Homelet think Monzo joint accounts can't support Direct Debit

Hi, trying to set up a direct debit with homelet.co.uk and they say they update their database weekly but my account shows as not supporting direct debits. I have found the wiki of companies who don’t support Monzo but can’t figure out how to edit it (maybe because I’m a new account here). Can anyone help?
Frustrating because I was with natwest and after a month of trying to add my other half to my account I came to Monzo instead - and now I can’t use it!

Hi @elpresidente I’ve updated the wiki for you. I’ll leave this thread open for Monzo to raise to BACS.

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Thanks Andy!

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Well they clearly don’t update their database weekly.

Any chance you can just go with a more competent provider that actually knows what they’re doing (or at the very least, knows how to follow BACS’ rules)?

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I would go with another provider if my main requirement was that they support Monzo, but that’s not my main requirement from a home insurance provider :grinning:

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But would you really trust a provider that can’t even get basic stuff right (like supporting all UK banks like they’re supposed to as per BACS’ rules)? :joy:

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Hey, I live in the UK. I’m trusting public bodies who are way more incompetent with way more important stuff than that.

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I really disagree with the perspective that any Monzo customer should have to do anything different because they’re using Monzo and not a “legacy” bank.
It doesn’t matter that it’s not Monzo’s fault that Homelet or other services get stuff wrong, they should work with others to make moving to Monzo a painless experience.

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This is exactly what we do! Though some companies are still better than others at doing this even with our help. :sweat:

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I’m arguing for jumping ship and checking out the competition when faced with incompetence or stupidity. The reason this incident happened in the first place is because too many people put up with this crap and allow them to remain in business even though they don’t deserve a single penny - if everyone were to run away after such incidents the problem would fix itself overnight.

Being a Monzo customer is completely irrelevant, I would still give the same advice if this were to happen with a legacy bank.

Hi guys, thanks for the comments on this. Update:
I spoke to Homelet again today, and got feedback from their IT guys. Apparently they are aware they have a problem with Monzo accounts and contrary to what I was told before, guess what? Their sort code database isn’t up to date. And apparently it’s “not simple”.
I’m a programmer myself and I suspect they haven’t designed their system so they can easily do regular bulk updates of sort codes, which is of course in violation of the BACS rules, but what can you do?

I’ve temporarily given them details of another account which will work, and put them on notice. If they can’t do it in a month, I’ll move. They have committed to update me next week (apparently “the guy that deals with this is on holiday”) and I’ll update then.

Applying pressure is the only way to get things moving!

Edit: Oh, and I’ve worked for a few financial/insurance organisations and their IT is generally way worse than other private sector companies.

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This all just proves BACS are terrible at enforcing their own rules and they obviously don’t have a good deterrent to make companies want to do updates regularly

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contrary to what I was told before, guess what? Their sort code database isn’t up to date

What a surprise, not only can’t they figure out basic stuff like BACS rules but also their CS is happy to lie as long as the customer leaves them alone (and bothers the bank instead).

Applying pressure is the only way to get things moving!

Applying pressure to their wallets. It’s funny how quick things start to move as soon as the issue is preventing them from collecting payments. :wink:

I’ve worked for a few financial/insurance organisations and their IT is generally way worse than other private sector companies.

Not an excuse for this behaviour though - it’s not your problem as a customer if they decided to subcontract their IT to idiots (or got conned by them with buzzwords and stuff - looking at you Accenture, IBM, etc).

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UPDATE: After many, many calls and several broken promises to call me back, it turns out Homelet now support Monzo direct debits and have done for ‘a couple of weeks’. I’ve updated the Wiki. Thanks to all who helped.

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I’ve just been told that Homelet wont support my Monzo account - can you provide any details on the confirmation above that they do support Monzo direct debits?

Hi Lara
They definitely do support it - I have a direct debit set up with them.
I suggest you contact them and raise a complaint. That’s what I did.

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so apparently it’s this company: www.smartdebit.co.uk](http://www.smartdebit.co.uk/.