On the “Account” screen of the app, “Balance” is displayed near the top of the screen and this is the total balance (including pots), and the balance of the current account is listed simply under “Current Account”.
In the statements what is called “Balance” on the “Account” screen is called “Total Balance (including pots)” and the current account balance is listed as “Balance”.
This creates an issue with regard to the overdraft agreement which states “Weʼll calculate any charges based on your balance at midnight each day, and take them from your account on the first day of the month.” without first defining the term balance.
I raised this issue through chat in the app and was told by the agent that in the overdraft agreement “balance” refers to the current account balance and not the total balance. This would mean that if a customer had say, minus £100 in their “Current account” section and £200 in their pots, the “Account” screen would display “Balance: £100”, though the customer would be charged for an overdrawn (i.e. negative) “balance”.
Whilst I appreciate Monzo wants to use simple language, terminology still needs to be consistent and well defined. As things stand I don’t see how the overdraft agreement gives permission to Monzo to make overdraft charges in cases such as the one above and would very interested to hear from them if they think it does, or if their agent on the app chat was mistaken about what the term “balance” refers to in the overdraft agreement.
I have also spoken to my legal advisors and they were surprised at the poor quality of the wording, they feel it is open to dispute and it is in Monzo’s best interests to rewrite this section. I hope they do before someone challenges it.
I reckon that in order to challenge it you would need to demonstrate that Monzo haven’t acted within the terms of the agreement which would mean that you would have to be charged overdraft fees for having positive balance, and most people with the wherewithal to challenge it aren’t going to let that happen in the first place.
I’m new here so sorry if it’s all been said before!
I literally only have an issue with the fact that they’re not picking a phrase and sticking to it consistently throughout the app’s interface and any paperwork. This post is to give feedback that it makes me think less of them as business (hence being posted in the feedback section). The overdraft fees example I gave was just to demonstrate why I think it’s a poor life choice and why I don’t think a good bank wouldn’t make such mistakes.
Also I complained to them like 7 weeks ago and they haven’t acknowledged it as an issue so I’m also curious whether they think it is.
Hey all, I’m happy to have this thread open to discuss the issue. Just a quick note from me that we had to close the last thread as it was going in circles.
So let’s try and keep this constructive
I’ll chase an update for you. Sorry, we should have got back on this sooner.
It’s a good point in the opening post, and reflects my views on the poorly implemented overdraft agreement. It’s the combined balance shown in the app that is confusing.
I don’t personally care how Monzo charge for an overdraft, but currently the Ts&Cs don’t accurately reflect how it intends to implement charges. I’m surprised any bank would have such a sloppily worded contract, let alone one which is deliberately trying to do overdrafts differently.
Had it been against an individual or a company and had I asked for costs I may have, but it was against the state and I did not ask for costs.
All I cared about was proving I knew the Law better than the magistrates, and I just wanted to set a legal precident to ensure others did not have to fight on the same point of Law.
It would be nice to see the wording between the OSs also match:
Home
Summary
Account 1
Account 2
Payments
Statements
iOS
Card Balance
Left to spend
Balance
Current Account
available
Total balance (including pots)
Android
Balance Now
Left to spend
Total balance
Available balance
Balance
Total balance (including pots)
(using screenshots for iOS wording, italics is an amount including pots)
I’m not sure what non-balance word you could use to define (available balance + pots), but I’m okay with Total balance - with a note in the terms differentiating balance vs total balance for the legalese.
Thanks for posting that – I hadn’t even thought about differences between the OSs.
It makes me wonder if someone’s overseeing things like this or if they’re just leaving it to the software teams, which would be a bit concerning if these things should correspond to terms detailed in terms and conditions (which might need some legal oversight).
I agree that Total Balance is fine so long as they use it consistently, and the Current account balance should be Available Balance and they should also use that for the statements and overdraft agreement.
?
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