Your bank asks you to confirm before a single byte of data moves

You're partway through a mortgage application and your broker, or the lender's portal, asks you to connect your bank account. Here is exactly what happens next, and what you are and aren't agreeing to.

Step 1: choose your bank

Most consent flows start with a simple list of banks; you select yours. If your bank isn't listed, you'll usually be asked for statements manually instead, which is becoming less common as more providers add coverage.

Step 2: you're redirected to your bank

This is the part worth remembering: you never enter your banking credentials on the lender's site or the broker's portal. You're redirected to your own bank's login page and authenticate there, on infrastructure your bank controls.

Step 3: your bank asks you to confirm

After logging in, your bank shows a consent screen explaining exactly what data is being requested and for how long; typical access periods run around ninety days, though this varies by provider, and you can revoke access before that period ends.

Think of it like this: the mortgage portal holds open the front door. You go to your bank, get a read-only key, and bring it back. The portal never touches your login details.

Step 4: the data transfers

Once you confirm, your bank securely transfers transaction history, typically three to twelve months, income patterns and amounts, regular outgoings and direct debits and account balance history. The whole process, from clicking connect to the data arriving, usually takes under a minute.

Step 5: the analysis happens

The lender or tool then processes the data, sometimes automatically, sometimes with a person reviewing it, to build an affordability picture.

What you're not agreeing to

Nobody can make a payment from your account; nobody can change your banking details or add a payee; the access is read-only, viewing only, not touching; you are not handing over your password or PIN; and connecting one account does not grant access to any other.

If you'd rather not

You never have to use open banking; most lenders still accept manual bank statements instead. The open banking route tends to produce faster decisions and fewer document requests, but it is your choice, not a condition.

Revoking access

If you change your mind after connecting, revoking access is simple, usually through your banking app in a couple of taps; you can also contact the provider directly and ask them to delete your data under GDPR, and they are required to comply.

A worked example: two customers, two consent journeys

A first-time buyer connects her current account through her broker's portal. The whole process, from clicking connect to her broker seeing an affordability summary, takes under ninety seconds; she never leaves her banking app for longer than it takes to tap confirm.

A self-employed customer connects two accounts, a personal current account and a business account, because his income moves between them. Both connections follow the identical consent process described above; connecting a second account does not require a different kind of permission or a different level of trust, just a second, equally short authentication step.

What your broker or lender can and can't do with the consent

A broker or lender can view the categorised data you have agreed to share, use it to build an affordability assessment, and retain it for as long as is reasonably necessary to process your application under UK data protection law. They cannot use it for any purpose beyond what the consent screen described, cannot share it with unrelated third parties, and cannot renew access themselves once your consent period expires without asking you again.

That last point matters more than it first appears: access does not roll over silently. When a ninety-day consent period ends, it ends; if a lender or broker needs the connection again after that, you go through the same consent screen a second time, with the same visibility into what is being requested.

Common places this trips people up

The most frequent point of confusion is not the technology itself but timing: customers sometimes connect an account weeks before actually submitting an application, then find their consent has expired by the time a lender wants to look at the data. Reconnecting takes the same ninety seconds it did the first time, so this is a minor inconvenience rather than a real problem, but it is worth knowing about in advance rather than being surprised by it.

A second common question is what happens if you start the consent flow and change your mind halfway through; the answer is simply that nothing happens. Closing the window before confirming on your bank's screen means no data has been shared at all.

Why this process looks the same no matter which lender or broker you use

One reassuring detail customers often miss is that the consent journey is not designed separately by each lender or broker; it is built to a common open banking standard that every regulated provider in the UK follows. That means the screens you see, the wording used to describe what is being requested and the technical safeguards behind the connection stay consistent whether you are applying through a large national lender, a smaller building society or an independent broker's platform.

This consistency is a deliberate design choice, not a coincidence. It exists precisely so that customers do not need to learn a new, unfamiliar process every time they deal with a different financial provider; once you have been through it once, every future consent screen looks and behaves the same way.

What changes if you're applying jointly

For a joint application, each applicant completes their own separate consent process for their own account or accounts; one person's consent cannot be used to access a second applicant's banking data. This mirrors ordinary banking security, where nobody, including a partner or co-applicant, can view or authorise access to an account that is not theirs without going through the same consent screen themselves.

In practice this simply means a joint application involves two short consent journeys rather than one, run in parallel rather than depending on each other; there is no scenario in which a lender ends up with more or less visibility into one applicant's finances because of how the other applicant's consent was structured.

Open banking consent feels unfamiliar the first time; that's normal. It's built so your lender hears the full, real version of your finances, not just the parts that happened to make it onto a printed statement.

See the Moxim flow yourself — takes under two minutes. Try open banking consent yourself →

Frequently asked questions

How long does the whole consent process take?

Under a minute in most cases, from clicking connect to your broker or lender receiving the data, though this depends slightly on which bank you use.

Do I need to do anything on my phone or can I do this on a computer?

Either; the consent flow works the same way on desktop or mobile, redirecting you to your bank's own login regardless of the device you started on.

What happens to my consent if I don't complete my mortgage application?

It simply expires at the end of its access period, typically around ninety days, with no further action needed on your part.

Can I limit which accounts I share if I have several with the same bank?

Yes; most consent screens let you choose specific accounts rather than forcing you to share everything held with that bank.

Does connecting my account through one broker affect any other application I make?

No; each consent is specific to the broker or lender platform you connected through, and does not carry over to a separate application elsewhere.

What if I don't recognise the company asking for my banking consent?

Pause before continuing, and check the provider against the FCA Register directly; a genuine mortgage-related request will always be traceable back to your broker or lender.

Does my partner see my banking data if we apply jointly?

Not automatically; each applicant's data goes to the lender or broker assessing the joint application, not to the other applicant personally, in the same way a payslip you submit individually would be handled.

Can I ask my broker to show me the consent screen before I commit to using open banking?

Yes; a good broker can walk you through what the consent screen looks like and exactly what it asks for before you decide, so there are no surprises when you actually connect an account.

Will I be asked to give consent more than once during a single application?

Possibly, if the process takes longer than your original consent period or if an underwriter later asks for a more recent snapshot of your accounts; this is routine rather than a sign anything is wrong, and takes the same short amount of time each time.

Does giving consent cost me anything?

No; there is no charge to you for connecting your account or for a lender or broker viewing the data you have agreed to share as part of your application.

Can I complete the consent process before I've chosen a lender?

It depends on the platform; some brokers run an initial open banking check before recommending lenders, while others wait until a specific lender is chosen. Either way, the consent process itself works identically.

Is there a way to see a log of everyone I've given consent to?

Many banking apps show a list of connected third parties and let you revoke each one individually; check your bank's app settings for a section usually labelled connected apps or data sharing.