Many topics disscussed on this forum might not matter. Yet, many of us ask questions simply because we want to know.
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Then the easy answer is sign up to Noodle and check yourself. It could be that different people are checked to a different degree (eg someone low risk vs high risk).
I think it does. This data is personal data. I do not want any of my information going anywhere without my explicit consent. Now, thatās not always possible in the interconnected world in which we live in, but Iād like it minimised as much as possible. It would be a red flag for me if a company was conducting frequent soft checks on me - Iād probably try to ask why, and if no answer was forthcoming or I wasnāt satisfied with it, explicitly revoke any authorisation to do so, which, in the extreme, might mean cancelling any form of contract or agreement that I had with that organisation.
(These are my general thoughts, by the way - Iām not suggesting that Monzo is doing anything wrong or that Iām reconsidering my relationship with them).
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Iāve just had a look. I have an overdraft with Monzo that I havenāt incurred charges on and which hasnāt been withdrawn. There havenāt been any searches by Monzo since the hard credit check for the overdraft.
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Are those without the overdraft subjected to additional soft checks?
I donāt know. What I think happens is that there are two soft checks when you open your account: one for identity verification [Edit: not identity verification, sorry. It was an āadministration reviewā - I donāt know what that means] and one quotation search at the same time (presumably to assess whether to offer you an overdraft). In my case, these took place months after Iād opened my account.
From a cursory look at my records, I donāt think that anyone I have a credit relationship with has ever conducted another search after Iāve agreed to take out a product, so I wouldnāt expect Monzo to.
I donāt know if Monzo would carry out other quotation searches on a regular basis to see if they could offer a customer an overdraft (assuming the answer was no in the first place).
My personal preference remains that Iād like to express an interest in a product before any form of check (soft or hard) is done on me. Itās my data - I want to be in control of it.
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This falls short of what I expect from Monzo, and makes me worry about my own overdraft which, like most people, I rarely use, but view as essential to a current account. The message comes across as vague and arbitrary (county court judgements surely donāt apply in the majority of cases?).
IMO Monzo should have given users advance warning (at least 7 days), and you should have told them explicitly what the problem was in each individual case and offered them the chance to discuss it with COPs before any decision was made. Itād be nice if noddle reports were available in app or with an integration too, so that people could see what you base judgements on. Very few consumers have even heard of noddle.
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Maybe thatās something @richardcadman could comment on.
It appears this only affected users who did not their overdraft before, although it looks like not everyone was impacted, as @Peter_G stated above. I agree that a botice-period could have made this less controversial.
It has been my experience as well. Thatās why I am surprised about Monzo carrying out periodic soft checks, if that is indeed the case, without me applying for any financial product or overdraft limit increase with them.
It is impossible to disagree. Someone said yesterday that overdrafts are the worst part of Monzo experience. It feels like that. There is a lot of uncertainty and confusion surrounding this part of their operations. In the interest of transparency and trust, it needs to be fixed and clearly spelled out to users
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Another thread about soft searches
I donāt think a notice period would have made a big difference. It would be the same argument, just āMonzo is taking my overdraft in X daysā instead of āMonzo is taking my overdraftā.
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For balance, my direct experience has been somewhat positive and, if it hadnāt been for the reports on here, I would be extremely content.
Rightly or wrongly, these anecdotes have made me feel like my relationship with Monzo might be contingent on things that I donāt know about, or that I might somehow be under continual observation.
Now, that might all pass. And itās quite likely that this is just due to the amplification/bubble effect of the internet. And I donāt rule out the possibility that thereās something that canāt be shared that, if it were, weād all go āah, yes, of courseāā¦
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I feel the same way - personal interactions with Monzo have been great, and the customer service has been almost uniformly really good so far. However it is very worrying to hear about arbitrary actions without notice, and itās important customers give feedback when Monzo are not living up to the high standards they set themselves.
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This threadās issue is that thereās a large information vacuum that is naturally being filled with our worst suspicions.
Iād put money on us all being pretty happy with the truths of this situation; weāre just not being given them.
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There is a lot of information that monzo canāt give us about their decisions on a wide range of issues. Things like customer privacy, KYC, AML and internal policies for commercial reasons they will have to be vague about or just not provide answers
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The issues weāre speculating about boil down to:
- Why was my overdraft cancelled?
- Why wasnāt I notified?
- When is my credit file checked? (Less relevant to rest of discussion)
Point one has been answered by Richard above, albeit vaguely. As someone else suggested, if the message had said the overdraft was cancelled due to X item on your credit report or even just linked to Noddle then this thread may not have started.
Point two is - I think - a reasonable annoyance. Regardless of any obligations on Monzoās part, withdrawing someoneās overdraft with no notice and a generic explanation is below Monzoās usual standard, which is why weāre miffed.
As for the soft credit checks, I personally think that theyāre pretty inoffensive. A response along the lines of āYes, we periodically check your credit report if you have an overdraftā would put a cap on this.
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The problem is, overdrafts are something we all try and avoid being in. They are meant for emergencies not regular borrowing.
People want it as a safety net which means randomly removing it, feels like a kick in the teeth.
I think the difference between this and ālegacyā banks, is they have the money to risk a little more. I think they take peopleās history with them into account more than a credit score (just like when I couldnāt get credit due to no credit score, Lloyds still offered me a credit card which I used to build a credit score)
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I think you might have got to the bottom of the ovedrafts removal issue. Spot on.
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Itās as good a guess as any but itās still just guesswork.
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I think in an earlier reply it was mentioned that COps can tell you exactly what new information Monzo has that has caused them to withdraw the overdraft facility.
Perhaps someone will be along soon who has had the facility withdrawn and is willing to share exactly what COps say when asked.
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