Barclays or NationWide are usually a good shout. Any bank that offers basic bank accounts really. HSBC recently committed to helping the unbanked, so they would be a good option too.
And of course there’s Starling if you want something that a bit closer to Monzo in terms of functionality.
Virgin Money might be a worthwhile option too. They were formerly Clydesdale Bank group, and when my grandmother was finding difficulty opening a new bank account with someone, they accepted her without issue.
ETA: have a look at the options here:
So long as you have no record of fraud, the banks listed there shouldn’t have any problem with providing you with a bank account.
I work for a high street bank and i am definitely sure if a bank closes down your account for dormancy or any other reasons that are not criminal related it won’t affect your other bank accounts. So no need to worry.
I like the sound of Starling Bank because it’s similar to MONZO.
I think this thread has been really usefully because you’ve all given me ease that my Halifax account will not be affected as that was my main worry.
Since there is no incomings or outgoings from my MONZO account, do you think I should withhold from opening anymore accounts as I have my Halifax account which is the account I use for all my incomings and outgoings?
Also, if MONZO did decide to close my account for fraudulent activity for example, surely my other account would have been closed with immediate affect and MONZO wouldn’t allow the account I had with them to remain open for further two months?
Hi. They did get back to me but unfortunately it was a pretty pointless response and didn’t tell me a thing.
Since this happened I’ve begun using my Barclays Bank account for everything and raised a case with the financial ombudsman.
I doubt I’ll ever find out the reason for the closure of the account now😔
I do find it absolutely ridiculous that they would close a person’s account but then leave it open for 2 months. It’s basically sending out the message that
‘yeah we trust you, we know you’ve done nothing wrong, but we just don’t want you to be apart of our business’
Yeah I did one like that. I did hear back from them a few weeks ago but to be honest I forgot to put the update on here- the response I got from them kind of annoyed me at the time because it’s your typical ‘we stand by our decision but won’t tell you why’ crap
Someone mentioned above that it could be crypto related. I know i made 1 deposit to coinbase (£200) a while back so maybe it was that.
But it seems ridiculous that 1 deposit would result in a closure of an account. If it’s such an issue surely an email simply saying “don’t do it again” would suffice.
My account and OPs accounts are going to be closed seemingly, but someone from Monzo should really let ALL their customers know not to do crypto deposits otherwise things like this are going to keep happening
And this is why it pays to have a 2nd account somewhere. I still have my Starling account and in fact, my wages goes there and the money sits there as it earns me interest. I only transfer money to Monzo when i need to now for a DD. Once Starling sort out their pots/envelopes/jars or whatever they are going to call it, I’ll move the DD’s back. I’m losing confidence in Monzo these days with all these random account closures.
It really irks me when you get these letters from the bank (not just Monzo) that say we can’t tell you why.
They can tell you why, maybe not in every instance but realistically if they’re closing your account because it’s dormant they can say so, if they’re closing it because you’ve breached the terms and conditions they can say so.
I had a dormant account closed by Barclays and they wrote to me three times and asked me to put money in it or they would close it. They then wrote to me and said they’re closing my account because it’s dormant.
This seems to be something with the newer banks because Starling do the same thing. Their stock answer is “ it’s in our terms and conditions that we can do something, but as we are a bank we can’t tell you why”
That final response is so frustrating and disheartening at the same time.
Even ISPs will warn you a few times if they catch you doing something that breaks the TOS before they cut you off. I really can’t fathom why banks don’t want to show that same courtesy, other than to use it as a get out of jail free card with undesirable customers.
Yeah I was gonna say as if it’s legitimately a decent reason that’s what the CS is there for. In fact the CS is there to give any help no matter on the reasoning since it’s partly their job.
I would have thought the CS will be on a hourly wage already and if they’re working and no one is seeking help surely that’s losing more money since someone is getting paid for doing nothing.
There is a case you can look up on the ombudsman website (and was posted on this forum somewhere but I’m way too hungover to even attempt to find it) where a customer complained to the ombudsman about Monzo closing their account.
The ombudsman at first sided with the customer, but after an appeal it was noted that the customer frequently contacted and was abusive to Monzo support and that’s what led to their account being closed. The ombudsman then sided with Monzo.
So how often and how politely you contact support can be a factor.
Did the account closure have any impact on your other bank accounts? Did the other providers mention they’ll be closing your account after MONZO decided to close your account?
I’m in a similar position to you but my MONZO account is dormant.
I read that one too and fully agree with the decision.
I remember the wording that the ombudsman used insinuated that even he was surprised by the amount of times they contacted them.
At the end of the day it just didn’t work out and Monzo have decided that you should break up. There’s plenty more fish in the sea so CASS to another account in less than 5 minutes, eat some ice cream in your PJs and tomorrow is a new day.
