Who are we?
We're Monzo Bank Europe Designated Activity Company ('we', 'our', 'us') and operate under the name Monzo.
This notice explains how and why we use your personal information when you apply for an account, use our website, app, card, or services managed by Monzo.
For information about what cookies are and how we use them, please read our Cookie Notice.
Getting in touch
For any questions, please contact us however you prefer:
chat with us through the app
email help@monzo.com
write to us at Monzo, Unit 1, Floor 4, One Central Plaza, Dame Street, Dublin 2, D02 K7K5, Ireland.
Your rights ✅
You have a right to:
access the personal data we hold about you, or to get a copy of it
ask for a copy of your personal data in a portable (machine-readable) format or make us send it to someone else
ask us correct inaccurate data
ask us to delete your data, though for legal reasons we might not always be able to do it
object to us using your data for direct marketing and where your data is processed on the basis of 'legitimate interests' or for research and statistical reasons
withdraw any consent you've given us at any time, such withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of the processing of your data prior to the withdrawal of consent
restrict processing of your data
complain to the Irish Data Protection Commission, or other relevant supervisory authority. We ask that you first contact us to give us an opportunity to address any concerns
ask us to review an automated decision.
To do any of these things, please get in touch using the details above. We will carry out your request as long as it is legally possible.
Where we store or send your data 🔒
We may store the data we collect from you outside the European Economic Area (EEA), or transfer it to organisations outside the EEA. When we do this, we make sure that your data is protected and that:
the European Commission has deemed the country or organisation to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data
we've agreed specific contracts approved for use in the EEA which give personal data the same protection it has in the EEA.
Monzo Bank Europe Designated Activity Company forms part of the Monzo group, which has its global headquarters in the United Kingdom. Transfers of personal data to the United Kingdom are done on the basis of the European Commission’s adequacy decision (as extended from time to time), which is available here.
How to make a complaint
If you have a complaint about how we use your personal information, please first contact us through the app or send an email to help@monzo.com and we'll do our best to fix the problem. You can also reach our Data Protection Officer (DPO) at dpo@monzo.com.
If you're still not happy, your complaint can be referred to your local data protection authority.
Changes to this notice 📝
We'll update the privacy notice on this page and if they're significant changes, we'll let you know by email or in the app. When we update the privacy notice, we will update the date at the beginning.
Monzo Customers, or application for a Monzo account
Monzo will collect data about you when you apply to be a Monzo customer, and if you are successful. In certain circumstances, we may continue to process your information as outlined below when you leave Monzo as well. Please note, references to overdraft do not apply to under 18s.
The information we hold about you, and how we use it 👀
When you sign up for a Monzo account or use our services
We hold:
personal details like your name, date and place of birth
contact details like your home address (and previous addresses), email and phone number
information about your identity, such as a copy of your ID document, a short video of yourself
information about your right to live in the EEA and your tax residency
financial details, such as your employment status and the industry you work in, annual income, number of dependents, residential status and monthly housing costs
details you give us when you sign up for a specific service
details you give us which we pass to our partners when you let us know you're interested in their services
information you give us through in-app chat, emails and in-app forms
answers you give to surveys about Monzo and our services
details about payments to and from your Monzo account, your savings activity and any overdrafts you use
details about who you split a bill with (for example, the contact's name, email, phone number, and transaction details)
details about services from us and our partners that you show interest in
details about how you use our app (for example the pages you visit)
details about the countries you're a tax resident in and your Tax Identification Number for each one.
We may sometimes ask for additional information about transactions through our app to protect you and to help detect and prevent fraud and other suspicious activities.
When you use our website or social media
We hold data relating to:
your social media handle
your interactions with our website or social media channel
direct messages you send to our social media pages.
When you get in touch
If you contact us outside of in-app chat, we collect the following information so we can help:
the phone number you're calling from and information you give us during the call (we record all calls)
the email address you use and the contents of your email and any attachments
public details from your social media profile (like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) if you reach out to us via these platforms, and the contents of your messages or posts to us
details about why you are contacting us
details of the device that you are contacting us from.
