Have you been in the app to try and increase it recently? I’m sure I saw someone comment they were initially offered £100 near the start but was able to increase in the app recently.
One downside (kinda) to having the overdraft is I will now run my account at £0 and transfer from pots when needed after spending. Which means no more Coin Jar functionality for me.
@anon50039658 and chance of being able to Opt In to Coin Jar if you have an overdraft? And it not work if you are £10 close to your overdraft limit? I would still like to see a clean transaction list 
It’s a good idea
Probably one for future us though unfortunately at the moment
Will I get a notification to say I’m not eligible if that’s the case? Will lack of any notification mean I’m not going to be offered an overdraft?
I think by the end of this week you can apply in the account screen even if not default “eligible” as they will do extra checks for you then
find out then if we really are eligible or not.
Does the elegibility expire, assuming nothing changes? I don’t want a hard search (am I correct in thinking this is only if I activate my overdraft?) just yet as I’m looking to go through the mortgage process - but once this is done I want to switch over
Shouldnt this just be as with all overdrafts and loans. If you’re eligible and don’t apply and destroy your credit, then I would say yes, you are no longer eligible until you rebuild. As Monzo grow, they may even reduce the requirement, but can’t blame them being safe and cautious first instance 
They have already started that decisions are based off CallCredit credit report 
I don’t think so as long as noting significant changes, only a soft search is done until you actually apply which is when they do further checks.
Soft searches won’t show up on other loan applications
For some extra perspective, I have hundreds of “soft” credit checks on my credit reports because I use several comparison sites for car insurance, etc. They all do a quick check. It’s only when you attempt to actually apply fully for credit (card/overdraft/loan) where a “hard” check is done. The hard check does not indicate whether you were approved or declined, for what it’s worth, that’s private info, but it does say what and when you’ve been applying for credit (lots of applications implies desperation for credit and therefore higher risk).
There’s a lot of other info included in credit report. I recommend getting one if you want to find out. They’re £2 or free through some services.
Is it me or do overdrafts feel like a weird “old money” thing. I’ll admit I have £1000 of savings and I’m sure post people here do, why would we ever need an overdraft?
I’d rather monzo worked on “new money” stuff like improving the pots feature (I could load my £1000 in there and use it as my overdraft if you could select a default pot to dip into). Or deeper integration with service like Splitwise for a better receipt splitting experience. Or a tight integration with a savings account, to make setting one up a single button press (they mentioned this idea at the current account launch). Or virtual credit cards for staying safe online.
Sorry to be Mr Negative but if I wanted stupid old money debt I’d use a credit card.
I have £1000 of savings and I’m sure post people here do, why would we ever need an overdraft?
I have no savings.
Do you need an overdraft? Can you comfortably repay it?
Also the case where use of an overdraft will hurt people most ![]()
That’s quite an assumption to make! I know a lot of people who do not have even £100 in savings. Who go paycheck to paycheck (or BACS credit to BACS credit, but that doesn’t sound half as dramatic
)
Also, even if you have that, it may still make sense, as I have explained before:
There may be reasons that your balance is too low to serve a direct debit (maybe your hotel hasn’t released the deposit yet; or maybe you just like to keep your cash in your fixed term savings account/investment because the interest/return there is higher than the overdraft charge). Going into overdraft for a day or two may often be a preferred outcome over, say, your mortgage direct debit failing.
I have no doubt there are legitimate use cases of overdrafts. I question it’s priority.
For someone who’s living paycheck to paycheck, is an overdraft not very risky? Debt is not fun.
Edit: I’m also assuming a lot about the average monzo user vs the average bank users, from anecdotes and stories I’ve hear through others.
Let me put it another way. Monzo is charging interest before giving it.
It sure is!
I should’ve split my post in two: The first paragraph was to address the assumption that most people have £1000 in savings. I just don’t think that’s true (sadly!)
The second part is addressing the need for an overdraft: To be able to serve direct debits when the balance is low (a credit card won’t help you there).
That’s true. But also the sensible thing: They need to make money, before they can give it away (in form of savings interest), and if they want to stay alive, than the amount of money they make needs to be higher than what they give away in the long term.
To put it another way: If you want savings interest you can easily open a 2nd account elsewhere. If you need to serve direct debits even if your balance is low, that’s not quite that easy.
Edit: Or, to put it yet another way: For many people it’s difficult to use a current account as the “main account”, if it has no overdraft facility. Hence the priority.
Damn you and your reality!
Monzo don’t need to make money!
I have no idea of the detailed current business plan, but I was hoping their income could come from partnering with savings/loan providers rather than being one themself. It makes me sad that this we are basically admitting this is a feature aimed at extracting money from the less well off (as opposed to something like a ‘help me get a mortgage’ feature which is for people with at least a few thousand pounds, or ‘help me set up and save into an isa’).
I thought we basically agreed that overdrafts aren’t for the less well off, but for those who have temporarily low balances? (It certainly seems that Monzo is taking a very conservative approach with whom they lend to, so from what I’ve heard it doesn’t seem like their aim is to extract money from the less well off.)
And, yes, long term Monzo want to make most profit from targeted advertisments the marketplace. But again: Overdrafts are essential for banking, in my opinion ![]()
yes and yes. I had a holiday, and my overdraft on my current bank is reducing month by month with my salary, ditto my credit card.
EDIT: Credit card is for a one off purchase, which I can pay off over a couple of years with zero interest. I am making use of credit responsibly, I am aware overdraft is not “free money”.
Hey Peter, just want to appologise for my original post, I realise it comes off as very arrogant.
I guess I’m trying to question how common your use case is amongst monzo users - who I understand/assume to be your average tech savvy twenty-something, who typically have a couple of grand in savings (or more - I’ve heard, anecdotally, monzo seems to have attracted more of the middle class crowd).