My long-term partner and I have just bought our first house together, and we wanted to create a joint Monzo account to pay for house-related things when we finally move in. We’ve both had Monzo current accounts for years, have lived at the same address together for 9 years, and our finances are in good order, yet we were refused a joint account. Anyone have any idea why this might be? We were hoping not to have to switch banks.
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This is probably only something Monzo themselves via chat can help with sadly. It’s possible they can’t even tell you the reason why.
Good luck!
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They probably won’t tell you. In fact I’d bet good money they won’t!
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or just sign up to Starling - it’s very similar to Monzo in terms of features and has the benefit of excellent support. They do joint accounts.
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Sorry to hear you’ve been refused a joint account. It certainly seems like a strange decision as you both have personal accounts, and it’s pretty difficult to borrow uncontrollably with Monzo, but there is obviously a reason. I doubt very much Monzo will tell you why. If you can get equivalent accounts elsewhere (personally I’d strongly recommend Starling, have been a customer for years) why not vote with your feet and ditch Monzo?
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They won’t tell you why, it could be one of many.
Me and my better half were declined too but that’s just how it is.
We reverted to the shared tab instead and will try again in the future.
Review@monzo.com I believe is the email for you to ask, but I wouldn’t hold hopes expecting a thorough detailed response.
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Surely it’s a little silly when even Monzo staff are declined an account?
I see so many people with Monzo accounts that it seems like anyone can have one and then I’ve increasingly known people to be declined one for not discernible reason (not just myself!).
Several of them work for organisations like the police - it’d be super odd for a legal reason to prevent them!
I do accept Monzo can decide, just seems a tad odd on that one 
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I guess they can’t favour staff over whatever scoring systems they use - it wouldn’t be fair 
I wasn’t fussed to be fair. If we were in dire need for a joint account we would just go Starling.
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Oh I didn’t mean favour but if they employ you I can’t think of any reason why you couldn’t have a joint account.
Or likewise some others can’t have accounts.
Anyway realise it’s a fruitless chat on these banking issues but hopefully the OP gets a review!
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Starlings position is, if it’s visible in the app you can have it, and joint account was there
I think with most banks you’re eligible for a further account without additional checks.
Does make me curious to what the method is.
But yes, good luck OP 
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Maybe they are gearing up to drop joint accounts so not giving them to anyone
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You’ve had good advice from others to ask for a review or try Starling, but for a “household expenses” type of account it may actually make financial sense to use a different bank anyway, assuming that Monzo do not overturn their decision.
Santander 123 Lite, for example, would pay you cashback on various household bills - and while the app is basic, this may be OK for a bills account.
Perhaps it’s worth considering?
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I’ve had a monzo account for few years and last month my wife created personal account and we got joint account accepted on same day she opened her personal account. I didn’t think we would with stories on here last few months.
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Same for us ^^
Monzo have criteria that you don’t meet and they won’t share that. Give Starling a try
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I’ve been suspecting this for a while. Even if not ‘plan to drop’ it must be ‘limit for reason x’
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Surely wouldn’t give out any joint accounts if they were planning on stopping them. I don’t even remember procedure of applying for joint account ( think Helen did most of it) but does anyone remember any questions asked, for example could the deciding factor be relationship status to other person? In my opinion I can’t see why two friends renting together would want or need joint account, but a married couple or long term partners would have need for joint account.
I obviously can’t definitively say exactly why somebody would be declined, as only Monzo would know, but in the OP’s case it’s possible it was just something as innocuous as a recent mortgage application (on both applicant’s credit files, due to being a joint mortgage) meant 1 hard search too many on their credit files, so they were viewed as a riskier prospect for a joint account than Monzo would like.
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Would hard search be done for a current account joint or not? Surely only if looking credit Like a overdraft!
A hard search is generally done for a current account, yes - although Monzo and Starling actually only use a soft search unless you do apply for an overdraft.
My point was that a credit check (even if only a soft search) will be done as part of a joint account application and if both parties have recently applied for a mortgage they will have a recent hard search on their files - from the mortgage application. This will affect the bank’s perception of their creditworthiness along with the overall state of their credit file. If they were already only in marginal territory, that might push their application into being a decline.
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A joint account is exactly the kind of financial service you’d expect recent joint mortgage holders to take out, though. Bit weird to use that as a blocker.
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