We may collect some data from your device
We collect this information to:
provide our services to you
keep your data safe
improve features for you
show you relevant advertising through our third-party advertising services on non-Monzo sites
perform data analysis to measure and improve our advertising channels.
From external sources
This includes your:
mobile network and operating system, so we can analyse how our app works and fix any problems
IP address and device ID (we may link your mobile number with your device)
mobile advertising ID, so we can share it with companies that help us with advertising online (you can reset this ID or limit tracking in your phone 'Settings')
location, if enabled, so we can help protect your account and phone contacts, (we don't store your phone contacts)
actions you take in our app.
When you sign up for a Monzo account, we search your record at Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) service providers to fulfil our legal duties, such as under Directive (EU) 2015/849..
We may also collect information about you from public sources for AML reasons or market research.
This includes:
official public records
information published by the press or on social media (even where you have not engaged with Monzo’s social media).
If you sign up to a service from one of our partners through the Monzo app, they may share details with us about your deal.
Special category data
We process sensitive information about customers that data protection laws call 'special category' data. This includes information that can reveal a person's:
racial or ethnic origin
political opinions
religious or philosophical beliefs
trade union membership
genetic or biometric data (if used for identification purposes)
information concerning a person's health, sex life or sexual orientation.
Data protection laws place additional protections on the use of special category data and require us to identify a valid condition for processing. Such conditions include: explicit consent, exercising legal rights in connection with an employment relationship, protecting vital interests, establishing, defending or exercising legal claims or reasons of substantial public interest.
We process special category data for reasons such as to:
adhere to regulations
prevent fraud
support you if you are, or become, a vulnerable customer.
To process special category data we rely on:
substantial public interest, such as to authenticate your identity using biometric data
vital interests, if it’s necessary to protect your or another person’s life and you can’t consent.
Automated decision making
We sometimes make decisions without a human using automated decision making.
Some examples of where we do this include to:
decide if we can give you a Monzo account and products based on information such as your age, residency, nationality, financial position, and other circumstances, like the results of anti-money laundering and sanctions checks and information from applicable registers
decide if you’re eligible for products offered by our partners
decide if we need to take action, like freezing a transaction or account because we suspect fraud or money-laundering against Monzo or a customer. We decide this based on patterns in our data, like an account or policy being used in a way that fraudsters work
complete initial assessments for disputed transactions you raise through the app.
Some of those automated decisions will have significant effects on you. We’re only allowed to make these kinds of decisions in certain circumstances, and we will always assess and carefully consider whether the law allows us to do this. If we make a solely automated decision about you that significantly affects you, you have the right to request a manual review of that decision by a person. You can also share your perspective and challenge the outcome. You can ask us to review by contacting us using the details above.
Artificial intelligence
We may use artificial intelligence (‘AI’) to provide our products and services and to help us achieve the purposes for processing your personal data described in this notice. If we use AI to process your personal data for any new purposes, we’ll either update this notice or tell you separately that we are doing so. Examples of how we use AI include things like helping with customer service queries, detecting and monitoring fraud or other unlawful activity, helping make business decisions or improving marketing.
We may also use your data to train and analyse the performance of our AI systems. We’ll only do this if it’s not possible to anonymise your data. We don’t allow third parties whose AI systems or models we use to use your personal data for their own training purposes.
Our reasons for using your information 🔍
Data protection laws say we need to have a lawful basis for using your personal data. At least one of the following must apply:
contractual duty
legal obligation
legitimate interest
public interest
vital interest
consent.
In this section we explain which one we rely on to use your data in a certain way.
