I meant there were no additional penalties or the like, but accept my wording was a bit loose! Plenty of typos and spelling mistakes in the FOS decisions as well
Most of the upheld decisions I have read thus far mainly say Monzo did the right thing in the main, but could have handled it a bit better or should leave things be
FOS do not seem able or in the habit of doing more than that
The FOS share their conclusions with the Financial Conduct Authority (the financial regulator) and HM Treasury - who are able to change regulations and deal with any systematic issues.
This is so fun to read. Thanks for sharing. Had no idea that was publicly available!
Well, that’s time I won’t get back… I can’t believe some of the stuff I’ve read!
That doesn’t make good headlines though! “Monzo closes account and returns money to rightful place” just doesn’t have as much gravitas as “Monzo stole my money!”
I think it’s also worth noting though, that it’s clear in a lot of them how uncooperative and/or unresponsive Monzo are when it comes to giving the ombudsman information.
I read numerous ones where the ombudsman said that Monzo’s information was either severely lacking or they simply didn’t respond
I remember reading one where the complainant was trying to get money back for an ATM transaction that didn’t dispense, and the ombudsman said that not only had Monzo not given them the evidence from the ATM operator, they apparently hadn’t even asked for it in the first place! That surprised me.
Here’s the link:
Monzo Bank advised the investigator to contact the ATM provider directly. I’m afraid I do expect the bank to obtain this evidence or make reasonable endeavours to get it. But it didn’t and so the evidence is incomplete.
Was that the one in Turkey? I read it a bit more neutrally than that, but it’s all verrry subjective even with final decisions
Yes, that would be the one. If I find it again later I’ll edit the link in so others can read it too.
I didn’t really know where to put this, because I don’t feel it warrants a topic on its own, but I raised an issue with Moneybox the other day after noticing that their transactional emails (in my case a transfer) had a tracking pixel included.
Interestingly, they’ve come back today with some justifications (although admit they’re going to look at it), but the interesting part (on topic with this thread) is that one of their justifications is that when complaints make it to the FOS, they have had customers (and investigators) demand tangible proof of people seeing emails and/or clicking on links in them.
I hadn’t seen this mentioned in any of the decisions I’d skimmed through. If this was about a high street bank and they’d sent a recorded letter, that in itself wouldn’t be proof of anything more than delivery, so I wonder why fintechs get a harder time with this, with a higher burden of proof? Is this why legacy banks fallback to paper methods, as the bar is much lower?
It may stem from a similiar root as the thinking that saw legacy banks allowed to blow SCA deadlines due to their creaky systems being difficult to update, while fintech banks were given no such leeway. An attitude, perhaps, of ‘the technology is there for you, and you can use it, so you should use it’.
Interesting. I’m sure I’ve read an adjudication (possibly not Monzo, or other fin tech) where the customer denied receiving an email, but because they had provided an email address and specifically requested to be contacted via email, the adjudicator proceeded on the basis that the balance of probabilities suggested that the email either had been read, or should have been read.
Trouble is, I’ve now read so many of them,I doubt I’ll ever find it again. 
Hi,
Sorry to ask here, my Monzo account was closed with no reasons at all without any prior notice on 7th March, I have called so many times and mailed them, as there was no info present at their end, I eventually raised a complaint with them. The reply was that my account would be closed for some secret reasons and my refund would be within 2-4 weeks. Now I have provided all proofs of the money debit and credit as it was my salary account and only uber, council tax, money transfers to friends, personal overseas account and to landlord were done only. It is 3 weeks now and I do not have my 988.67 GBP back to my alternate account which I opened after this happened from a reputed highstreets bank within a few minutes. I am in utter distress now and that money is my salary, now should I go for FO complaint right away or should I wait for 4 weeks. Have you seen such problem and do you know how much time does it take for me to get my hard-earned money back. Final settlement mail from monzo complaint team was on 15th March. Should I ask FO for compensation as I have a face loss, also I am in tremendous monitory crisis for last 10 days.
So you’ve still got another week then.
There’s no harm in complaining to the ombudsman but I wouldn’t hold out hope for a success. Banks can close your account for whatever reason they like (see T&Cs) and they legally can’t tell you the reason so you’ll not get an answer on that front either.
In your case though (because it was a sudden closure) and they held onto your money it would seem like you triggered some fraud related issue. So they can’t give you your money back until they have concluded their investigations otherwise they run the risk of being complicit and losing their banking licence.
Anyway. You’ve another week yet so you’re almost there. Hopefully you can borrow from friends or family to see you through until then 
Thanks for the suggestion, will wait another week.
It is over 5 weeks now, there is no one to connect to track the return of the money, nobody to help me, complaints advocacy team and call center guys answer the same lines that they do not know when the money will return and there is nothing to do other than wait. monzo closed mine without any prior notification, they responded with final decision by 8 days, then why on earth I have to wait close to 6 weeks to get my money back I don’t understand, it seems like ponzy scheme, only way is remaining to claim for whole sum compensation for this humiliation via legal solicitor or FOS…sorry if I sound harsh but there is no proper answer from their side
They can’t give a proper answer by law, and the same laws dictate how money in these closed accounts is handled. An investigation needs to take place before Monzo can do anything with the money and then it may be sent to a nominated account or it may be returned to the sender
There is no conspiracy, it’s just Monzo (or any other bank) doing what the law requires
No point wasting your money on a solicitor as if you sue you’re quite likely (99.9%?) to lose and be on the hook for all legal fees.
If you feel you’ve been wronged you can complain to the FOS but they won’t speed up the process, in fact they can take 6+ months to respond
So if it has gone beyond 31 days, is there any way to contact NCA
Under Sections 330-332 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA), banks have a duty to report any suspicious financial activity to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
The law “does not require the suspicion to be ‘clear’ or ‘firmly grounded and targeted on specific facts’ or based upon ‘reasonable grounds’" for a referral to the NCA (Iraj Parvizi v Barclays Bank plc (2014)). If banks do not report such suspicious activity, then the bank, the Nominated Officer and any member of staff with suspicions would be committing a criminal offence (sections 327-329 of POCA). The Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) protects the bank and their employees from criminal charges.
Banks cannot tell the person that an investigation is ongoing (section 333 of POCA) as it is a criminal offence to tip someone off about a SAR. This is because real criminals could move or conceal their other criminal proceeds from law enforcement.
Under POCA, the NCA have 7 days to make an initial decision to pursue a case (this is the Notice Period) with the Reporting Day (the first day an account is frozen and SAR sent) being day 0. After that initial 7 (really 8) days, they then have a further 31 days to come to a decision about the case (this is the Moratorium Period). That is 8+31 days, so 39 days from an account being frozen on the reporting day. If the NCA cannot make a decision within the Moratorium Period of 31 days, they can apply to the Crown Court to extend this period for up to 6 months (Criminal Finances Act 2017).
There is not much you can do right now. I doubt that the NCA would talk to you about the case as they are still investigating the case and therefore would not want to tip you off to that investigation. I would bring a complaint against Monzo if I was in your position and then refer to the Financial Ombudsman within the 8 week period.
The FOS seem to only be interested if you’ve suffered financial loss rather than a service issue. Is this the case? If yes, then stating you can refer to the FOS by financial institutions would be pointless unless you’ve suffered financial loss. In any case there’s a 4 month waiting list for cases to be investigated.