So, I’ve been Full Monzo since November.
My OH has had a Monzo account since October, but retains his old bank account as his main account.
Last month, he took out a loan, and the loan provider couldn’t verify his identity via his Monzo account, couldn’t deposit the funds in his Monzo account, and couldn’t set up the Direct Debit against his Monzo account.
This was because the lender use Equifax, and since Monzo don’t report to Equifax, they couldn’t verify that the account was his.
Had he gone full-Monzo when I did, he wouldn’t have been able to finance his car.
There are very large name lenders who rely on data primarily from Equifax to assess their applications. These include, but are not limited to:
Barclaycard
Capital One
LiveLend
Shop Direct Group (Littlewoods, Very, et al).
O2
Virgin Media
Payl8r
These companies won’t see any bank account on the credit searches they perform against someone who’s gone full Monzo, and won’t be able to verify the customer’s bank account.
As for me, as I don’t want to be assessed inaccurately by any of the above companies should I ever apply for one of their products, I’m going to have to take my banking elsewhere, unless it can be confirmed that Monzo are in the process of reporting account conduct to Equifax and Vocalink?
I’d like to hear the official line, as on their Facebook page I was not long ago told flat out “We don’t have any plans for Equifax”.
I feel it important to raise exactly how severe an issue this stance is, to see if it has changed since.
If Monzo’s stance hasn’t changed, and they still aren’t rolling out data feeds to Equifax, we as a customer base need to know about it so that we can make the decision that’s right for our creditworthiness.
@HoddzDJ it’s also worth noting that lenders also use API feeds of some kind slightly separate to the data you see on your credit file to do things like verify your income and verify your bank details, once such system is Vocalink.
I don’t know the details as it isn’t my industry but from the information I’ve been able to glean from other sources, if Monzo don’t use these services and feed your account turnover data into them then a lender can’t accurately assess your affordability; irrespective of whether you’ve got a bank account elsewhere, as the income and expenditure is occurring in an account that doesn’t feed into the API the lender is using to assess you.
@Ordog if that is confirmed by a Monzo representative then I will use that information to make the decision that’s correct for me, as can other fellow members.
Monzo have the official blue tick on their Facebook page. Therefore all communication from that page is from a Monzo representative and is official.
Either way, it won’t be a flick of a switch to implement this. They spent a long time working with Experian to report to them and once done it takes months to show up on your report. You’d be best advised sourcing a loan from elsewhere unfortunately.
@Ordog If what you say is true, I think I’d be best advised banking with an organisation that doesn’t jeopardise my ability to choose from the whole market of lenders as competition and market forces see fit.
@Ordog Looking at my credit files and seeing the accounts I used to have with other banking groups I can confirm that the following bank accounts appear across my Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union credit files:
Nationwide
Halifax
HSBC
Clydesdale Bank
I can see that Metro Bank only reported to Equifax.
I’ve applied back to Nationwide for a bank account.
@16bitkieran that is a list of credit card companies and their credit card products, not banks and their bank account products.
Granted, this might have changed now. Of course, we can only speculate and quote anecdotal evidence. We’d need an official Monzo rep to confirm for sure.
@HoddzDJ but it’s very normal for a lender or utility provider to use only one credit reference agency when assessing an application. This is why it is important that something as fundamental as one’s main current account to be reported to all of the main credit reference agencies.
I can’t see the logic in defending Monzo’s stance.
It’s an irrefutable fact that not reporting current account data to Equifax, limits the creditworthiness of any Full-Monzo customer in the eyes of several very large lenders and utility providers.
If the community is unwilling to acknowledge this its not a community I wish to be part of, and I feel others aught to me made aware of the risks involved in holding Monzo as their sole bank account.
Imagine living somewhere with terrible ADSL but excellent Virgin Cable services and being unable to open a Virgin account because your only bank account is with Monzo?
Or being approved for a loan at a significantly lower APR than any other lender on the market is willing to offer you but not actually being able to receive the funds or set up the direct debit?
These are both very real world scenarios applicable to my other half and I which would have stood true had my other half not left his Santander bank account open.
