Don’t conflate the issues.
1 Like
A bank only ever needs to report to one.
Do you really think a mortgage/loan company won’t do their due diligence?
Admin assistant: “We checked one agency sir and they don’t appear to have a bank account”
Mortgage broker: " ah well no loan for him"
I mean seriously…
I think if you look through this entire thread, you’ll see there are lots of examples of people in lots of different scenarios and whilst it may be unlikely that it dramatically affects your credit score, it’s not a conversation that should be ignored because you disagree.
You could try and find a card that only reports to one that no one checks to hide debt, win! 
It’s hard to argue that Gen Y isn’t obsessed with credit, with the amount of sheer (uninformed) panic about credit scoring that is expressed on this forum daily.
4 Likes
He should have asked on the monzo forum and would have been properly schooled on credit scores
2 Likes
I totally agree. There are many factors can influence a person’s score. And, there’s plenty of feedback in this thread to suggest that, for some people, solely banking with Monzo might be one of those contributing factors.
I also believe there’s enough feedback to conclude, on balance, the answer to the original question:
“Is being fully Monzo ruining my credit score?”
Is No
1 Like
Yeah this cant be the reason, both transunion and Equifax show my monzo accounts
Are you absolutely certain? This shouldn’t be the case.
Yeah, it does.
That’s weird. I checked my Clearscore yesterday and it wasn’t there at all, no reference whatsoever.
If it’s actually true, you must be the only Monzo customer with this happening.
You werent looking at Starling instead? They do TransUnion and Equifax.
I’ve wondered this too. It’s been difficult as I unofficially went full Monzo back on the prepaid cards. As soon as Beta current accounts rolled out I stopped using my Barclays and Santander accounts and ran everything through Monzo and have done ever since.
I closed the Santander account and have been in two minds whether to do it with the Barclays.
As far as Experian are concerned I only have Barclays but it has a zero balance, no overdraft and isn’t used. If I close it there will be nothing on my credit file that says I can manage daily finances and accounts.
I have Monzo Plus too for what it’s worth and I feel that it should be reported to all the CRA’s.
That’s the main reason I haven’t gone officially full Monzo.
So why do Monzo not report to Experian and Equifax? The cynic in me says it’s to get customer numbers up
You raise some interesting points.
If you’re using your Monzo account for all your regular banking then it sounds like you are full Monzo in my eyes
I guess in your case it would come down to whether the algorithms give points for just having an account they can see even if that account is effectively dormant.
As for only reporting to one CRA, did the cynic in you say how they thought this might help get customer numbers up?
You have probably been hit with a bit of a double whammy here.
There is Experian, Equifax and Transunion (I track all three) and your score would have gone down on the two E’s because
- They have no visability of your Monzo account.
- Credit reference agencies look favourably on long term (10+ year) credit relationships, closing your old accounts removed those relationships.
Despite having recently opened a Starling in addition to my originally Beta Monzo, I still have my 13 year Natwest account and my 22 year old Woolwich > Barclays account for this reason.
Perhaps you just like to bash people that use credit facilities, just because you personally don’t and never will?
I don’t know how they work mate, or how they calculate anything to give a credit score.
As far as Experian and Equifax are concerned I don’t have a bank account if I closed Barclays. That account has no balance nor credit facility and is a bog standard account.
The lack of good credit history has an impact, which can greatly affect the interest rates on a loan or mortgage. I have scope to check my scores with all three CRA and it’s a bit annoying that the main two don’t show my 4yr good relationship with Monzo.
In terms of my cynicism, my thoughts are that by only having information with TransUnion, more people were accepted for the current accounts. Although they said no credit checks are made to be given an account, I feel that perhaps if Monzo were reporting to all three, the take up of new accounts would have been lower. As I say…I could be completely wrong but I do think it was a deliberate move for corporate gain however you view it.
I think this is a very very tiny part of making up the score. My legacy swaps twice a year chasing CASS bribes and have excellent scores on each (max on Experian). My average account age is about one year.
I would say defaults, CCJs are the real killers to the score.
Then it’s missed payments.
Then the it’s payday loans.
Then it’s credit cards, overdrafts, personal loans and mortgages etc
Then looking at electoral roll and average account age etc I would say this is about 2% of the overall score weighting as a guess. So you could close your 22yr account and it may take a couple of points off or won’t do anything.
Either way the CRA scores are meaningless, it’s the lenders criteria which matters
2 Likes
I’m full Monzo. No credit cards, other banks or anything and have been for ~2 years.
I’ve recently got a Mortgage, I have been accepted for an overdraft (Monzo), Motorbike and car loan with zero issues. My score on Experian is a few points shy of being maxed out.
What @phildawson said above is accurate and what I believe to be true based on my experience. I recently posted that one falsely applied late payment affected my score by 250 points. It took me months to notice and get resolved which is crazy!
1 Like