Banks and payment firms are required to understand money that does not match the usual pattern of an account. A sum that would buy a flat is that kind of money. Expect questions. Expect them again at the bank on the other side. Neither conversation is a moral judgment, and neither is optional if you want the payment to land.
Two questions that are not the same
Source of funds asks where this transfer came from. Source of wealth asks how you came to have the means in the first place. A house sale can answer the first. It may not answer the second if the house was bought with money the bank has never seen. Be ready for both, especially if you are a new customer.
Papers that usually match the story
A salary wants payslips or tax documents and a statement showing the money arriving. A house sale wants the completion statement and the trail from the lawyer’s account into yours. An inheritance wants the grant or the equivalent and the executor’s payment. A gift wants a letter from the giver and evidence of their own source, which is why gifts stall. A dividend or a business sale wants company papers. Bring the document that shows the step before the transfer, not only the transfer itself.
Timing and the other bank
The firm you send from and the firm that receives can each pause a payment. A pause during a property completion is how people end up borrowing from family. Tell both sides early, and ask what they want before you convert the money into a currency that is then stuck. Name mismatches — a middle name, a joint account, a company — cause delays that feel trivial and are not.
Expect a question about the payment, not a judgement of your character
Banks and payment firms ask about large or unusual payments because they have duties around financial crime and because fraud often looks like a sudden transfer. The questions are usually practical: who is sending, who is receiving, why, and what document shows the story. There is no amount in this guide that defines ‘large’. The firm’s own threshold, if it publishes one to you, is the one that matters, and it can differ by corridor and by customer.
Answer in the same words you would use to a careful friend. A house sale, a gift, a salary, an inheritance and a transfer between your own accounts are different stories and they produce different papers. If you do not have the paper yet, say so and ask what alternative they will accept. Inventing a simpler story than the true one is how a delay becomes a refusal. If the money has passed through several accounts, be ready to show that path.
Build the pack before you press send
Typical papers include a statement showing the balance, a contract or completion statement for a property, a solicitor’s letter, or payslips. Typical is not universal. Ask for the list for your payment. Send copies you can reproduce, and keep originals safe. Note the date you sent them and the name of the person or the case reference.
Tell the recipient’s bank as well as the sender’s, if both have hinted they will ask. A payment can leave one institution and wait at the next. If you are moving country in the same month, mention that. A new address and a large payment on the same day is a pattern their systems notice. It is also an ordinary pattern for someone completing a move, and ordinary is easier to explain with documents than with urgency.
A practical checklist
- A one-paragraph explanation of this payment.
- The document behind that explanation.
- Statements showing the money’s path.
- Matching names on every account.
- The same pack ready for the receiving bank.
- Time in the plan for a question you have not thought of.
Questions to ask
- Do you need source of funds, source of wealth, or both?
- Which documents do you accept for this type of payment?
- Will the beneficiary’s bank see enough, or will they ask again?
- How long do you typically take to review a payment of this kind?
- What name must be on the sending account?
Common mistakes
- Sending first and explaining later.
- A gift with no paper behind the giver.
- Splitting a payment to look smaller. That draws more attention, not less.
- Using an account in the wrong name for speed.
- Assuming last year’s approval covers this year’s sum.
WiT Access provides general information and comparison resources. Nothing on this website constitutes financial, tax, legal or investment advice. Always consider obtaining advice from an appropriately qualified professional.
