As the OP has explained, this wasn’t made by manual payment. It was two standing orders that were set up, and Monzo garbled the reference on one of them.
It’s clear if you read the entire thread.
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I do think a complaint is in order as there isn’t anything warning about you about this in the app when setting up a standing order and its reasonable to assume they would have paid it under the reference you initially requested. However at the same time it is your responsibility to ensure you have paid on time. Did you not notice your balance seemed lower on one of the cards or received a reminder to pay? For example Barclaycard offer a 14 day grace period within the payment due date (for those previously up to date) before your credit file is affected they also send out reminders, if you bank did not send these out query this with them. I do believe though that monzo should pay any late payment charges you may have incurred as a gesture of goodwill. It’s unlikely the missed payment marker will be undone as it is factual, though this is something to take up with the CO-OP as they are the only ones who are able to change it.
it goes the same way when setting up a SO as well you still need to put your pin and and you still have the option to review the details before submitting, and like i’ve said before it’s always your responsibility to check the details before making the payment you can’t blame anyone else if your the one putting the information in.
If you read the entire thread, you will see that OP:
- Set up standing order 1 to pay off credit card 1 with reference 1
- Set up standing order 2 to pay off credit card 2 with reference 2
- Monzo paid credit card 1 with reference 1
- Monzo changed the reference on standing order 2 to reference on standing order 1 without asking OP
Monzo basically decided to unilaterally change a previously confirmed payment instruction just because they’re trying to be ‘helpful’. All this without telling OP
So as far as OP was concerned, two lots of cash left the account and all was in order.
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Maybe some would, but I wouldn’t check the reference was correct. If I was lucky, I might notice they were the same. But the point is, I set it up and at that point I checked they were correct
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How do you check your standing orders then?
Bearing in mind they’re generally paid ‘sometime around’ 2am, and the reference won’t get borked until the exact point of payment anyway. And you’d be obligated to check every single time, which kinda misses the point of a standing order.
It’s basically impossible to do what you suggest.
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i have standing orders with two separate reference numbers going to the same account and all paid with no problem and when the payments are gone out you can actually check the payment that’s been sent and it will show the reference numbers as well you can check now if you have you have any SO setup plus the OP can check if the payments has been made because like i say before your responsibility and i’m sure the credit card company usually message a reminder about making payments as well…maybe they went to edit the SO and the reference got changed without they noticing it because they never said if it was a one off or a consistent thing and i’m pretty sure it’s a one off
Even as the most financial responsible person on this planet, I think a person would be forgiven if the payments they set up failed because the bank didn’t honour the reference entered. We can argue noticing the error and other such issues, but surely there has to be a limit to what a reasonable person is expected to do.
(Yes, we can argue a direct debit is more sensible, but they arranged payment and it appeared to have been made. No, reasonable, person would have expected the situation outlined to occur.)
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I think that a complaint with the Coop Bank is required regardless of what’s happening with Monzo if they indeed put a mark on your credit report (I’ve missed payments by a few days before and never had a mark because of that, typically there is a grace period). You’ve still paid them the correct amount of money you owe, there was just a mismatch on the references (one card was overpaid); this shouldn’t warrant a penalty or a mark on the credit report.
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Thank you again for your help. I am so glad many if you have understood the issue.
An update: monzo are looking into and have admitted that there is a technical issue where the reference on the standing order will default to what it was for the first payment.
I have actually sorted the consequences (fee and credit score mark) with the coop myself, the effort I was making was so that it doesn’t happen to someone else. I have found my workaround - which is a direct debit for the minimum and then on payday I pay the rest of the card off.
For clarity:
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Standing orders may well be relegated to the world of cheques and posting envelopes into slots at physical banks, but the reason I did this was because I can pay my standing order on payday. The billing on both credit cards is not monthly but every 6 weeks, and both are on different dates. This gives me certainty and control over my own money. Also, as I am paying way beyond the minimum and if an emergency arises I can adjust the amount or cancel it easily. I can also create standing orders myself without having to call a bank. A financially responsible person considers best practice and then tailors things to themselves. Though I appreciate suggestions for other methods.
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I do check my payments thoroughly and the real issue here was that both payments appear to have paid credit card 1 and credit card 2. It is only when I delve into the details I can see that In pale grey there is a different reference. A reference within a reason. We are now getting meta. This I have flagged with Monzo.
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The assumption that the user is at fault until proven otherwise seems to be the default stance, both at Monzo and within this forum (apart from those who helpfully summed up my issue in a very succinct and clear manner - thank you). I am thankful to those who were patient and read the information - the Virgin money reference from Monzo really threw a spanner in the works. I have fed back to Monzo on their lightwork of understanding the issue and skim reading, alongside the ‘pillar to post’ approach. All in the name of a better bank so people have the ability to understand and control their own money (something we all seem to value).
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I’ve found this much depends on the card provider and how soon a manual payment is made to the scheduled direct debit.
Some legacy banks aren’t that quick to change.
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Glad you have sorted the problems, and made Monzo aware of the various issues. Congrats on sorting the red mark on your file too.
All the best, and welcome to the forum once again.
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I had this issue with Capital One - paid off the full balance by bank transfer a few days before (it was reflected on my balance the same day) but DD still came out. Worse, using the DD Guarantee to reverse that payment applied a late payment fee despite the account already being in credit. CS sorted it out and refunded the fee but still a terrible experience.
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Tesco always take the DD whether you pay off early or not, so I just let things go into credit… it’ll get used anyway. DDs are hard to stop once they’re in flight (so the finance people at work tell me) so I don’t let it bother me.