This screen comes straight away without any checks. Looks they just disabled option to open joint account
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I can get to the point of choosing someone to open an account with at least. I haven’t tried further.
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You’ve gone from a friendly avatar to looking like a henchman from a film 
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In your assessment. But maybe not in Monzo’s or whatever other bank’s.
It may be that NDRW BNK, a new fintech challenger, finds that people that drive an Audi commit more money laundering offences than those with a Skoda. And so the bank will make it a criteria that people with an Audi can’t open an account. It’s perfectly legitimate, and Audi owners may legitimately think they’re low risk but to NDRW BNK, it’s an extra data point to consider.
That’s exactly the point behind the approach.
Let’s say NDRW BNK updates its website to say that people with Audis can’t open accounts anymore. Is it better for the customer? Yes. But it puts BNK in a much weaker position because those who drove Audis and laundered money now know that they simply need to change their car to continue their nefarious activities.
This is why, even if they could, banks would never tell you more than the absolute minimum. We can argue all day long but every bank, Monzo included, have heaps of people whose job this is, and one of the things so can guarantee you they consider, is how much they can say to balance keeping the customer informed vs jeopardising their position.
See above
This is a separate software engineering issue and perfectly legitimate complaint.
It’s probably not that simple. As @HoldenCarver says I can’t imagine they’re deliberately turning customers down. They’re probably forced to.
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Really appreciate all the replies. It seems I’m not the only one.
From reading the other replies it looks like the issue(s) are
- Monzo’s wording and experience is bad, whether it is their fault or not
- The problem could be with Monzo’s policy or a regulator but we don’t know
- The criteria doesn’t seem to be having an effect on everyone, as some people still have the option to open an account
(For clarity - the option doesn’t appear to me, I only get to the screen in the OP through the help section)
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Feels like a very fair summary, Tim.
When I get around to writing my 2023 predictions, I’ll definitely have a relaunch of the UK joint account on the list. I’m hopeful.
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I was gonna vote for option 3 (‘N/A - I already have a joint account’) but then had an idea.
We already have a JA - and the options to apply for a JA no longer show in the main feed or the ‘Things you can do with Monzo’ carousel section - which makes total sense.
But what if I searched for ‘Opening a Joint Account’ via help as per above? Well, it found the Opening a Joint Account section, which included the blue ‘Open joint account’ button for me. So I tapped on it out of curiosity and this showed:
So it’s either a cached-type response from when we opened the JA in 2018 or we’re about to get 2 new cards…
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So annoyingly I am eligible then but because my Mrs can’t reopen her account we can’t have a joint account, assuming she would be eligible anyway…
It’s quite clear that joint accounts still exist, we see this time and time again when someone decides to pipe up on the forum.
People aren’t eligible for whatever reason, case closed, move on to a bank that will provide the service you are looking for.
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I really think this sort of post is unhelpful and unconstructive. It doesn’t add anything to the conversation, is disrespectful to people who ask genuine questions, and really doesn’t encourage new members.
There’s nothing wrong with someone popping on to ask a question. There’s nothing wrong in offering Monzo constructive feedback. Please don’t try and shut the conversation down.
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But we don’t really need a thread a week, the think-piece replies, a poll, conspiracy theories, faux outrage and everything else that goes along with it.
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Feel how you like, that’s my opinion. I’m not looking for you to agree with me one bit, I don’t need your approval or likes. All that happens is another circular conversation about joint accounts
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Then don’t reply. That’s always an option. The tone of a lot of the responses to well meaning topics on here can often be, in my view, hostile even if well intentioned.
Look, not everyone is a regular. We have a choice: make this place exclusively for a smaller and smaller clique, or to encourage additional voices. I choose the latter.
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And the doomsday attitude doesn’t help either.
It it is what it is. I’m sure this will all come around again soon enough and then one day maybe Monzo relax the criteria and more people that want a joint account will get them.
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Before December I could apply without issues. Since the last update I’m no longer allowed.
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Is there any guidance from monzo on why the majority of people are not eligible?
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I feel like Monzo may refrain from commenting, they usually do when it comes to eligibility stuff
The most likely reason would be an existing or previous account on your credit record with someone with a poor credit rating. Or someone with a poor credit rating at your address, or issues with your own credit history.
Beyond those, it’s difficult to know what kind of criteria banks apply but they all have some. I know one bank that, for example, doesn’t allow joint accounts where there’s a high number of gambling transactions because of a risk of exploitation (this is not my policy lol, don’t ask me the full logic behind it! I just know it exists). So basically there could be any number of reasons and banks can offer or not offer accounts to anyone they like.
They don’t generally change their mind or tell people why so it’s better just to forget about it and look elsewhere
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as i said on another thread certain people on here think this is their personal forum and can treat others how they like and monzo staff turn a blind eye to it , they need to realise that customers are entitled to ask questions on a monzo branded forum
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