NatWest not accepting Monzo as proof of address

[olliepee (Ollie)]

Recently arrived in the UK and opened a Monzo account. When I tried to set up an account with NatWest using my Monzo ‘bank statement’ as proof of address they wouldn’t accept it. Has anyone else encountered this?

[anon44204028]

It is not because it is Monzo, it is because it is an “internet statement”. They do not accept statements you print yourself, only ones printed by a bank and mailed to you.

[anon23935806]

You can request a mailed & stamped statement from Monzo in-app support.

You can also not tell the stupid office drone it’s a printed statement, or take your business elsewhere where there aren’t such nonsense policies in place.

Personally I’d recommend the second option.

Edit: just out of curiosity, why do you need a Natwest account when you’ve got Monzo? Have you checked the other modern alternatives (Starling, Monese, Revolut, etc) before going the legacy way?

[nanos]

I have a NatWest account, because they pay me around £150 a year in cashback (credit card and current account combined, after deducting fee).

I know you didn’t ask me, but I still like my proper bank accounts

[anon23935806]

I respect all opinions but is the cash back worth putting up with awful customer service? In my case a single incident which forces me to spend an hour on the phone with them, or worse - go into a branch - would cost more in time than the 150£ of cashback, not to mention the awful UX of their app.

The awful UX will no doubt cause me to miss a payment or go overdrawn, further negating any benefit from the cashback. Seems like a recipe for disaster.

[nanos]

I have not had a single case of bad customer service with any of my proper bank accounts. I haven’t measured it, but I’d think that I spent more time with monzo CS over the last year, than with my other banks’ CS over the previous 5. The thing is: in my personal experience my other banks are simply rock solid, and just don’t require me to contact CS much. On the few occasions that I needed to do so so, they were polite, professional, and efficient in sorting out any issues. Usually quicker than monzo, as I can discuss things on the phone. I have only been forced to attend a branch once (with TSB for a change of address).

And I happen to be generally quite happy with their apps, though I acknowledge that is a matter of taste and getting used to it, so may be different for other people

So, in short: I haven’t had any of these issues

[olliepee (Ollie)]

For me recently arriving in england I need to improve my credit rating and I get the feeling Monzo, etc don’t affect it as much (I may be wrong).

[nanos]

I don’t think natwest will make a difference there. Try to get

1. an overdraft (but don’t use it!), or
2. a credit card (use about 1/3 of your credit limit, and pay it off in full every month)

The 2nd will have a much larger impact. Look at things like these:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/bad-credit-credit-cards

The limit will usually be low, and the interest and other charges high, so be sure to stay within the limit and not to miss a payment.

[anon23935806]

A current account by itself without overdraft shouldn’t affect it at all, Monzo or otherwise.

You could either get an overdraft with Monzo if offered or get a credit card. I’d recommend Capital One, I’ve had decent experiences with them (given they’re a legacy bank) and got accepted fine with a low credit score & not much credit history (as a foreigner). Use it up to half or 70% every month and pay if off in full so you don’t incur any interest.

[nanos]

One more thing: you didn’t mention where you were from, but if you are are from the EU (or otherwise eligible to vote) registering to vote can give your credit rating a large boost.

[anon23935806]

Note that a “credit rating” is a vague term and a lot of credit monitoring services will give you a “score” based on their own, meaningless algorithm. The lenders don’t actually get, nor look at that “score”, they look at the raw report (number of accounts opened, total available credit, credit usage history, etc) and draw their own conclusions using their own secret algorithm. This also means that despite a seemingly flawless report, you might be declined by some providers, as you don’t fit into their target customer base (some lenders give out credit at a loss and hope to make profits on late payment fees & interest - if you’re a good payer there is no profit to be made so the might decline you).

[olliepee (Ollie)]

Thanks everyone for the great tips.