Just a bit of feedback really. I got married last week and my other half, who I managed to sign up to Monzo a few weeks ago, contacted customer support to discuss changing her surname today.
She was told she needed to send a copy of the marriage certificate, some form of ID with her old surname on and some form of ID with her new surname on which will probably be a few weeks away (getting new passport or driving license takes some time).
As a comparison, with HSBC she just had to show our marriage certificate,and the changed it there and then. Seems to me a bit strange that Monzo require someone else to have done the surname change first before they’ll accept.
May be due to it being a prepay card and could be different for CA.
Monzo are remote so will require proof of the new name.
If you went into the branch they can see you thus can change at the counter.
My wife had same issue! Our estate management company wants to see the original so she remains in her maiden name as I don’t trust we would ever see it again!
Hmm, marriage certificate has no picture, right? There’s no proof it’s your certificate, it could be just someone with same first name and different last name.
The marriage certificate has the old name on. When the account was opened she provided photo ID, so just a matter of marrying the two up as most other institutions do.
This is good feedback. If the process is smoother at HSBC then there is definitely something that has been overlooked.
I don’t think anyone can justify this because of photos or prepaid or whatever. Monzo probably just hasn’t experienced this scenario much and needs this kind of feedback to improve.
My opinion is mostly that Photo ID as a requirement in general, while Monzo may well need to enforce it for KYC, is definitely some form of discrimination, as it’s not just something that we all have — it’s actually fairly expensive (and the cheaper form, a driving licence, requires you to, y’know, not be disabled – you start to realise how hard it is to get a licence when you require a medical exam for renewals ), and means Monzo heavily favours rich white folk.
I’m curious as to whether someone will actually try and bring a case against Monzo for not being able to open an account after the preview , because there is a definite barrier to entry there.
In addition, requiring photo ID to acknowledge any changes is going to seriously damage people’s perceptions of Monzo, if they insist on refusing to acknowledge name changes, and so on. There needs to be some other route that doesn’t require immediate photo ID and doesn’t leave people feeling extremely annoyed at them.
I feel I must challenge that comment as it is a stereotype that is less than helpful. Monzo, as far as I know, does not collect data on gender or ethnic heritage of applicants.
The issue, that you correctly raise, is the barrier to entry being that an account application requires government issued documents: passport or driving licence.
I agree, these are expensive documents to obtain and that is regardless of whom the applicant is.
The requirement for identification when opening a current account is not unique to Monzo. All banks require ID.
Perhaps there are other documents that they’ll be able to accept either as part of the preview or, I hope, when the current account is freely available?
What other documents are banks able to accept in the absence of a passport or driving licence? It’s important for that to be established in order to be inclusive.
True, but it’s significantly easier to jump through arbitrary hoops that involve spending money (or even having these all done in advance) when changing your name if you’re not struggling financially, and/or attempting to get a passport when you’re not white, or if you’re an immigrant trying to get citizenship in the first place
Monzo are definitely working on improving this, though, which is fantastic
Don’t most people own passports? Or at least some form of identity card? I know less than 50% of Americans own passports but I don’t think I’ve met anyone who doesn’t own one in the UK. I’m not sure what it’s like in the UK but for most countries you get an identity card to prove you are a citizen/ permanent resident etc and you carry it around with you. Or would a donor card work?
I have found employment agencies require a passport or photo ID, employers require it too. Unless you have been at the same bank and employer since 1980’s it is now almost impossible to get by without photo ID. You also need a passport to get a driving license
The Labour government of the time tried to introduce a compulsory identity card some 10-12 years, or so, ago. It met with a lot of resistance and ultimately failed to materialise.
I had one of the National ID cards and thought it was a great idea. Was rather peed off though when they scrapped the scheme without refunding my money.
Citizens don’t get an identity card but there are identity cards issued to permanent residents from certain countries and their main use is to show employers a right to work. Maybe after Brexit the UK will extend the list of countries to include the EU.
(This data sheet had the easiest to see breakdown of passport vs no passport out of what I found)
Extract from the spreadsheet they provide:
Total Residents included in survey: 56,075,912
Total (no passport held): 9,458,051
Total (UK Passport): 42,456,526
Total (EU Passport): 2,250,228
Total (Rest of World): 1,911,107
), and means Monzo heavily favours rich white folk.
, because there is a definite barrier to entry there.