We need to use your data for a contract we have with you, or to enter into a contract with you
We use details about you to:
consider your applications
give you services we agreed to in line with our, and our partners, terms and conditions
send you messages about your account and other services you use if you get in touch, or we need to tell you about something
exercise our right under contract we’ve entered into with you, like managing, collecting and recovering money you owe us
investigate and fix complaints and other problems
support you if you contact our customer support team, or to help investigate complaints
provide you with our personalised Monzo service through the app based on your financial goals, preferences and other information you tell us.
We need to use your data to comply with our legal obligation
We:
confirm your identity when you sign up or get in touch
check your record at immigration
prevent illegal activities like money laundering, tax evasion and fraud
keep records of information we hold about you in line with our legal and regulatory requirements
adhere to laws and regulations (these mean we sometimes need to share information with regulators, tax authorities, law enforcement or other third parties)
compare information we hold about you with tax residency information to make sure we don’t have a reason to doubt it.
We need to use your data to comply with our legitimate interest
We use your data for our legitimate interests, or those of a third party. This means using data in a way that you might expect us to, for a reason which is in your and/or our (or a third party’s) interest and which doesn’t involve overriding your privacy rights. Details of the processing of your data on the basis of legitimate interests are set out below.
Product development and marketing
We:
enter you into, and run, prize draws
improve our products and services based on how you respond to ads we show you
may ask for feedback if you’ve shown interest in a service. We do this so that we can make our products better and understand how to market them
use the information you share with us, data we get from our partners and data Monzo has about you to suggest features and products you’d find useful
use data Monzo has about you to check that you are eligible for products that we show you
share insights with the public about trends
may use the personal information you give us to test third party services
may use your personal data to train, test and analyse the performance of AI tools that we develop and use
decide what type of marketing content to send to you by email and push notification (if you have asked to receive this from us)
recommend other products and services in our app that we think you’ll like.
Give you special features
We:
show where you bought something with Google maps
send you travel reports when you are abroad (we do this using transaction data, not by tracking your phone)
give you reports on how you’ve spent and/or saved money using Monzo
personalise your visual experience in the Monzo app, like choosing a picture for your virtual card based on what you’ve told us you’ll use it for
show your profile pictures, name and phone number to Monzo contacts in their app if you have not turned off your profile privacy settings (if you pay someone, they’ll see your name regardless. It’s our legal duty to show this).
Security and business management
We:
protect the rights, property or safety of us, our customers and others
carry out security and maintenance checks to make sure everything runs smoothly
manage Monzo’s business risk and finances
share information with crime prevention agencies so we can benefit from up-to-date information when we make decisions about our products and services and to help us make responsible lending and investing decisions and fight financial crime
store backup copies in case we face a legal claim about the information
share information with companies so they can help us provide our services
use information to provide customer services.
Public interest
We:
use facial recognition technology to identify people who use our services in the Monzo app to prevent or detect unlawful acts
record information about your health if it’s necessary to protect your economic well-being if you are at risk, and seeking consent would be unreasonable or negatively impact our ability to help you.
We need to use your data to comply with our vital interests
We may share information about you externally (generally with law enforcement in an emergency), if it's necessary to protect your or another person's life and you cannot consent.
We need to use your data subject to consent
We’ll ask for your consent to:
tell you about our, or our partners, products and services by email or push notification if we think they’re of interest to you. You can unsubscribe from these by email or in the app (if you don't want to see lending promotions in the app, you can opt out in ‘Settings’)
help protect you against fraud by tracking the location of your phone if you've authorised it
share information, including special category data, about you with companies we work with when we need your permission (see ‘Who we share your data with’)
obtain details about other bank accounts you hold when you use our connected banks feature or connect using open banking
share your personal data with our third-party advertising services to show you more relevant advertising on non-Monzo sites and to measure the performance of the advertising. You can withdraw this consent at any time by turning off the “showing you relevant ads” setting in the Monzo app.
You can withdraw your consent to processing at any time either through the app, or contacting customer services. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing conducted prior to the withdrawal of consent.
Who we share your data with 🤝
Here we mean companies that help us provide services you use, and need to process details about you for this reason.
