So here’s the thing. When I started a new job 7 months ago I decided to use it as a catalyst to go fully Monzo.
But the two main credit checkers don’t recognise any of the money in my Monzo account! My score has dropped on one of these significantly, but is this related?!
It’s worth noting I have a Lifetime ISA elsewhere as I am saving for a first time mortgage deposit. Is being fully Monzo damaging my credit score and the mortgage rates I may get when I go to buy a property?!
What do the two main credit checkers give as the reason your score dropped? The ones I’ve used give you reasons, usually.
I can’t imagine why this would be the case, although it could be the bank identifiers not being updated so they think Monzo is still a pre-paid card, not a fully fledged, FCAS backed current account?
My credit score, for what it’s worth, is continuing to rise 
I’ve been with Monzo for over 2 years now (in its Current Account form) and it hasn’t had a negative impact on my score 
Clearscore complains that I’ve not had a bank account open for “several years” (because Monzo doesn’t report to Equifax(?)) 
but on Noddle my Monzo account is happily ticking along in the green 
Has anything else changed in the last 7 months which could affect your credit score? Any credit card applications? Anything overdraft use?
I haven’t experienced any problems with my credit score since going #FullMonzo
They’re not meant to show how much money is in your current or savings account. A credit report is just a list of credit accounts and a history of how you’ve been repaying that credit. If you have a positive balance in a current account it should show as £0 on your report as that is how much credit you have borrowed
Your score could have changed for a bunch of reasons but my best guess would be closing your old account could have affected the credit scoring algorithm into thinking you have less duration of account history (eg. If having a current account open for over 3 years gets you points, then you’ve just lost those points).
Don’t forget that real mortgage lenders don’t use your ClearScore or Noddle or whatever score to make a decision. They pull in the data from your Experian/Equifax/Callcredit reports and run their own algorithms, which along with your salary information and other details they will put together to decide if they should lend, so any other “credit score” is only indicative and being told your clearscore has dropped ever so slightly means close to nothing.
A question that has been asked many times…
Impossible to know, but if I had to guess, I’d say that yes, being #fullMonzo does impact your credit score, and can impact the lending you are offered.
Nationwide recently checked my credit file, but they didn’t check Callcredit, so if I had nothing elsewhere, it would have raised some flags.
The score itself should be irrelevant (especially with mortgages), as they run their own checks.
But until Monzo report to all 3 agencies (which is supposedly later this year), I wouldn’t close down my old legacy account.
Even then… Part of the “score” is to do with your average length of financial relationship.
If you have an old legacy account which you’ve had for 10 years, you can chop and change whatever else you want and the worst it will be is 5 years.
Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer to the whole “credit report” thing.
Echoing everything @rarther said, here’s a little more information:
For the sake of clarity: switching to Monzo will not harm your mortgage prospects although closing an old account could be a negative (however I think it’s very unlikely that would have any impact on a mortgage application).
More discussion is available in the full thread: Credit scores?! - #14 by 42644
I would say probably not. I have just increased my mortgage by 50% after being #fullmonzo nearly a year. Went through without touching the sides.
Credit scores vary for different reason, again im just in the process of buying a first home, credit score has increased as of late and been #fullmonzo for a while
My credit score has only gone up since going Full Monzo; so I don’t think Monzo can be blamed.
I only have a Monzo account and actually don’t have a regular income going into it as I live overseas at the moment. I even still use my UK credit card (no foreign transaction fees, don’t worry 
) sometimes which means some agencies will only see my “debt” but my credit score has only gone up 
I’m no expert (quite the opposite in fact), but I would have thought this was the best way to increase the “credit score”.
CRA’s will see your available credit, see you are paying it back each month, and that’ll build your credit score.
The fact you only have a Monzo account means that only CallCredit will see it, but depending on who your credit card reports to, the other agencies will see that, and it’ll be more beneficial to you (which is why you are seeing your score go up).
Worth pointing out that Mortgage applications don’t look at credit scores - They have their own checks (taken in conjunction with credit reports).
My recent mortgage went through, and they had no idea I had a Monzo account as they didn’t look at Call Credit/Noddle.
Just a thought aswell, if you don’t actually have an overdraft (or credit facility with Monzo) the only downside in your credit rating is that not all agencies can see your balance with Monzo.
However, if you’ve got credit elsewhere, and you’re paying it off, you’re unlikely to see a hit (probably see a growth) of your score.
Yeah, although if you have a legacy account for 10 years (with no other credit or debit accounts), and then you close that down in favour of Monzo and a credit card…
Your average length of financial relationship (with 2 of the 3 CRA’s), will be less than 6 months, which could cause your score to decrease.
It’s worth just leaving the old account open, even if you do nothing with it.
Hi,
I’ve switched 3/4 Monzo from Nationwide- manually transferred Direct Debits etc.
I understand and have done research about Monzo- I just wanted some reassurance. In the next couple of years, I will be looking to get a Mortgage. Wil, in any way, using Monzo as my current account (salary etc) hinder myself getting a mortgage/have a negative affect on my credit score? Ie. Will their statements be valid to use, are they recognised by main mortgage providers etc? I hope that doesn’t sound too silly, I just wanted to make sure as it’s kinda’ a big deal.
Thank you!
Quite a few posts on this topic already, I searched the forums for you and found the most recent one from last week.
Having Monzo in and of itself shouldn’t affect your credit score - however have a read of the thread @gmclean kindly found for you for some more ins and outs of that question.
Mortgages do a different type of credit check on you and the agency that Monzo doesn’t report to (yet?) won’t affect that - so as long as you tick all of the other boxes needed by the lender you’ll be fine.
A few fellow forum members have completed a mortgage with Monzo with no hassle - hopefully they’ll add some comments here.
Keep your legacy account.
If nothing more as a back-up. Nothing wrong with keeping it and having a may £100 in there spare or so.
@Nickkkjohnson popped your post in here, to tidy things up and keep conversation going
I am currently in the process of buying a house and been #fullymonzo for some time, being with Monzo doesn’t seem to have caused any issues at all. In fact, by being on Monzo Ive learnt to budget better and paid most my cards off