<p>Grad student D has a small fellowship to apply for. The scholarship is from a small local organization that supports performing artists. One of the documents that they requested is her checking account statement. She called and asked why that was required and they stated that they wanted to know where she spent her money. It seemed a little odd. Has anyone ever encountered this before?</p>
<p>I have no experience with this sort of scholarship/fellowship but personally I find that an odd request and one I personally would be reluctant to comply with. It seems more intrusive than I would be comfortable with. Of course I am the one that, when we had a special circumstances adjustment for large medical bills, went through the pages and pages of prescription charges and blacked out the details other than the $$ amounts. </p>
<p>It would have to be a pretty huge chunk of money for me to even consider that request. on the other hand I am not sure how much my daughter’s bank statements would tell anyone. Other than rent and utilities she goes cash or credit card on everything so her bank statement would show cash withdrawals, rent payment, utilities, and credit card bill.</p>
<p>A local organization to which I belong gives small ($1,000) scholarships to a number of female graduate students. Given the number of really elderly women on the scholarship committee, I’m never very surprised at what some of them think they should ask applicants. Luckily there are some others involved that tend to moderate the requests.</p>
<p>On the surface that looks like a scam to me.</p>
<p>It is definately not a scam, but I told D that it would be a great opportunity for some unscrupulous worker in that office to take advantage of that information. I think she is going to send in everything BUT that information. Swimcatsmom–I looked at the statement and theres not a lot of info (withdrawals, the occasional bar tab ;). )</p>
<p>If she sends it be sure to black out the account number and anything else that could identify the account.</p>
<p>It sounds really weird even if it’s not a scam. I suppose they’re just trying to make sure they’re giving the money to someone who doesn’t spend frivolously (according to whatever their metrics are). </p>
<p>I wouldn’t give them that info unless I was convinced it wasn’t a scam, that they’d really keep the info private (or better yet your D could just physically show it to them but she could keep the statement), and it was a fair amount of money.</p>
<p>Young people write so few checks!</p>
<p>Not sure what info a scholarship committee could glean from my checking account statement that would help them decide whether to give me $$. The checks are listed by number and amount, but not to whom the checks are written. The debits do have the name of the store at which I used my debit card and one could track cash taken from the ATM machine. </p>
<p>This is a VERY odd request…</p>
<p>The only time D had to provide anything remotely similar (her checking account number)was when she applied for a scholarship administered by a local bank (to prove that she was a member). She did write “provided upon request” in the space reserved for SSN. Got the money anyway.</p>
<p>musica, I think your D should black out the account number and send the statement in if you are confident that the organization is legitimate.</p>
<p>This is a ridiculous request. I wouldn’t send it in.</p>
<p>Young people don’t write CHECKS but they do pay most of their bills online…and many with their checking accounts. </p>
<p>The online statement we get wouldn’t give them much info. It would give an amount paid to Visa, but wouldn’t tell if it was used to pay for groceries, medicine or a trip to the Bahamas.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine what use this would be.</p>
<p>Does this scholarship have a need component? If so, perhaps the organizers want to be sure the recipient doesn’t waste her money on riotous living.</p>
<p>Since college students are a real target these days for identifiy theft, I would serously question this request. If she decides ot comply, I second above poster’s recommendation to black out account numbers and bank numbers…too many students’ identifies have already been stolen…</p>
<p>I don’t think having access to a bank statement is too unsafe. The mortgage industry, for example, sometimes requires bank statements for the borrower’s file and lots of people would have access to that. I agree, though, that asking for bank statements these days is pretty archaic, since it doesn’t provide the information it used to. My guess is that they have had the requirement in place for years and no one has thought to update it.</p>
<p>They are offering to give you lots of money; if they want the application on pink paper or accompanied by a note from your dog, go with it. Blank out any account numbers, but ease up on the judgments.</p>
<p>My bank account would tell you I get money out of the ATM and pay my taxes. The joint account also pays credit card bills, the mortgage and the car, but from neither would one have any idea how we spend half our money.</p>
<p>“they stated that they wanted to know where she spent her money”.</p>
<p>i struggle to think of any context where this is reasonable. Or any context where this is the selection committee’s business. and i’m not some personal privacy nut. this simply does not pass the “smell test” and i would pass.</p>
<p>Totally odd request. My account is similar to Ellenope’s and would not tell them anything and I don’t even get paper statements so a screen capture isn’t going to tell anyone anything except when money goes in and from where and when I use the ATM. Everything else (leaving my account) is simply a number representing an electronic transmission with a link to more information. I’d probably tell them I didn’t have a paper checking account and push back to find out what it is they want to know. None of my kids have a paper checks…only a debit card. I was at the gas station awhile back and an elderly lady was so confused because she wrote a check, the clerk took the check punched in the routing numbers and handed back the check to the lady. She was so very confused and I felt sorry for her. She kept saying “you don’t need this, you don’t need this.” Fortunately the young kid was very patient and explained that they didn’t take paper checks anymore but that he had all the information he needed. She was confused what to do with the check and the clerk patiently told her to write the amount in her (handwritten) ledger and she could destroy the paper check or he would destroy it for her. I was proud of the young clerk’s patience, but my oh my. I’m going through this with my elderly parents as they do not use debit cards and don’t “trust” electronic transmissions.</p>
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<p>My bank has a feature where you can download a statement in pdf form.</p>