I’ve gone from never being offered a loan before to up to £15k at around 6.2%-6.3%.
Seems reasonable, I know there are cheaper headlines rates out there but I have no idea if I would be eligible for them as I have no need for a loan. My credit rating is excellent (999 with Experian, a bit lower with Transunion) although with a few K credit card debt still outstanding at 0%. I’ve been full Monzo since the beginning with my salary being paid in and a host of direct debits going out so it always miffed me that I wasn’t eligible for anything before.
Hoping that some shorter/smaller lending options become available as well. Would be nice if I could finance my upcoming football season ticket on it for instance.
I’ve been quite happy with the loan product since I took one out last year - good rate at 3.7% and easy to manage.
I personally prefer to pay larger monthly amounts over a shorter overall term, but clearly the internal Monzo decisions don’t like that - so I just make regular overpayments.
One thing I wish the “Make an extra payment” screen did was to also show what difference the overpayment will make, not just the new overall “left to pay” amount.
For me at most loan amounts I can get a slightly better rate through Zopa. Some loan amounts have a much bigger difference. I can get much bigger loans through Zopa than through Monzo, but I can also get smaller loans under £1000 through Monzo. That’s even with being half way through paying off a lower APR loan through Zopa started before the pandemic. (Zopa were the easiest to compare to).
Though for a few thousand £ a 0% credit card can work out much cheaper.
The Monzo rates are much better than I had in the past, which is a good sign, but not quite yet competitive enough to go for.
Switched my M&S Bank loan (no app, no online service, everything by telephone ) to a Monzo loan.
A percentage point lower interest too, so saved me a little money, not to mention the visibility and ease of management will 100% make me more likely to make additional payments and clear it faster.
Only annoyance is that I do all my banking through Joint Account (salary goes into personal then sorted to JA and its pots).
I get how and why the Personal Account needs to be used for setup etc (income verification and the like) but would be ultra-useful (just in terms of management) if payment could be made from the JA.
Even if that isn’t possible, we DEFINITELY need the functionality to have loan repayments taken out of pots like every other DD!!!
@TheoGibson@daniel You probably don’t hear a lot of positive feedback from rejected applicants, however I really appreciate the elaboration on the rejections that you’ve built in here
You’ve really put the Monzo transparency twist on it (where you don’t have to share the reason, it is not the industry norm to share the reason and it does not benefit you to share the reason, however you are sharing an overview of the reason for the sole benefit of the rejected user). I really like that.
I’ve had credit for nearly 20 years so I’m an OG credit user and I’ve never known a positive rejection flow. The best is probably when the lender only soft searches then says “sorry, you are not eligible at this time. If you have any questions about your credit rating please go to experian.com” and the worst is when it says you have a 9/10 chance of approval, then it hard searches your file and says sorry you’re not eligible
I know I have a high debt to income ratio and lenders should be rejecting me for affordability, however for whatever reason (I think usually because they are lowering their standards to grow their books) if I keep applying for something every 6 to 12 months I end up getting a very good deal somewhere.
With the Monzo loan application it has told me that Monzo wouldn’t want to lend to me as it wouldn’t want to add to my outgoings, which is an accurate understanding of my financials from a responsible lender’s point of view and is the most delightful rejection I’ve had in 20 years.
I really hope that Monzo never cuts out this transparency you have built in here. I can imagine if a high percentage of rejectees start contacting customer ops saying “but I can afford the monthly payments” etc then there would be incentive to get rid of it and replace with “go ask experian”, but let this message be evidence that it is a really smart feature and is much appreciated!
I just took out a Monzo loan to consolidate all my credit card debt and I now know it will all be paid in 24 months. The relief I feel at this change is almost physical. Seeing that one figure that I owe, right in my bank account, and being able to chip away at it whenever I have spare cash is so amazing!
Well done and give yourself the credit of it actually being a change you can feel physically
I remember the horrible constant gnawing feeling I had a decade ago of juggling debts that were constantly threatening to run (further) out of control and that really felt like the metaphorical weight lifted from my shoulders. My thanks to my main bank at the time (and legacy bank now) HSBC for actually being fairly pragmatic and working with me on what they needed from me to help me out with a loan. Such a relief
I do keep a watch on my finances now obviously, but I can go a day or two now without having to nervously look in constantly
You cannot put a price (or APR) on that peace of mind
It’s so good to have a positive feel in 2021 isn’t it!
It’s huge! And that’s exactly what I have struggled with until now. Getting a lender to understand that if they can loan me £XYZ then it won’t be in addition to my credit card debt, it will be in PLACE of my credit card debt.
The Monzo robots somehow understood it when others haven’t!
Exactly this.
) to a Monzo loan.
That’s really great feedback and thanks for sharing!!
this is such a vibe 
