10 Bank Statement Refusal Reasons
For most visa applications
Chances are that you have applied for a visa before and have had a refusal which resulted from your submitted bank statement. All you probably heard or read was that you had insufficient funds in the account. Or your bank statement was not good enough.
But do you really know what were the refusal reasons pertaining to your bank statement? Here are 10 of the most common reasons.
1. Address on bank statement: You might not know this but consular officers look to see if your bank address matches any of your addresses in the visa application. Even though this should not be an issue in most countries, it may be for you especially when you opened the account years ago with one address and you are currently using another address or you are using your “uncles” bank statement and even though you claim you stay with him, your addresses are different. See? To them, multiple addresses reduces your credibility even if you are telling the truth.
2. Opening and closing balances: How many times have you had a UK visa officer stating that they suspect your account has been artificially inflated for the purpose of getting a visa, even if you are one of the few who did not do that? Yes, we know lots of people pad the account for visa and the embassy knows this. Try to play it safe and make sure that within the time frame you build the account, your closing bank balance is not so high compared to the opening bank balance.
3. Date of salary payment: We all know salaries may delay in some months but usually it is safe to receive salaries consistently. The visa officers may not know what goes on in your firm so better you explain to the them why you are receiving January’s salary on Feb 10 and February’s salary on Feb 28 because you don’t want them thinking you were paid two salaries in February just to inflate your account.
4. Means by which salary is paid: There have been situations where salaries are paid by cash (either in an envelope or deposited into your account) by you or a third party in one month and by a bank transfer in another month. This lack of consistency will be noticed by the visa officer and generally, they will think you do not work for that company or work at all as claimed. Even though bank transfers are preferable, not every firm does that. Try and talk to your HR or get a letter explaining your salary payments to the visa officer.
5. Salary description on statement: There is an aspect of your salary payment you cannot control- how the bank describes your salary payments. In one month you will have a description that shows it is for salary payment, and in another month you simply wonder if the teller was confused! They just type anything that really begets your understanding. Again you can ask your HR to tell your bankers to be consistent with their salary descriptions or else an eagle eyed consular officer may use that against you even if it was the same amount paid as that of last month. If you are one of those whose salary fluctuates each month, make sure your pay stubs evidence this!
6. Duration of bank statement: Every country has the minimum duration to which they want your submitted bank statement to cover. Canada, Ireland or Australia usually favours 6 months at least, Japan, UK, South Korea will work with even 5months whilst the Schengen countries will not complain if yours is just 4 or 3 months. If you know this, you will not take a 4 month statement to the Canadian embassy. Though usually not needed, if requested, take a 6 month bank statement to your US visa interview.
7. Type/amount of monthly withdrawals: With technology, we now have internet and mobile banking, which is convenient. Unfortunately, that also means we do less of other transactions on our bank statements. The embassies do not see it that way. They want to see your bank statement having ATM transactions, online POS purchases, cash or cheque withdrawals and payments to other parties aside your mobile or internet banking transactions. Your monthly expenses should not be uniform -some months you may spend a lot, others not so much. It is not normal that your monthly withdrawals are exactly the same, the consular officer will know you are padding the account!!
8. Age of bank statement: Bank statements too can have a sell by date. Haven’t you been asked by an embassy to go for an updated bank statement because what you submitted is too “old”? Just as goods expire after sometime, usually your bank statement expires after one month. So for those who apply for visas with 2–3–4 month’s old bank statements, think twice.
9. Large unexplained deposits: You were “running” your bank statement normally for the past 3 months. Your closing balances were quite similar, nothing more than say 9,000 and then suddenly, there was this 20,000 deposit about one month to apply for a visa. Your closing balances then became beautiful showing about 32,000 the past 2 months and you are happy. Wrong! The embassy knows that money is not yours and 80% of the time these applicants are refused on the basis of just that 20,000 deposit if you do not explain where that money came from with concrete evidence.
10. Statement not officially “stamped”: Some banks will tell you that they do not stamp their statements needed for visa because of arrangements with the embassy, fair enough. Other banks simply forget to stamp your bank statement, bad enough. Insist that your bank statement for visa is stamped if it has not been done. If they have a policy of not stamping, they will tell you so but 9 out of 10 banks do officially stamp their statements issued for visa.
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