Topic Suggestions for Monzo University

I’m pretty excited about this! :tada: A big thanks to @zancler, @Ede, @hugo, @venkat and @StuartM for their work on this!

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How about a intro to open banking and PSD2? I’d be interested to understand how Monzo plan to use the new regulation to their advantage!

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Part of the problem is they’re not sure exactly what it’ll be yet. But yes, I’d like to see an intro too :slight_smile:

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Super awesome stuff!! :smiley: :smiley:

Just a tiny bug…

https://monzo.com/university/credit-score/

There are also some new companies that will give you your credit score for free, every month. We’ve found ClearScore to be an excellent solution — although bear in mind they only check your Equifax score, so it’s worth getting your Experian and CallCredit reports too to check they’re correct.

Clicking “ClearScore” links to https://monzo.com/university/credit-score/”https://www.clearscore.com/”

(which results in a 404 :slight_smile:)

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Seriously @venkat? You don’t actually explain that the ‘score’ ClearScore, or any of the CRAs actually display is just made up? The score they’ll show a consumer won’t actually affect their ability to borrow, as actual lenders will use their own, secret, criteria to decide whether or not to lend. You could’ve gone quite a long way to explain why consumers shouldn’t get too hung up on their ‘score’ and bust a few myths. Poor show from Monzo.

Not sure they are quite ‘made up’ - rather they are based on a different scorecard to what the lenders use - that’s not to say the score isn’t of value to an end consumer. I think a couple of minor changes such as highlighting this fact, changing “your credit score” to “a credit score” and highlighting that credit bureaus only have limited information about a customer (and therefore their Probability of Default) would improve the article.

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Experian also give a free credit score now - https://www.experian.co.uk or you can get the entire report for free via Moneysavingexpert - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/check-free-credit-report

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@John1 That’s an excellent idea. I’ll try and find the best person to write an intro (although as @alexs says, it’s still quite unclear) :slight_smile:

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other ideas could be how BACS Direct Debits and SEPA Direct Debits work, how the Faster Payments Scheme is structured (e.g. direct participants etc) and how this effects time taken to transfer funds, the differences between CHAPS and BACS credit payments, how card schemes (Amex, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, JCB, UnionPay, etc) divide up BIN allocation and agree common standards…

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I would love to see stuff that helps users with common ‘burdens’.

What are rules for refunds if ATM ate the money? How long it takes, will user always get the money back? What’s the process, who initiates, who needs to approve return of funds. Explain technical process from user perspective.

How online merchants store cards, is it secure, how to recognise if card is stored securely (think global, not just UK), can they abuse it (make payment 2 years after they collected card details). 3D secure and how it works.

Fraud risks, magstripe or contactless, kill myths along the way. Focus on real cases, photos of real devices used for skimming card details will be a great bonus. Are rfid wallets working. Probably followed by outline what to do if user suspects fraud.

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Investment! please! A way to invest smaller sums, for those of us who don’t have a lot of savings… ISA is rubbish and the returns are really low :frowning: But the idea of actually where to put your money to get the most out of it is really overwhelming, so most of us just do nothing.

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There is no where to get the most out of it, not without substantial risk. I don’t think Monzo are going to want to get into investment advice, it’s an area they’re trying to steer clear of.

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It wouldn’t hurt to give general advice on what products are available, the risks involved etc. I’m constantly surprised by how younger people seem to dismiss pensions and AVCs as a form of long-term investment. The tax breaks alone are worth giving these serious consideration, particularly for higher tax payers.

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I agree entirely Bob - short of specific advice relating to individual products your idea would be good and very beneficial to most - e.g. compound interest rates on shares re investment of dividends , pension benefits of starting young etc etc

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i didn’t mean advice on where to put the money, more like explaining how it works and what all the different options mean :slight_smile:

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Monzo could even get a guest blog from Martin Lewis :slight_smile: ???

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maybe something to do with finance plans for example car financing?

ClearScore already has a learning zone which has lots of useful advice:

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this is a fantastic idea! Would it be possible to start monzo university for kids? if my nephew could look at a few different pages that educated him about money it might teach him some healthy money habbits from a young age. In particular an understanding of credit and teach him that it is not your money! He is always on his phone so this would be the best way for him to access this information. If I had access to a resource like this I might have managed my money a bit better when i was younger.

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I love the idea of Monzo University and hope that it thrives.

A point on your Credit Scores one though - I’m a bit uncomfortable with the “How can I find my credit score?” section. Personally I think the way it’s worded is confusing in the context of the rest of the article and makes it sound like there are only three credit scores. I also don’t think it makes it clear that these scores aren’t everything and often only serve to be a characteristic in lenders’ own scorecards. Whilst I agree ClearScore is the most user friendly I also believe it would be sensible to link to Noddle, and even Experian’s “free” score for fairness.

Topic suggestions:

  • Budgeting! It always amazes me how few people have and track a budget. Many don’t even know how. I think this would be a relatively simple one to write but the benefits are clear. I use YNAB personally to track multiple accounts.
  • When to get different products. Okay so a mortgage is obvious, but I’m thinking overdraft vs loan vs credit card.
  • How banks protect themselves against losses and what level of capital is held.
  • How the customer deposits are used.
  • Spotting and stopping fraud etc.

These might sound simple and probably obvious to users of this forum however it’s the basics that I honestly believe the general public need.

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