Monzo Flex: Nickel and diming

It’s actually a reasonably short and readable credit agreement. If people sign it without reading it then that’s their own fault, IMO.

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The law and the Financial Conduct Authority wouldn’t necessarily agree with you though and they are what counts.

What point are you trying to make?

You said it had to be made clear, which it is, now you’re saying that’s not enough?

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Could you point us to the specific regulations that you’re looking at? Keen to read in.

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I guess the point is the document being short and readable doesn’t necessarily mean that specific term is made clear, and they have to go further and highlight that specific point during the onboarding.

IIRC they do this during the onboarding so it wouldn’t be an issue, but it was so long ago and I barely remember.

I think when something like this last cropped up in the bigger thread someone else confirmed it too, because this point was brought up then as well.

When you asked about this last year, you got the following response (emphasis mine):

So I’m not sure why you seem to think the situation would be any different now.

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Luckily;

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Pay with Monzo debit card, and choose to flex the payment to your desired plan over the next two weeks.

This way you are never charged interest, and are in control if you want to pay in full, or use one of the instalment plans.

All other credit cards by default at best take the minimum credit card bill which in total will end up charging more interest for longer than a year. Thus overall even Monzo flex card default behaviour is better than all other credit cards.

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I’m sorry OP but I really don’t agree. I found the onboarding and explanation as to how Flex should be used to be sound.

I’ve used Flex several times and at no point have I been encouraged to forget about it. It’s the first thing on my mind as soon as I make a transaction, aided by the notifications.

It’s a credit product and as a consumer I’d want to make sure that I fully understand my obligations and how it works before using it. Its no different to making a minimum payment on a credit card to avoid a penalty.

Anyway, isn’t this a moot point as because you’re getting refunded you can just pay your balance off in full?

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Clearly one has not used the product in its current form. Which is very clear with repayments and how much interest one has to pay if one goes beyond 3 months.

An initial assessment is also made on how much “credit” for the lack of a better word, is given

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From what I remember from the Flex launch, the FCA actually considers defaulting to 12 months to be the most “fair” option for customers.

Defaulting to 3 months interest free would immediately take a larger amount of money out of the customer’s account, which is (from what Monzo say) the more harmful option according to the FCA.

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I know that’s what Monzo have said. I’m not always convinced that company representatives always speak the truth though. And I also find it might be possible that the FCA, having been presented with the various options from Monzo’s POV by their presumably very competent lawyers, might not necessarily have considered every pro and con, given that Monzo’s lawyers (if they did their job properly) probably presented things from the view that’s most favourable to Monzo.

I’m not saying that’s what happened. But I’m saying I think it’s a possibility.

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There is also a responsibility on the consumer here agreeing to utilise these products or taking credit out and spending responsibly, not just the lender, Monzo in this case.

The facts are given in black and white what will happen to which consumers agree to.

Solely my own opinion, not those of the business :sweat_smile:

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So the FCA might have been impressed by suits and not actually analysed anything they were told?

Presumably the FCA know what they’re doing and not just blindly agreeing to anything because it’s a 9am Teams meeting

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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Removed Posts - April - 2022

Working in a business that deals with the FCA regularly, trust me, they don’t go easy on you or overlook the details.
Lawyers won’t change the fact their role is to scrutinise every policy and process in place regarding consumer credit.
If the FCA have passed Monzo Flex (which they have), then it’s been thoroughly checked and deemed safe/appropriate.

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The FCA will be very used to good lawyers and suits so I would doubt that would be a factor.

I will say I find it odd that this comment, as much as I don’t think you’re right, has been flagged. Flagging shouldn’t be just for things we disagree with. Whoever is flagging these kind of posts needs to be spoken to as it previously has got out of control.

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They kinda accused the company of lying and misleading the regulators. If that is not the time to flag a post on the company’s own forum then when is it? Not that I flagged it or know who did, I should add

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I think you mean black and grey! :wink:


Definitely grey.

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The main bulk of the post really is suggesting that the FCA are swayed by lawyers and suits. Not that Monzo as a company lie.

Even if it was suggesting Monzo lie, so what? I don’t agree it’s right, but what rule is it breaking? How will flagging it make any effect? Are we now just shutting down opinions that, while possibly a bit far fetched, are not causing harm, advocating harm or illegal?

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