Some people won’t notice that and will just pay whoever. It’s an extra precaution to prevent people being scammed (I’m sure it’s helped at least a few people)
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I understand in that scenario it’s a bit annoying. Sole traders can fit into the personal or business category depending on their account and people will have to ask them each time which it is. Or try both.
But it does have a good cause - people using personal accounts and pretending they are business accounts has been the cause of a lot of scams. In particular things like where they’ve hacked solicitors emails and got people to send them their house deposit and stuff. So there’s some logic to the change.
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You might think it’s obvious, but others do not.
I think it’s rather unfair for you to look down on others for it when you don’t even understand it yourself.
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You ask them? or you think about who you’re paying? is it a friend, or is it a builder? When someone sets up a bank account it will either be a personal one, or a business one. You’re being asked to select which so the details match the recipient bank. All it does is flags if there’s a mismatch, ie it’ll show you if the name is different (either just a small typo, J McDonald instead of J MacDonald) or a totally different name (You think you’re paying ACME Builders, but it pops up with J Smith). This should flag to you there’s something not right.
There have been thousands of cases of fraud via email, a pretty common one is a builders or other small local business might use a gmail account which gets hacked, then customers are sent fake notes with payment details as soon as a customer has emailed. At my company with 70-odd employees, we’ve regularly had emails from someone claiming to be the CEO saying he’s on business and lost his wallet and needs money sent.
It’s protecting you, not hindering you.
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Anyone ever fallen for it?
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I don’t question this. I’m asking why you need the personal vs business option on the form if you already have a robust account details check in place as in your example? An option that requires you to go back and interview the recipient, a step that’s extra pain and does not seem to add much value. I don’t do that many transfers but I don’t think that I have ever come across bank details that specify if the account is personal or not.
How does the personal vs business account choice help here?
It’s a new thing, but I’ve already seen quite a few places adding that to their bank details
NatWest do it as well, I’ve had to help family members navigate the new payment screens.
As do Lloyds. Theres is a tick box for businesses.
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You’re still complaining to the wrong place, it’s an FCA requirement. Monzo didn’t suddenly just decide to do this, all banks have to. There majority all ask the same now, there’s probably some stragglers.
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And you still don’t seem to understand that it’s Monzo who implemented this requirement in their app not FCA, and they could’ve done a better job than just simply plonking another button without any explanation how you’re supposed figure out which option to go for. I think we have already established in this thread that it is not exactly straightforward with people having wrong ideas and employing heuristics to determine what to click.
If Monzo wants to give their users same crappy experience as the rest of the lot that’s obviously their choice, but I think Monzo aspire higher than that, which is the primary reason I switched to them.
It’s called using your common sense, if someone’s asking for a payment it doesn’t take much to ask if it’s a personal account or business account.
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You really don’t understand anything that’s been said do you?
None of this actually stops you paying someone btw. You could tell me you’re MONZO and a business but you’re really Mr Smith and a person, it will flag as red that it’s wrong, but I can still pay you.
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I can’t see what Monzo has to explain. Are you paying a business? Are you paying a person?
If you’re not sure, then the question should be asked of the business that has given you the payment details. More of them are giving that information up-front now when they are sole traders.
The last two bank transfers I had to help a family member make were to sole traders, and in both cases the traders (one a baker, the other a sweep) had included the fact that the accounts were personal accounts in the payment details they had given my family member.
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Two thoughts occur to me. Does anyone know what the FCA requirements are around the wording for this? If they mandate the wording, then it’s not down to Monzo.
Also, I don’t think it’s a bad thing that forcing the choice, and more importantly, forcing the customer to pause and think about the choice when the wrong button is selected, is necessarily a bad thing.
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But the part you’re questioning is part of the same check for mismatches.
Asking if it’s a personal or business account is part of the same “robust account details check”. That’s what makes it robust.
I understand that in some cases you may not know or it may not be immediately obvious what account type the receiver might have, but in those cases it’s just a matter of asking them or trying both options in the app. It’s really a non issue.
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