I was thinking the same. To not release them gives me the impression that they might not be good.
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This is false. Where did you get this from?
Hopefully they will do that on their channels. I just wished they hit back with numbers, data and full explanation as they usually do. But it could well be that they can’t.
Again, I have nothing but positive comments on Monzo, just annoyed they have been depicted so badly.
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I’m honestly not sure what people have against Monzo recommending people go to a food bank if they can’t afford to feed themselves / their kids. If friends / family has already been suggested, what are they supposed to say?
They are legally not allowed to say much or lend any money. It seems like this is the best thing they can say 
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I think the problems comes from the length of the process. If the NCA takes 7 days to review an account I’m not sure why Monzo took sever weeks in few instances.
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Can’t find the official post from Monzo (but I read it on their own post).
After a quick google, here’s an article from ‘Which?’ that cites this also:
Agreed on it not being good to show but what I was getting at was the fact that they refunded customers when they really didn’t have to.
Agree in the context of ‘but how am I going to feed my kids?’ question being raised.
Offering the information on charities is literally the best they can do.
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NCA takes up to 7 days to decide whether they need 28 more days (they often do). Then I think they can go before a court (without telling you) to get another 90 days (or perhaps longer).
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7 days to respond.
They can respond and say we need more time.
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Reading this article about suspicious bank accounts show that in 18 months somwhere around 2017, there were 630,000 bank accounts frozen while an “SAR” was made.
In March 2017, about 45,000 accounts were frozen and referred to the NCA.
So assuming the data doesn’t look dissimilar today, account freezing is not an uncommon practice.
Each bank also has a nominated officer responsible for reporting these detections too - who are personally liable if they do not report a case when they should. So I can definitely see why they would err on the side of caution.
The bank also files a consent to proceed request, to the NCA, which then enables the bank to unfreeze the account.
This is the 7 day timeline outlined by Watchdog, and if the NCA doesn’t respond, consent to proceed is granted.
So it’s possible either Monzo aren’t filing this on Day 1, or the NCA are extending this deadline (which can go to 40 days total).
So the figures of up to 39 days in the article are within the framework.
Not sure what my point is getting to here but… lets say that this isn’t an uncommon occurrence in the UK (45,000 per month), some person at Monzo is personally liable if they don’t file an SAR on a legit case, these timelines of up to 40 days are within the realms of reality.
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I like banking with Monzo, but have been very uncomfortable with their policies on this for a while - they should accept there is a problem here and fix it. Some things they could change:
- Fix customer support response times
- Fix consistency and continuity in customer support - being bounced around several people is awful and should be the exception, not the rule
- Recognise the damage freezing accounts for days or weeks can do
- Stop pre-emptively freezing accounts except in cases where they have clearer evidence of fraud (there are grey areas here, it is not black and white)
- Ask customers to justify payments they are uncertain of prior to freezing, and have a human look into their case promptly
- Incentivise the company to keep rates very low by offering recompense and a proper apology to innocent customers
- Publish the percentage of accounts frozen
To those saying Monzo must comply with the law, the algorithms which define suspicious activity are not defined by the law, nor is freezing the account for days or weeks the only possible remedy.
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Thank you for clarifying that. Is this just a case of Monzo’s system being more proactive of other banks then?
In all honesty every time I saw people shouting about an account being frozen it was because they did something dodgy so I would like to know how many frozen accounts were legit.
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If somebody’s account had been cleared out then most banks would open a new account with an emergency overdraft. For frozen accounts I doubt that would be possible.
Did monzo really not send someone ok the show or at leave give comment? That’s madness, are they just hiding hoping it goes away?
Right, I had my pay going in to Monzo but will change that tomorrow… Back to Natwest I guess
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Another bank that can also freeze your account?
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Why announce this rather then just do it?
So weird that you think this is helpful to the discourse? Or are you just trying to farm likes?
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After a no-deal Brexit farming likes will be our main food source 
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