The latest news on our credit insights tool

Monzo Chat
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Hey everyone :wave:t2:

I’m excited to share that we’re launching a new basic version of our credit insights tool, available to users not currently on one of our Plus, Premium, Extra, Perks or Max plans.

We’ve heard from many of our customers that one of their main financial goals is to improve their credit score, so we’re excited to rollout several of our credit insight tools to more Monzo users. This basic version will provide you with one credit score from TransUnion and monthly credit report updates for free.

You’ll see a clear view of all your open credit products and accounts, from credit card bills to phone contracts. This helps you stay on top of your credit health, detect any inaccurate information and see how your credit utilisation impacts decisions made by lenders. Plus, if you spot a missed payment that you didn’t actually miss, you can quickly dispute it with TransUnion.

We’ll be inviting a group of users to test the free basic version of credit insights before we roll it out fully, so if you’d like early access, please use the link below to register your interest.

Register for early access here

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What are the main differences between the free and paid (Extra, Perks and Max) versions?

Our free basic version provides you with one score rather than two and offers monthly updates instead of weekly. This gives you a clearer understanding of how lenders see you when you make credit applications. However, the free version does not include some of our advanced tools, such as real-time alerts on soft and hard searches, suggested actions to help improve your credit health and scores, or Flex insights for Monzo Flex customers.

We’re continually working on additional improvements to the full version of credit insights available through Extra, Perks, and Max with more updates to come soon. We’re also testing which credit insights features should be exclusive to Extra, Perks, and Max, so offerings may change in the future.

Thanks :slightly_smiling_face:
Ross

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Will the free version have credit search history, obviously not in real time ?

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Hey, yes the free version will include soft and hard searches which will be updated monthly. :slight_smile:

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How does this affect those of us still on the older legacy plans?

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Hey, Plus and Premium customers can continue to use their existing credit tracker tool, so no change there.

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Why oh why are people obsessed by these fictional credit scores? :man_shrugging:

No one sees them but the user, not even the prospective providers!

The fact you can “boost” your score by playing some app game should be a big enough Red Flag to people.

The three Credit Reference Agencies don’t even score the same :rofl:

:man_facepalming:

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Having taken part in a lot of the research that has led to this product, I started with the same view as you and I feel a little differently now.

A single credit score absolutely does not tell the full story of your creditworthiness, but it does provide a useful starting point that people can easily digest and understand. Equally, most of the things you can do to “boost” your credit score are well aligned with things that will make lenders look more favourably on you.

I think where credit score tools go wrong is when they, as you say, turn the score into the be-all, end-all, and focus on trying to level up your score to the exclusion of all else. Where they can be helpful is in helping you to be in the position to be eligible for the credit you need at the appropriate point in your life - whether that’s a better credit card limit, a good loan rate so you can replace your car, or a mortgage to buy your first house.

We are trying to address some of these things through how we’ve designed this product as well as the more advanced version in Extra, Perks and Max:

  • We’ve introduced a much simpler “credit health” view that helps to see where you are on your credit building journey (e.g. “Starting out”), and we show the key factors the feed into this. We try to talk about “credit health” rather than just “credit score” to make it clear there’s a bigger picture
  • We provide (in my biased opinion) the clearest view of what’s on your credit file out there, and a clear link to challenge anything wrong with TransUnion
  • You can stay on top of when lenders are looking at your credit file
  • In the advanced version, just seeing two scores alongside each other helps you to understand that this is just one representation of how a company views your credit file

There’s loads more I’d love to do to make this even better, but we feel it’s now a useful enough product to start testing in the wild. Would love your opinions on it if you do try it out :slight_smile:

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Sorry but this is available for all Lloyds Banking Group customers and Credit Karma (for real time alert) for free, and the report is updated on a weekly basis. This should be the basics, otherwise there are not enough USPs on Monzo to have this function.

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Until the last few years it was a bit of a PITA to see your credit file.
I helped a friend onboard with Clearscore after he had never got his credit file but always wondered. He found an errant loan for a car attached to his file (nothing to do with him) and was able to get it sorted eventually but he had no idea.

The score part is less important but I can see it being a guide for people who are starting out with factors etc.

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It might not be used by 3rd parties but I use my score as an indicator to see if anything has gone wrong.

If it changes I quickly check the detail to see what’s changed or if there’s anything I need to investigate. So far it’s just been minor movements as small accounts open/close but I do find it useful.

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We’re not. There’s all sorts of interesting info about searches and credit utilisations, etc in the paid plans.

Why, oh why, are we jumping to conclusions?

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Not every Monzo feature needs to be unique to be useful. This seems like a helpful feature and one that I would use.

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Did that thing again where both Cashback and now Credit report stand out compared to the rest.

Edit: looks like this when I have the high contrast option turned on, otherwise the colours match.

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I agree that the credit scores do not matter. However, on Extra, TransUnion go up and down each time by 11 points (between 680 and 691) for no earthly reason. Equifax stay fixed without any movement (987). Both good high scores but IMO Equifax seem more trusted.

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Hey everyone :wave:

If you’ve registered for early access via the link in my post, you should now see the option to ‘Track your credit score’ under the + menu within the app. :tada:

Any questions, please give me a shout. :slight_smile:

Have a wonderful weekend!
Ross

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Hey thanks for letting us know, the team are looking into this at the moment. :grinning:

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My Credit Insights on Extra has been telling me my credit file will update in 1 day… For two days now…

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Monzo/Equifax has never worked, Monzo can’t match me, even though other companies, such as clearscore, who use Equifax can? :thinking:

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Is it likely that reporting of Experian scores will come to Monzo? I can currently track my TransUnion and Equifax scores, but the full trifecta would be nice to get a full perspective.

Doesn’t bother me too much, because the number doesn’t really mean anything anyway, but being more aware never hurts.

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