I suspect that the story was filmed over several days. We only know that the intro was filmed the previous day. I didn’t watch the whole programme, and so don’t know if it was mentioned when Monzo were approached, but I’m sure that broadcasting regulations require that adequate time Is given to companies to formulate a reply
Interestingly, Monzo did give a statement to Watchdog, which is tucked away on Watchdogs “reports” section of the website:
Response from Monzo:
“Typically, if we discover that activity is not suspicious, an account that has been frozen is reactivated in 10 minutes. We have robust processes and controls in place to flag any unusual activity in Monzo accounts.
Crucially, no conclusions can be drawn based on a bank refunding those whose accounts have been closed. It does not mean they have been treated unfairly. Without context, which we are prohibited from sharing by law, it is incorrect to reach a conclusion about why accounts have been frozen or closed.
Our customers have consistently praised our award-winning customer service. Feedback from customers is incredibly important and we’re always working to do better. However in these cases, we have acted in line with our legal and regulatory obligations.”
Didn’t hear that on the segment though.
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Not recently!
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I mean, “longest response between message”, is still an award right…?
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The thing is, you will always have the “Monzo are just following the rules” argument, and that’s fine. Personally, I’d rather they were over cautious than under cautious and lost me (or other people) a load of money somehow.
The false positive issue seems exasperated by the ease of opening an account (which undoubtedly creates plenty of actual fraudulent cases), the potential that Monzo don’t have slick processes in place to deal with this (as referred to on Watchdog), and Monzo’s seeming lack of ability to communicate effectively.
It’s actually this last point which is the most frustrating in my book, as it’s something they could easily fix.
Monzo have constantly been praised for their communication and transparency, when in fact, it’s all a bit of a smoke screen as Monzo aren’t very good at communicating anymore (they used to be).
You just need to look back at the numerous times that they’ve come out and apologised for not communicating X issue well enough, and they’ll promise to do better next time…
Sure, we can have blog posts that are full of fluff, or over the top in depth technical pieces that cater for the 1% who care… But from my own recent experience, and that of others that I’ve read, Monzo simply don’t communicate as good as they should.
Monzo can’t live behind the “our customers love us unconditionally” (paraphrasing), statement that they seem to roll out when things get tough.
If they communicate better, they put 99% of this stuff to bed…
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My post has been flagged haha.
I was only exercising my internet right to accuse people of anything I want without evidence.
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I think a lot of it is also excacerbated by the app nature of the bank too.
Like any bank will have a typical script for this kind of interaction - except in Monzo’s case it is literally copy and pasted into a chat box. While other banks when you have the same issue they’d follow a script, you can’t really screenshot that phone call / meeting in a branch and create a fuss on social media as easily.
With Fintech banks being more/solely app-based than brick and mortar - I think they’re more susecptible to swings in opinion from social media, just because of how easy it is to do so.
And a fluffy blog post from April look well out of date (and out of touch) when issue like this happen - it screams “We told you about this months ago!!! There’s no problem here!!”
I guess someone else exercised their discourse right to flag something they disagreed with.
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Why?
It is worth reminding everyone that Monzo have provided explanations about why this can happen before: Why we sometimes freeze, block or close Monzo accounts
As the post says; there are times when they have to freeze accounts and cannot tell the account owner why. Is this Monzo’s fault or the investigating agency taking ages before they respond/investigate/release the account?
I agree that Monzo not being on the show was probably a bad PR move, but at the same time was the BBC piece in the show proportional to the problem, or represenatative or the Monzo customer base as a whole? Unlikely (in my view). Was it a sensational piece based on a small number of people who have been significantly affected? Yes. Did the BBC give Monzo ample warning about the piece to prepare and schedule someone to attend? Who knows.
Many. My boss was dealing with this at Lloyds only last week where they arbitarily froze his account, and didn’t even communicate with him to let him know. Could still log in to his banking app, see balances, etc. but not access any funds. No message in app, call, SMS or email about it.
Out of curiosity where would you get this information from? I would love to understand the numbers/ratio by bank customer number, etc.
What is the data/evidence you base this on?
Great research. if only the BBC had actually included this context in their report and had allowed Monzo time to include thier own data to see how they stack up against the rest of the industry on the process.
Unfortunately the BBC show did not provide the whole picture; for many of the investigations it takes 7 days or less to make a decision but it can be up to 40; and unless I missed it that was not mentioned.
Interesting how many commentors on the thread “Monzo stole our money” relate to people who when they tried to move to another back were refused an account with other banks. This to me shows there is something which has been associated with those people which is being investiagted (whether incorrectly/fairly or not) and as a result almost certainly out of Monzo’s control.
Exactly. Only two things which can happen here; money returned or siezed as part of a police/court action (evidence, proceeds of crime seizure, court order to repay debtors).
I am coming to that conclusion too.
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No, they didn’t. Unless you have an article?
I haven’t heard of this either but a quick Google turns up loads of articles:
Why let the facts get in the way of a good story?
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Thanks Ordog.
Hardly leaking passport information. Admittedly not an ideal way to send data however!
“Leaking passport information” indicates a breach.
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Because those facts don’t disprove the hypothesis that Monzo are behaving differently to other banks.
This isn’t a leak. His passport photo was shared to him by the bank. His complaint was that it was in a url. Presumably under the misunderstanding that he thought it could be found on the internet, which isn’t the case unless he shared it himself.
Still good that it was reviewed , but this is the same method used by almost all types of systems including your personal documents in the cloud. So a leak it is not. Though it’s always good to see improvements in how access is managed.
You’re responding to the wrong person, I didn’t say anything of the sort. I just found an article that the OP was referring to 
I wouldn’t be surprised if they follow this up on next weeks episode. They usually give a quick update on what has happened since their last episode aired.
It will be read really quickly and then they’ll move on 
Far too much reasonable thought going on here.
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Isn’t part of the problem that Monzo don’t check for CIFAS markers when opening an account… thus meaning they are likely to freeze more accounts then other banks…
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I was responding to the linked article 
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