Hi all, really sorry for the delay in getting back to y’all on this. It took some time to gather the info and fact check with the right people. Here’s our answer:
We only report the status of your account to one credit reference agency (CRA) called TransUnion. There are two other major CRAs - Experian and Equifax - that we don’t currently report to.
For this response, we’re assuming #FullMonzo means you’ve fully close down all your other bank accounts!
Impact on credit file
The impact completely depends on how much information is already on your credit file. There’s two rough cases:
- Thick file - you already have lots of accounts and credit history across all CRAs
The impact of going #FullMonzo is not likely to be significant. Updates to your credit file last six years, and so assuming you open no other accounts, it’ll take around six years for these accounts to leave your credit file.
It’s also worth noting that your credit score can be impacted by more than just your accounts with your bank, for example your energy or phone bill. So even if you only use Monzo, and close all other bank accounts, there are products that would are included in your credit file and can affect your score.
- Thin file - CRA’s know very little about you, or you’ve never opened a financial product before
If you don’t already have a credit history with the major CRAs, you’ll only build up a history with TransUnion. That’s until we report to more of them, which is something we’d like to do in the future.
Ability to get financial products
Most major banks and lenders tend to use all three bureaus to make a decision about who to lend to, so even though we report to just one CRA, you should still be able to take out new products at the major banks/lenders.
There is a chance smaller lenders - who only check one CRA, like we do - might not be able to lend to you if you have a relatively thin file.
(Remember, your circumstances may differ. So please don’t consider this to be ironclad financial advice)