This topic has been doing the rounds since day 1 of when OD’s were offered.
I’ve seen people who state they have the perfect credit history etc etc, be denied any OD what so ever, and I’ve seen people who say they have an appalling financial history be offered one
It’s clear that how Monzo make this decision is impossible to work out, and as customers, we really shouldn’t need to.
If an OD is a part of how you budget and sort your finances, I’d recommend using a different service personally. It’s never been a big thing for me (can’t get one on the JA anyway ), but I’d definitely be banking elsewhere if it caused issues.
Well, thank you all for your thoughts and opinions. Appreciate the ideas and details from your own perspectives. FYI I didn’t remove any post myself - I guess it’s either moderated or self removed by the poster (it was funny!). Ultimately I guess it comes down to some back-end unknown process to all but those in Monzo. I haven’t used my Monzo much lately purely as I have been trying Starling and they offered the balance of instant notifications and overdraft and pots etc I was after. But I do prefer the community based/ consumer focus of Monzo, where Starling seems more aligned to offering Banking back end as a Service with some consumer banking on top. I guess by not using Monzo and therefore not demonstrating my responsible record of spending then this might not show a track record for them to offer me a bigger overdraft but then would I switch without that? Ultimately, I guess at present I have an option to use my Monzo as my main account by making my own buffer facility pot until if or when the overdraft decision changes for me. I can understand their risk based approach to lending, it would just be nice to know why and if there were some appeals process to go through. But as per several comments they aren’t obliged to give me or anyone an overdraft. Yet I can’t help feeling as a bank that is a core service many others offer and it is a service many, not just myself, look for, rightly or wrongly!
Since I seem to have caused some intrigue i just thought I’d pop back and say that it was half and half, moderated and removed.
I made a lighthearted post, without any kind of malice, and I’m glad you found it funny @Ajmartin001 as it was certainly never my intention to be rude, but a couple of easily shocked folks obviously got deeply offended on your behalf as I had an email saying the post was hidden due to being “inappropriate”, so sparing them any more emotional trauma if their eyes happened to glance across it again, I felt I had to delete it.
Mystery solved!
tbutz
(🏳️🌈 Producer of "low value commentary")
29
If your post was toxic enough to get the number of reports needed to auto-hide it (I’m presuming it takes 2 or more for that to happen, but don’t know either way) on a Sunday evening then perhaps it’s less about “easily shocked” people getting “offended on [the OP’s] behalf”, and more about you needing to consider how you put your point across?
Would be nice if during account switch service you could specify required overdraft and only proceed if Monzo could offer it.
My FD overdraft is £1250 so if I were to close that account as part of switching I’d also like Monzo to offer the same. Whilst I’m not using it having I available for an emergency is reassuring.
3 Likes
tbutz
(🏳️🌈 Producer of "low value commentary")
33
Yes,emojis are key as it means you are being funny and messing about, it’s like I could call you a ******* **** and everyone rofl but if I just call you a ******* ***** I would get in trouble
I’d be interested to learn about the Monzo features that you have as a full Monzo user that have meant you didn’t need an overdraft? Might be something for me to consider if viable for me
I can only reiterate what someone above has said in regards to being lucky to have an overdraft at all! I’d love a little buffer to know that I needed a little help to get by in a particular month then it’s there but I wasn’t offered any overdraft at all
Each bank has its own criteria over which they will or will not lend money. However free tools like credit score or paid ones like credit expert go someway to help you understand.
Factors like how long you’ve had credit with a provider, number of full credit searches with 6 months, how much credit you have but also how much of it used.
Also if you have credit cards don’t automatically close them if you’re not using them, that can affect your average time with credit and thus have a negative score.
Try not to use more than 50% of available credit on a card or overdraft.
My own experience is that the Monzo features meant I needed an overdraft.
Legacy account - everything sits there, with bills, etc mentally compartmentalised. An unexpected or wrongly calculated DD will still go out (because the money is there) but then I may have to rebalance things after to make sure bills, etc are still covered (with rebalancing running the gamut from “I guess I don’t need that £60 limited BR after all” to “packaged ramen blocks for dinner all week!”). Regardless of the effect on me, I never, ever, ever needed to use my overdraft.
Monzo account - all the mentally compartmentalised things are now actually compartmentalised in ever-so-handy pots. Which means that circumstances can arise where I may have tons of money but an unexpected DD will drive my balance into the ‘negative’. Inverted commas because it’s never actually negative, but Monzo don’t count pot balances. So I had to apply for an overdraft to cover these situations. I’ve never had to pay charges because I always move money out of a pot within hours if not minutes of going negative, but the alternative to not having an overdraft would be to not use pots.
I would imagine in most banks you can technically go over drawn but you’re not actually overdrawn. For example on pay day, when you have bills go out first and then you get paid.
However I know what you mean by the pots, although I believe the order at Monzo means income first, followed by outgoings. Plus I like with Monzo that you get some heads up before a direct debit comes out, so you can move money into place.
Curiously, my old bank, since I settled my overdraft with them - have been pushing ever larger sums of overdrafts, credit cards and loans to the point where I have £35k credit line with them. All I have to do is sign on the dotted line…
It’s almost like they are desperate to give me money!
But it is kinda entertaining to see if my offer goes up when I log into my banking app with them.
I’m a saver as much as possible these days. The thought of how much money I’ve given banks over the years in interest makes me feel kinda ill.
), but I’d definitely be banking elsewhere if it caused issues.
and everyone rofl but if I just call you a ******* ***** I would get in trouble
