I have both Monzo and more recently Starling, and neither currently offer overdrafts on joint accounts. This seems to be common amongst most if not all “challenger banks” and it’s not clear why.
My partner and I have switched all DD’s and SO’s from our joint Smile/Co-Op account to our joint Monzo account, but the absence of an overdraft is proving to be problematic.
The irony is that even though we didn’t have instant notifications on our old account, we didn’t need them, because if we accidentally overspent one month our important payments would always be honoured and we would simply topup in our own time when we noticed we’d gone into the red. The small amount of interest was a small price to pay for the reassurance our important payments would always be honoured.
On the other hand, now we are using Monzo for everything we are 100% reliant on the instant notifications just to keep a daily check on our account and if we miss just one day of checking we can find a rejected direct debit or standing order the next day, even if we were only a few pounds short of the required amount.
This effectively means managing our finances has now become more difficult and stressful using Monzo than it was using our old account with an overdraft facility.
I am now regrettably transferring all DD’s and SO’s back to our old account and will continue to use Monzo for our everyday spending in the hope that overdrafts will someday come to joint accounts and we can transfer our DD’s and SO’s back again.
Not quite the revolutionised banking experience I was hoping to report, but I also appreciate that good things come to those who wait. So I will keep waiting.
However in the meantime I would appreciate some insight into why joint account overdrafts appears to be such a problem for these new “challenger banks”? What are we waiting for and who will be the first to crack it, or will it be once one has done it, all will do it?
Many thanks,
Richard