Monzo Complaint

Banking Personal Banking
#1

Hey everyone!

Just asking for some advice if any one can help. Monzo have registered a default on my credit file. I switched the account months ago, and I had an unarranged overdraft remaining on the account. Admittedly, life events and other things got in the way and I genuinely forgot about it which is an error on my part.

I received an email to get in touch before a certain date with an offer of repayment to prevent a default. I replied immediately upon receipt of this email with an offer of repayment. However, I never received a response to this email and they subsequently registered a default on my credit file.

I emailed a complaint about this, but they’ve responded today stating they’re not upholding the complaint, and that there is no record on their system of me getting in touch with them. However, I have the email in my sent email folder with the precise date and time, and it was before the deadline they had given which they said would prevent a default being registered.

I’ve asked them to look at this again. If I get no further with them, would the financial ombudsman help with this?

#2

Have you shown them the email you sent? With the correct date and time stamp? Have you forwarded or attached the email including all headers so they can verify it?

If you haven’t, do that.

Yes, take them to the ombudsman. Don’t expect that to be a quick process though. I’ve been waiting over 8 months and still don’t have a case handler for my complaint against Monzo yet.

#3

Yes. They should eventually give you a final response to your complaint. This will contain information on how to take your complaint to the Ombudsman.

#4

Yeah, have forwarded the email on with the date and time stamp.

Thank you for clarifying. Just wasn’t sure what the financial ombudsman can and cannot help with.

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#5

The Finance Ombudsman checks

i) whether the company has broken the law (this is extremely rare)
ii) whether the company has followed its own terms and conditions in dealing with you.

Given the laxity of the latter, finding for yourself is less likely than you would think

#6

That’s not right. They check the facts from both parties and determine whether you were treated fairly or not.

A bank can still follow the law and their terms to the letter and still be deemed to have treated you unfairly.

It’s an informal process, not a legal one.

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#7

I took the time to read this explanatory stuff from the Ombudman’s Office. Impressed at just how readable this is - clearly drafted with the customer in mind.

It’s reassuring to note that the FOS doesn’t expect all the “t’s” to be crossed when submitting a case.

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#8

Very true. Sainsbury’s did technically follow all the letters of the law with me.

The FoS considers a lot and pays out quite well when it deems the bank to not be acting in the spirit of customer service.

I read a story even, where they required a bank to refund a man in a pub that spent about a thousand or so organically and then had his card swiped, because they thought that (even though the card was used regularly for daily spending) that it was unusual and reasonable to expect that if a payment fails and is retried several times in a row with lower amounts, that the bank should be aware this could be fraud.

It’s definitely a good service in considering the “regardless of the law: does X sound like it lines up with common sense and reasonable conduct? if a person on the street heard about X, would they immediately go ‘wow that bank is disgusting in their conduct’”

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