Why, why, why is the overdraft on my Monzo so poor?

Quiet possibly true, but never anywhere close in my case. I always had hundreds in the current balance; now on Monzo those hundreds are in pots. It’s been life-changing - don’t have to panic when car bills hit; can take holidays with holiday spending already available instead of ‘borrowing’ from future me - but does mean Monzo balance runs much closer to 0 than legacy balance ever did by a large margin.

Interesting. I have a personal account with a balance of circa £100 and that I do not use day to day and got a £1,000 when I applied for an overdraft. However I can’t even apply for an overdraft on my joint account that we use as our primary account with all salaries and payments going through this account. Shame. #japarity

I’m not sure Monzo offer them on joint accounts and I also know starling do not.

It’s worth also noting that once you have something joint finance it can impact or boost you’re credit rating. Whenever a check is fine on one because of the financial connection, the other is normally checked as well.

I don’t know the reasons why they might not offer one but I would imagine it’s more complexity because they have to calculate risk and what they willing to lend and balance that by the two financial scores.

Just wondering why you have so many overdrafts? Even if you don’t use them. Could be the reason :thinking:

Hey, historically I have had them - what I meant was I have had approval for them by banks each time I have moved over. Ie I’ve never been declined one when moving from bank to bank. Currently have 2 overdrafts - one for my ‘traditional’ bank and one for Starling.

You could just use the “retry direct debit” feature after moving money out from your pot. You wouldn’t need a overdraft then for the situation you described

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Ah, apologies. I’ve been a bit lazy in how I’ve expressed myself, because when I say “DDs”, I’m really meaning “DDs and recurring subscriptions”. It’s particularly the latter that will fail instead of trying, thus necessitating the overdraft.

Right I see, the only reoccurring subscriptions I have are giffgaff and Spotify but I can’t remember if they show on the feed the day before they are deducted. They are definitely shown as part of the summary though.

It wouldn’t bother me if either of these were missed anyway as they can’t charge for late payment, they just stop the service

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My subscriptions don’t come up in the feed (I think it is just DDs).

But what I have done is make them a “committed spend” so my “total left to spend” number has already taken those off, like it does with my DDs.

New to Monzo. Only just found them this week but very interested and intrigued. Waiting impatiently, foot tapping, for them to arrive in the U.S. :stuck_out_tongue: One curiosity point for me though, is the discussion of overdrafts. Is it commonplace for people to overdraft in the UK? I have the option on my little credit union account to have overdraft protection but I don’t because I just make sure not to overdraft. Not a judgement, just a curiosity.

Hi Laura :wave:t2:

Hopefully you’re one of the lucky few that get their hands on a US Hot Coral Card!

Overdrafts are pretty common in the UK - although they do come with fees (for the most part). Usually students pick them up whilst at university. It usually doesn’t cost to have the overdraft there but it does when you actually use it (i.e. dip into the red).

For the most part it is there more of a “safety net” than a facility that is used day in day out - but everyone is different!

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Yeah I think it’s fairly common.

Banks used to just dish them out and raise the limits on them randomly to tempt you to use them but it’s a little more legislated now.

I’ve learnt on here that a lot of people like them as a safety net, just in case they’re short one month.

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I’m on the waitlist and in a major city, so hoping that an event comes my way! :smiley: Thanks for the input on overdraft. The fees are so steep here that using overdraft is prohibitive. $35 each from the bank and then the entity that doesn’t get paid usually charges around that same amount. With overdraft protection, it’s just the bank that charges but holy cow, expensive! I have my one credit card that I’ve had going on 35 years for any oopsies. :slight_smile:

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Dang! Just gave my age away. lol! Why yes, yes I am old. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Yeah it is very varied in the UK as to how much a bank charges - my overdraft for instance is free (albeit this is a special student account). Monzo for UK customers charge 50p a day up to a maximum limit and others charged a representative % on how much you are in the red.

For some, it can be easier to get an overdraft than a credit card so I suppose that is the answer as to why it is sometimes preferred!

Wow! That does sound expensive! The UK is pretty heavily regulated now around overdrafts (new guidance came out only last week or so!) So it is quite a hard market to charge those sort of fees!

That would be about the cost of a refused direct debit charge here. Or unauthorised overdraft. Most banks charge similar silly fees but Monzo don’t change.

Maybe it’s a different term in the U.K.? Basically you have a preagreed limit that you can borrow eg £1000. You can use this for bills or generally day to day spending. Monzo charge 50p per day for this facility

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Thanks everyone for the ideas. I’m going to try using Monzo as my account for debits but have a secondary account for a buffer / OD facility whilst the Monzo overdraft is small. I’ll see how I get on! Appreciate the ideas and comments anyway.

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