Is it a surprise to anyone? Not investors at least. Monzo is a bank to be sold eventually for many people, hopefully soon if that’s the case while the tech is still somewhat relevant.
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My comment had been intended to be ironic!
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Cause for concern?
I expect it’s going to be about Monzo Plus.
Is that bad enough to be a Watchdog issue?
Well, Watchdog are for running negative stories, and the plus affair had been the biggest hiccup Monzo have had so far.
There’s an outside chance it could be relating to account closures, but given all banks work to the same rules, and the timing, I don’t rate this one.
Put it this way, we’ll find out tomorrow.
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It’s about freezing accounts.
There is a reply to the tweet above with a video of one of the presenters outside HQ with a Monzo card ice sculpture!
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That’ll teach me.
I’ve set Watchdog to record now, will watch it after work.
Keeping an open mind now, but my immediate interest is whether Watchdog will justify why they’ve gone after Monzo for this over any other bank.
I wonder if there’s anything to it. We all know all banks close accounts but is Monzo proportionally higher?
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Looks like it’s about all the frozen out accounts, doesn’t look great 
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Wonder if this is where it all started:
About 100 replies in:
Oh and for those asking how do they deal with the false positives - you get a message saying “Your account is now active, sorry for the inconvenience”. This has got BBC Watchdog written all over it. I could write so much more about what happened to me, but it’s starting to turn into a blog under a blog.
Putting aside any kind of prejudice, I’m genuinely interested in seeing how Watchdog justify this story - that is, why they think Monzo are acting any differently from other banks. If they don’t make any comparisons, questions will have to be asked.
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“Unfreeze the lolly”?
That could be taken to be a suggestion from the BBC that Monzo should be unfreezing accounts regardless of any suspicions they may have. Wonder how that sits with the regulators…
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I saw this and it made me think of how HSBC dealt with unusual transfers from my partner. I got a call to ask where the funds came from and why etc. In this situation do Monzo just freeze your account arbitrarily first and ask questions later?
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The good old beeb, I recall the opt out gambling block and the vision for it being rolled out at a transactional level in the future. I recall Monzo explaining we build the tools, the customer opt in and the panel just didn’t understand.
With Monzo being super transparent there will likely be a detailed response.
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Monzo clearly know this is going to air tonight so my question is are they going to send someone to the studio, send in some shitty statement along the lines of “We’re afraid that we can’t give any more information about why we close accounts We’re a regulated bank, which means we have to follow rules from the FCA around what we can say. But we don’t close accounts without a good reason.” with a load of emojis thrown in for LOLZ or are they going to ignore it.
If someone is attending are they going to wheel out out @anon91821566 or just send in someone low level.
Also what are Tom’s thoughts on this?
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My sense is that Monzo have made it so much easier than in the past to open an account that they’re bound to attract a higher proportion than traditional banks of people that would behave in a manner that would warrant their account being frozen.
However, probably worth waiting until the programme has been broadcast rather than unnecessarily speculating!
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I think monzo’s plan is the same as other banks. My HSBC has been frozen a couple times, but someone called me within minutes, or a text was received straight away with a number to call.
Problem is monzo’s customer service is so terrible, Your account is locked for days instead on minutes because there is no one free to help.
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Surely your account hasn’t been entirely frozen a couple of times? Do you mean the card being temporarily frozen? As that’s something different entirely than what’s happening with account freezing.
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Account reviews are handled by a different team to the team that does frontline customer support 
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No mention of Monzo or account freezing in the Watchdog show notes for tonight’s episode:
“ This programme will be available shortly after broadcast
Episode 6
Episode 6 of 6
In the last of the current series, Matt Allwright, Steph McGovern and Nikki Fox expose the big companies accused by customers of trying to pull a fast one. On Rogue Traders there’s a dramatic confrontation after the team catches out the tech repair business that instead of fixing faults creates new ones - and even holds your gadgets hostage. Plus, Anneka rice investigates whether carbon offsetting can really mean guilt-free-flying; the team ranks the best and worst airlines, and there’s live advice and reaction in the studio.
Show less
Release date: 17 October 2019”