Monzo / Unite Students Partnership Opportunity

Hi,

I work at Unite Students (the UKs largest student accommodation provider c.50,000beds). It would be great to have a chat with someone within your Business Development team as i think there is a great opportunity for Unite and Monzo to work in partnership to give students an amazing experience.

Improving student welfare is a key objective for us and financial concerns are often a driver for stress/ an unhappy uni experience. We’d love to work with you guys to provide students with the ability to set up & use your awesome app through welcome packs/comms we provide our students.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Sam

Hope you are well

In the spirit of openness what is it in for you?

Do you charge companies a fee to be included in your welcome packs?

Hi @sjdsimpson :wave:

Seeing as this is your first post - I’d suggest getting in touch with Monzo via @cookywook to make sure you’re vetted to post stuff like this on the forum as it can come across a bit “spammy”.

What is it exactly you’re looking to do with Monzo?

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I think he did make it clear in the original post what he wants

I appreciate that - but it doesn’t really explain what the aim is - if you’re just providing students with the knowledge of Monzo (seeing as to get an account all you need is a smartphone) haven’t Monzo done this by running ads?

What I mean to say is, below the surface level of providing welcome packs - what is it they’re looking to do.

Well they offer the welcome pack to all students that book a room with them

Usually a bag full of stuff

So it is just to help with that and I assume Monzo pay them for what is essentially advertising

No I get that - but if it is just advertising, then I’m not sure the forum (or at least the “Monzo Chat” section of the forum) is the best place for this post.

From what the OP had said I just wanted to know if it was more than just advertising in a welcome pack.

I’m sure someone from MONZO will come along and help point you to the right person soon enough, which is what i imagine you’re after rather than the spanish inquisition from us forum members when its nothing we can help with, good luck! :grinning:

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I agree this isn’t the right place

No it is just a bag of adverts - I have seen it before

Free energy drinks, granola bars etc. that kind of thing as well as free sim cards

What’s in it for us would be improving student experience.

So it is a free service you don’t charge for?

It’s highly likely that they will otherwise they’d just write and publish their own works about Monzo and put it in the pack themselves. No permission necessary then :slight_smile:

I agree I am just curious

Though depending on the cost I do think it could be a good opportunity for Monzo

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Exactly, great opportunity. The benefits i see are:

  1. Our students get to experience the joy of Monzo, c.50,000 new students each year (60% of them are international and need to set up a British bank account). The ability to closely manage finances better will help improve the welfare of our students.

  2. Monzo get to grow the brand to the most tech engaged age groups

We could easily just suggest ‘use Monzo’ to our students but i’d prefer to work with Monzo to get the message out properly rather than it just being spam.

thanks for your input.

Sam

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It may be worth you emailing
help@monzo.com

I am not sure if they have a more specific email for this kind of thing but I am sure they can help you

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To be honest I work recruiting international students and the amount of time and energy required to get them set up with a bank account is silly. I’ve always thought Monzo are missing a trick with the international student market, given they could theoretically set their account up and have the card delivered to a university to be collected when they arrive.

It’s a perfect kind of partnership, and would get Monzo so many customers each year.

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In your experience what are the barriers international students face when trying to get a UK bank account?

It would be interesting to know what the exact areas are that are causing the problems - is it ID verification/ need for a VISA/ proof of address etc.

Like you say, especially with an intention to branch out (at least to the US) creating bridges for an international (whilst still UK based) customer base is definitely an area I see Monzo being able to exploit.

A lot. Try opening a bank account here with no proof of address or student status or even a physical place to live.

  • They need to go into branch
  • They can only do it from the UK
  • They need to have a place to live
  • They need proof of that place to live
  • They often need certifed student status
  • Proof of immigration status
  • Their proof of ID might not be verifiable

Try getting an appointment with Barclay’s… try it. Weeks before you can get one, and then chances are you won’t have the “right” documents to prove your ID or your address. So then it’s either:

  • Carry cash (we recommend they bring £500 right now)
  • Use their overseas bank card, with fees

Often companies will only take UK bank accounts, so:

  • Few direct debits allowed
  • Fees to transfer rent and such

Even then, they will likely be given a really basic account with very few features. If you’re here for 3/4 years that’s not good enough.

If there is one thing that students complain most about here, it’s how damn difficult it is to set a bank account up. It’s so expensive for them the first few months while they wait for letters to come to their address, or universities to provide official documents (and thousands request this all relatively at the same time and limited staff means it takes a while).

Enter Monzo.

  • Partner with universities
  • Provide advice in enrolment packs on how to set an account up
  • Put the university as the address
  • Transfer funds into before they arrive
  • Pick up at enrolment
  • Day 1 - sorted.
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Well that was a very detailed replied and I feel highlights an area that is really lacking then!!!

Plus (not always the case) graduates tend to earn more money so if Monzo can get sign ups while they are students, if they stay in the UK they are likely to keep using Monzo

Ahh I see - it feels like at present at least it is a case of the Banks following “procedure” and “regulations” but then also not being flexible enough when the time comes for the student to actually get the account up and running (and then the Uni not working quick enough).

It definitely looks like Monzo could do some work here - especially with their promotion of #nobarrierstobanking