Identity verification

I understand that at present monzo only offers 1 account per user, but I’m interested to know the verification criteria that defines a unique user - does anybody know?

I recently attempted to open a 2nd account, to use as a shared travel card for group travel abroad. I was able to request a 2nd card but during the verification process it was my mobile phone number that needed to be unique.

I wonder if this would pose a problem down the line e.g. for family members that share the same phone - it might be an edge case but assuming that means they could only have 1 account?

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Are these people target customers of Monzo? I mean you can get a smartphone for under £30 if you want so.
And what would be the benefit of using Monzo for them as they are missing out from most Monzo features?

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Fair point, totally agree they’re not the target market.

So let’s say identity is tied to unique mobile number… are there other challenges this brings up?

What if I have a second hand phone number. I can’t open an account because the person who had my phone before me had one. Yet during the process of trying to open my account I can’t verify that this is my phone number. I get a “not unique number” error message, and no option to challenge.

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I think even if you managed to use a different phone number, i.e a landline, then I think when it actually tries to verify the name and address you would come up that its the same person. There’s no regulatory restriction to having more than one bank account for the same person, but It’s not recommended.

Not recommended by who? In many cases it helps people to have more than one account, for example to separate their work expenses from domestic expenses or to separate personal expenditure from household expenses that may belong to a couple. The fact Monzo only want to provide one account per customer is their own business decision and not the result of some unproven recommendation

Its more about having more than one sole current account. Joint accounts are slightly different, you could have a joint account with every person on the planet if you wanted to. Most banks wont suggest having more than one sole current account, they will be happy to open up many savings accounts but tend to suggest sticking to one current account

Utter rubbish. I have both had two sole current accounts at two high street banks and had banks recommend them to me.

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hmmm thats interesting, its not something I’ve seen. I’ve normally seen that people stick to one sole current account per brand.

Not only have I had banks recommend it to me but I have had employers insist upon me having two accounts, one for my salary payments and one for my expenses.

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Again, its not something I’ve seen really. Seems like I might be a bit behind the times.

It may just depend on what type of job you have. If your employers provide an expenses card you may not need a second account but if they expect you to pay with your own money and then claim back from them you may need to run a second account to keep those expenses separate from personal or household bills

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We have to use our own money for expenses but don’t have to have a separate account for them.
We are in a quite heavily audited industry but don’t have to use a separate account for expenses

@anon44204028 @Jkb114 we’ve gone a little bit off topic here, can we agree that you both have different experiences, when it comes to having one current account or several & leave it at that?

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Yeah I totally agree that when it comes to banking, theres no one set of products that work. Everyone needs to use it to their own needs

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Hey @Nikita

We’ll be building out multiple accounts per user once we launch current accounts. The reason duplicate accounts are not allowed on the prepaid scheme is because the withdrawal and card spending limits we have agreed with our card issuer (Wirecard) are per user :+1:

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erm… wait… did I miss a meeting ??

I probably have >10 accounts. Excluding business (add another 5)…

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I guess it’s just nothing I’ve seen. Normally people have one current account and then several other savings accounts with each bank.