Monzo Bank harrasment

danny13579

leeb2931 said:

They are being very coy on who the data is shared with. Especially in the absence of other banks requesting similar information.

If you read the T&Cs for any bank account they say who they share your data with, for example HMRC, governmental departments. As others have said, they are required by law to do this and if you don't comply they can freeze your account and close it. Not harassment at all but required under money laundering legislation.

leeb2931

[Deleted User] said:

You are not entitled to hold a bank account. You choose to open an account at said bank and are subject to their rules. We must move away from the cradle to grave thinking I am afraid. The problem is, is that you have defined it as harassment. It speaks volumes. Monzo may well be using the info for other reasons. It will be in the small print. Perhaps you could read their terms?

It’s not the issue that they are asking. The issue is they won’t be open and transparent what purposes the data is used for, and they won’t rule out using the data for non regulatory purposes. They just simply state the data maybe used for any of their purposes.

Thats a pretty wide net to cast in my opinion.

Maybe as others have suggested it’s time to close the account and fallback to one of my other accounts.

Penguin_

leeb2931 said:

[Deleted User] said:

You are not entitled to hold a bank account. You choose to open an account at said bank and are subject to their rules. We must move away from the cradle to grave thinking I am afraid. The problem is, is that you have defined it as harassment. It speaks volumes. Monzo may well be using the info for other reasons. It will be in the small print. Perhaps you could read their terms?

It’s not the issue that they are asking. The issue is they won’t be open and transparent what purposes the data is used for, and they won’t rule out using the data for non regulatory purposes. They just simply state the data maybe used for any of their purposes.

Thats a pretty wide net to cast in my opinion.

Maybe as others have suggested it’s time to close the account and fallback to one of my other accounts.

Monzo Help - Why have I been asked to update my details? 

inspectorperez

leeb2931 said:

I’ve been with Monzo Bank now for around two and a half years, and when I joined they asked all the usual financial questions about employment and income. No problem.

However I now keep getting an annoying message at the bottom of the bank app which will not go away, they are wishing to ask similar questions again. Basically I’ve refused.

I’ve dragged them into chat, and asked them to explain. They have said this is a FCA requirement. However no other bank I use regularly has asked this information, Barclays haven’t asked, Nationwide haven’t asked, and Chase haven’t asked.

Monzo say they won’t use the data for marketing or any of their other purposes, but I don’t trust them especially in the absence of other banks making such requests.

I’ve got nothing to hide and have said I will give them the information if other banks start making similar requests. 

I’ve already been hit by two financial institutions losing my data, so now I’m extremely wary of where my data goes.

Why are only Monzo asking for this and making an issue of and not my other accounts?

I have raised a formal complaint with Monzo.

Just to try and appease your apparent annoyance with Monzo, I wondered if a small analogy of my own would help.

I have been a customer (business and private) of RBS for well over 25 years and have been on familiar terms with a succession of RBS managers throughout that period. My business borrowed many thousands of pounds over those years all of which was repaid promptly and in accordance with the relevant T&Cs.

Last year, I received a repeated number of requests to provide proof of ID etc etc, and yes, I did find it both tedious and annoying, particularly the very poorly thought out means of providing that information in a secure fashion. At the end of the day however, this was a requirement and I complied without any fuss apart from expressing my frustration at what I perceived to be the very poor infrastructure in place to enable compliance to be facilitated efficiently.

Personally, I think you should just oblige Monzo as they request and leave it at that. I find them very efficient and use the Monzo card frequently when I am out of the UK to get best fee free exchange rates. If you are still uncomfortable, then perhaps you should just close your account.

leeb2931

Thanks for the opinions and responses, I’ve just closed the account as some have suggested.

Band7

leeb2931 said:

Please tell me I’m wrong here….

Happy to oblige. You are wrong here  

brucefan_2

leeb2931 said:

[Deleted User] said:

Just wait until they block your account access until you answer the questions, and then you can claim robbery, too.

It is a regulatory requirement. What else do you think they want to use that data for?

Please tell me I’m wrong here….

leeb2931 said:

[Deleted User] said:

Just wait until they block your account access until you answer the questions, and then you can claim robbery, too.

It is a regulatory requirement. What else do you think they want to use that data for?

Please tell me I’m wrong here….

Yes, you're wrong.

[Deleted User]

leeb2931 said:

[Deleted User] said:

You are not entitled to hold a bank account. You choose to open an account at said bank and are subject to their rules. We must move away from the cradle to grave thinking I am afraid. The problem is, is that you have defined it as harassment. It speaks volumes. Monzo may well be using the info for other reasons. It will be in the small print. Perhaps you could read their terms?

It’s not the issue that they are asking. The issue is they won’t be open and transparent what purposes the data is used for, and they won’t rule out using the data for non regulatory purposes. They just simply state the data maybe used for any of their purposes.

Thats a pretty wide net to cast in my opinion.

Maybe as others have suggested it’s time to close the account and fallback to one of my other accounts.

I think you will find most banks will use your data for all sorts of stuff. Read the terms.

May I ask what data they were requesting? eye colour, foot size? why was it so bad to reply to them?

Shakin_Steve

I got exactly the same request (order?) from Monzo a couple of weeks ago. I went to my app, answered two multiple choice questions about my employment status and income, and got on with my life. 

They can do what they like with that top secret information.

LunaLater

leeb2931 said:

[Deleted User] said:

You are not entitled to hold a bank account. You choose to open an account at said bank and are subject to their rules. We must move away from the cradle to grave thinking I am afraid. The problem is, is that you have defined it as harassment. It speaks volumes. Monzo may well be using the info for other reasons. It will be in the small print. Perhaps you could read their terms?

It’s not the issue that they are asking. The issue is they won’t be open and transparent what purposes the data is used for, and they won’t rule out using the data for non regulatory purposes. They just simply state the data maybe used for any of their purposes.

Thats a pretty wide net to cast in my opinion.

Maybe as others have suggested it’s time to close the account and fallback to one of my other accounts.

It is used to show, to their auditors, board, and the regulators, that they know who they are dealing with. This is important for a few reasons, but one is to show that they are doing their best to minimise the risk of financial crime and money laundering.

As others have said, banks do have some latitude about how often they need to check data, what they take as adequate evidence, and banks will also from time to time have a regulator or auditor suggest it’s time to tighten things up.

This is why they ask. There is nothing nefarious about it, and if you continue to refuse to give them the information then they will most likely close your account.