Apply for a joint account missing from App for ineligible people [JAs Still Offered]

I do have a 0% card with FD. :sweat_smile:

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There you go, free Flex :blush:

Only for a brief period though.

In 6 months time you’re not going to have 3 months interest free on a credit card.

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Many don’t have an offer period any longer. My RBS one just says interest-free on purchases for the first 24 months. Now that’s either any purchase until the end of the 24 months, or I’m in for a nasty surprise.

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Seems like I might have a chicken and egg problem here then. I have been trying to persuade the Mrs to move to Monzo from our Internet-only joint Intelligent Finance plan. I can’t do this until we can open a Joint Account but the button has never appeared in my (Android) Monzo app. As a result I have never used my Monzo account properly because it is useless to me but I’m guessing the button isn’t going to appear until I do start using it like a normal current account. Barmy :chicken: :egg:

PS: Intelligent Finance was one of the first Internet-only banks and great at the time - we were one of the first customers. It was frozen after the financial crash in 2008 as part of some sort of EU bargaining with RBS and hasn’t been developed at all since then. Doesn’t even have an app.

PPS: I posted a topic about this in December which has been waiting for moderation ever since. Bit of a wasteland here?? Or maybe more chicken-and-egg as a newbie.

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I’m not sure that’s the case. As far as I know from reading on here, if the button isn’t there you aren’t eligible for the joint account.

If I am wrong then apologies, someone else will chime in I’m sure.

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There doesn’t appear to be any correlation between account use and whether you’re eligible or not.

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I’ve been a Monzo customer since July 2016, including going “full monzo” a few years ago, with salary going in monthly, and most payments coming out of Monzo. Despite this, I am also unable to request a joint account.
So account use really doesn’t seem to be a factor.

I’ve checked with the 3 family members who also have Monzo and they too don’t have the option, so I suspect they have disabled the feature but hopefully this is temporary and because they are working on the experience to bring it on par with personal accounts.

Edit: Just to add, that I use most of Monzo’s services available. I have Plus, use Flex, virtual cards, Google Sheet export, IFTTT, etc.

I have asked Monzo about this and after “Escalating to a specialist” they couldn’t tell me anything apart from the stock response. If there’s eligibility criteria, they’re keeping it well hidden.

I even wondered if joining Plus would make me eligible as I’d be a paying customer, but nope.

Joint accounts are still being opened by people who are eligible.

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I suspect they haven’t :slight_smile:

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I have the option to open a joint account so it’s not disabled.

This is absolutely not the case.

The theories people come up with, both here and on Reddit

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I stand corrected. Still interested to know what makes someone eligible though.

Risk profile – but unless you work for Monzo or the FCA you’ll never find out. I suspect – contrary to the theories that you need to sign up to Plus exactly at 11:06 during a full moon – it’s something to do with lax controls in the past which are subject to an active FCA investigation that feels like it’s been ongoing since forever.

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What isn’t the case?

What risk profile could there be for two people who are already Monzo customers? Does the joint option offer additional functionality like, say, borrowing?

The opposite actually, you’re more of a risk with your personal account as you can’t have a joint overdraft or Flex.

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You don’t know, I don’t know, nobody knows, and I’m not going to speculate. But Joint Accounts (and account eligibility in general) went downhill since the FCA investigation.

I know correlation doesn’t equal causation but there’s no better explanation.

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Sure, nobody knows. That much is clear. The bigger issue is Monzo’s absolute failure or refusal to offer any competent level of information around it. I’ve worked in financial PR, a simple message along the lines of being restricted for the time being would at least let people know it’s deliberate. Instead, the message is “we can’t let you apply for a joint account right now … we’re working hard to make joint accounts available to more customers.”

A cursory look around shows us this causes more confusion because people don’t know whether to wait, try again tomorrow, or find an alternative provider.

Risk profile makes sense for new customers, it makes less sense for existing customers. Monzo is happy to give me Flex, and promotes it every time I make a purchase, but I’m a risky customer to want an account with my wife (also a Monzo customer) that doesn’t let us borrow anything? No.