potential tenant is able to afford monthly rental payments, from foreign banks if a customer wants to open a foreign account with them, and for other ongoing or one-off credit arrangements.
There are 2 types of request:
- Financial commitment – this is a request asking the bank to give confidential opinions on the finances of a customer
- General requests – these are to verify account holders’ basic information, such as checking the length of their relationship with the bank, date of birth, previous and current residential addresses or how they manage their account
Raising a request
Requests can be made either by the individual/business or the third party to the bank.
To do so, the requester will need to write to us, including the account holder’s signature, to confirm their consent.
Please read the ‘request terms’ section at the bottom of this page before sending us your request.
We also recommend that you use our status enquiry request template to make sure you’ve included all the necessary information.
Post your request to us at:
Barclays Bank UK PLC
Status Enquiries
CL Status Request
51 Saffron Road
Leicester
LE18 4US
How long will it take to get a response?
In most cases, and if a request includes all the information we need, we’ll respond within 7 working days of receiving it.
How much does it cost?
Each request will cost an administration fee of £10 (including VAT). You can either include this as a cheque made out to ‘Barclays Bank UK PLC’ or pay it directly from your account.
What kind of response can I expect?
Financial commitment responses will fall into one of these options:
- Customer is able to meet commitment
- Customer is unlikely to enter into a commitment
- Customer is going to have difficulty meeting the commitment
In each case, we’ll explain what it means and if there any next steps you can take.
General requests responses are tailored to each individual scenario.
Request terms:
Before you raise a request, please read this information:
- Request will only be granted for accounts that have at least 6 months’ worth of credit turnover
- Status enquiries are based on information available to us relating to our banking relationship with the customer
- They are not a source of credit reference
- We recommend that you also make your enquiries with other relevant sources of information, such as credit-reference agencies, trade credit associations, Companies House or other public registers
- Status enquiries are given in strict confidence, for private use only, without any guarantee or responsibility on our part
- They may not be disclosed to or relied upon by any other third party without our written consent