This is about a friend - he didn’t give me permission to mention his name or details, so this will be anonymous.
He got rejected because his credit score is low. He doesn’t even have a record in his credit score yet since he just moved to the UK for work. He started this week.
I don’t know exactly how much he makes, but he is definitely within top 1% of the UK, which is why the rejection came as a surprise to me.
He then applied to Revolut instead and got accepted.
If this were all there is to it, I’d just assume NOT having a record in his credit score was the reason. I imagine Monzo, being still a small bank, doesn’t want to take risks. But here is why I believe he was just randomly rejected:
Another friend, who came to the UK to spend a few months with me before Brexit materializes, doesn’t work, doesn’t have a single penny to his name, never paid a single bill in his life (he lives with his parents), simply got accepted without any problem about 3 weeks ago.
So, are people randomly rejected by Monzo? And is this a normal thing? More importantly, can he make an appeal to get his case reviewed? If so, how, and are appeals effective, or do they always result in another rejection, considering the situation didn’t change?
No. Monzo want more customers, not less. They will reject and accept people based on their criteria, nothing to do with credit score or a “randomness”
You can appeal but you won’t get anywhere and it won’t get the account opened.
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Anarchist
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I doubt that it’s random, but there have been quite a few threads started on here from people being rejected who either aren’t in the country yet, or who have recently arrived.
I guess he can, however;
If he was rejected before, and nothing has changed, I doubt that the decision would change.
There are plenty of other banks to try. If he is determined to have an account with Monzo, I’d suggest waiting a few months till he’s settled at an address and has paid a few bills.
Thanks for the straightforward answers, this is exactly what I wanted to know! Since he just arrived, it makes sense. I will forward your answer to him, so he tries again in a few months.
How does he know it’s because his credit score is low. Banks (even Monzo) don’t generally give out that information
That’s what he told me. In his own words (translated to English): “I tried [Monzo], but it rejected me. It said my credit score was bad.”. I didn’t question him because it seemed to make sense. And I don’t see why he’d lie. Edit: I asked him for the exact message, and indeed I think he misinterpreted it. Although he still insists it’s because of the credit score even after re-reading the message, I have to disagree with him. The message basically says Monzo can’t go into details why the decision was made, but it’s based on the information sent and information they get from the credit reference agencies and anti-fraud services.
Why would it come as a surprise? you don’t know that Monzo judged his application based on or what he entered as a salary
Sure, I don’t know what Monzo judged his application on (although it would seem it’s credit score, based on what he told me). While it’s not a good way to analyse risk (as some people don’t understand the concept of only spending what they earn), salary seems to be a big factor for everything here in the UK. I do know he entered the correct amount though. And while I don’t know the exact amount, I have a good estimate since we work on the same industry.
Different financial providers have different criteria. Has he tried applying to Starling or another bank
He hasn’t. Revolut accepted him, he stopped there.
He can email help@monzo.com but I doubt they’ll tell him as banks generally don’t explain
It could be they are not on the electoral register if they have only just moved to UK monzo so a id check my credit score is low I didn’t have any problems applying it maybe because I am on electoral register
I’m almost certain this is a misreading of the rejection message, possibly the specific part where it mentions checking for CIFAS markers (which is a generic message).
Bsased on what you’ve shared with us in this topic, my own guess would be that the address or (lack of) address history is the issue. As @Anarchist says, one of the trends in topics here is that people who have applied before they’ve moved to the UK or have only recently arrived have found themselves rejected at an apparently high rate. In one case, the applicant had used the address of a hotel they were staying at instead of a fixed UK address (because they didn’t have one yet), for example.
You sound like my gran. I was telling her about a takeaway pizza I got delivered luke warm, and she suggested (with no sarcasm) that I should call the Italian ombudsman.
Anarchist
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