One of the reasons I am staying away from some of the Neo banks available in Ireland is that their business models relies on selling my data and advertising to me. And selling my data, including spending habits to third parties. “If the service is free you’re the product!”
Privacy and data protection are importantly to me. How I spend my money is nobody else’s business. I don’t like being targeted with ads based on my spending habits. I don’t want my bank to sell my data to third parties. I’m OK with the bank using the data to try and do some gentle upselling of their own products, but no aggressive notifications pushing some Ultra product every week. It’s OK to share data with third parties for necessary use cases like credit checks, but these circumstances should be limited and always make clear to me before data is shared.
What is that like with Monzo? A few chatGPT queries give me hope, but I would love to hear from UK users and maybe even Monzo themselves.
We share as little information as we can and encrypt and/or make it impossible for the recipient to identify you where possible (for example, by using a User ID rather than your name). These include:
companies that make our Monzo cards
card producers and networks
card processing partners
payment service providers for certain bank transfers
analytical, KYC and cyber security service providers that help us with identity verification or fraud checks
cloud computing power, storage and software providers
our business intelligence and analytics platform provider
companies that help us with functional analytics (to help us solve technical problems with the app, for example)
companies that help us with marketing (we won’t share identifiable personal data with third parties for their own direct marketing unless you give us permission, and you can opt out any time)
information about you from some of our partners, which provides us with further insights to suggest features and products you’d find useful. You have the right to object to this processing and can do so by turning off personalised marketing in the app
software companies that we use to email you, or for processing and storing emails with you
companies that help us with customer support
your trusted contact, so that they can review your transactions
companies that offer benefits or rewards through special programmes you sign up to in the app
digital wallet providers
companies that print written statements and notices
companies that manage our CCTV and security if you visit our offices.
We tell you in the app when we need your consent to share your data with:
companies that introduce their own services via the Monzo app
other customers you want to set up joint Monzo accounts with
other apps
other banks if you use account switching or aggregation services
people you’ve asked to represent you, like solicitors and debt management companies
third-party advertising services to show you relevant ads on non-Monzo sites, who may use your data for their own purposes and in accordance with their own privacy policies
I think that should be a big part of the marketing message. It’s very different from the neo bank competition. And even the traditional 2.5 banks in Ireland aren’t particularly clear here and have a lot of leeway in their T&Cs.
I think even when it comes to cashback which you may get in Ireland down the line, the privacy policy was fairly clear cut in what it shared and what it didn’t.
Some banks are very hit and miss, sugar coating or blind siding the fact they share data.
I would be interested it Monzo’s view on this - I understand data has to be shared with third parties for many valid reasons. I was digging through the T&Cs a little mote, and it seems to be a little broad still and convoluted.
For example: It says “when you agree to it, we share certain information with our trusted third party advertising services” - I am not sure if that me unticking “relevant ads” in the cookie preferences is enough to avoid data going to ad companies? Or if accepting the T&Cs means this data sharing starts because some clause somewhere says so.
And then, if I allow advertising in the app, it states that:
“third-party advertising services to show you relevant ads on non-Monzo sites, who may use your data for their own purposes and in accordance with their own privacy policies, which are listed here.”
So that one tick that says “relevant ads” in the app suddenly means 11 advertising companies get my data.
If I follow the link it brings whole different set of T&Cs up, where I can see that data is being shared with TikTok, Mata, X, etc… and follows by saying that the following information will be shared with these companies:
“Device information:
Device ID
Unique Advertiser ID
In-app activity such as actions you have taken or pages you have viewed”
“In-app activity such as actions you have taken or pages you have viewed” seems very broad.
Mostly I want to know if any transaction information is shared with anyone. So if I buy a pair of trainers from nike.com - will Facebook know that and potentially sell that information to Adidas, which will then start advertising to me.
I can’t speak for Monzo or for the situation in Ireland, but in the UK I’m pretty sure that this information isn’t sold.
There is one exception, which I actually find reassuring, in that there is an opt-in cashback offer in the UK. Monzo makes it very clear that, if you opt in, anonymised data is shared with the cashback provider. And you can opt out at any time.
That’s reassuring to me as, compared to other UK banks that do the same thing, Monzo is being transparent and clear about what it’s doing and asks for positive consent - something that isn’t very clear elsewhere. It also heavily implies that no transaction data is being sold.