We share as little information as we can and encrypt and/or make it impossible for the recipient to identify you where possible (for example, by using a User ID rather than your name). These include:
companies that make our Monzo cards
card producers and networks
card processing partners
payment service providers for certain bank transfers
analytical, KYC and cyber security service providers that help us with identity verification or fraud checks
cloud computing power, storage and software providers
our business intelligence and analytics platform provider
companies that help us with functional analytics (to help us solve technical problems with the app, for example)
companies that help us with marketing (we won't share identifiable personal data with third parties for their own direct marketing unless you give us permission, and you can opt out any time)
information about you from some of our partners, which provides us with further insights to suggest features and products you'd find useful. You have the right to object to this processing and can do so by turning off personalised marketing in the app
software companies that we use to email you, or for processing and storing emails with you
companies that help us with customer support
your trusted contact, so that they can review your transactions
companies that offer benefits or rewards through special programmes you sign up to in the app
digital wallet providers
companies that print written statements and notices
companies that manage our CCTV and security if you visit our offices.
Anyone you give us permission to share it with
We tell you in the app when we need your consent to share your data with:
companies that introduce their own services via the Monzo app
other customers you want to set up joint Monzo accounts with
other apps
other banks if you use account switching or aggregation services
people you've asked to represent you, like solicitors and debt management companies
third-party advertising services to show you relevant ads on non-Monzo sites, who may use your data for their own purposes and in accordance with their own privacy policies, which are listed here.
Law enforcement and other external parties
We may share information about you with:
authorities that spot and stop financial crime, money laundering, terrorism and tax evasion if the law says we have to, or if it's necessary for other reasons
the police, courts or dispute resolution bodies if we have to
local health authorities, such as Adult Social Services, to safeguard your wellbeing
other banks to help trace money if you're a victim of fraud or other crimes, or if there's a dispute about a payment
any other third parties where necessary to meet our legal obligations.
Other Monzo Group companies
The Monzo Group is made up of different companies, this includes: Monzo Bank Holding Group Limited, Monzo Bank Europe Designated Activity Company, Monzo Bank Limited and Monzo Inc. To provide you with our products and services your data may be shared with:
Monzo Group employees located in the United States of America and the United Kingdom
Monzo Group processors.
Additional Monzo Services ⭐️
Open Banking
With your permission, we access and store specific details about accounts you hold with other banks. If you don't give us consent to access an account, we may not be able to offer you open banking services.
When you give us consent to access details about accounts you hold with other banks we collect:
full legal name of any account holders and status (open/closed)
your international bank account number (IBAN)
your account balance
details of transfers in the last 13 calendar months. This includes transaction amounts, currencies, exchange rates, merchants and information about people who've paid you.
We consider the information we get about non-Monzo accounts you've connected with valid for 30 days.
In certain circumstances you may be able to initiate payments to your Monzo account using Open Banking.
Under 16s Accounts
If you open an Under 16s account as a parent/guardian of a child, we will store the child’s data as well as your own. We will keep a record of how you and the child use the account in line with our legal and regulatory obligations.
If you contact Monzo about the child, we will keep a record of your conversation against your and the child’s customer profiles.
To view the privacy notice for Under 16s, please see here.
How long we keep your information 📁
We’ll keep your information for up to 7 years after your account closes, in case we need to respond to a legal claim. In some circumstances, like cases of anti-money laundering or fraud, we may keep data longer if we need to (that’s in our legitimate interest) and/or the law says we have to.
To work out how long we keep different categories of data, we consider why we hold it, how sensitive it is, how long the law says we need to keep it for, and what the risks are.
Non - Monzo Customers
Monzo may collect data about you even if you are not a Monzo customer. This might be if you use our website, pay or get paid by a Monzo customer, or are named in an insurance policy.
The information we hold about you, and how we use it 👀
We may collect information about you when:
you use our website or you interact with our social media pages
you pay a Monzo customer
a Monzo customer pays you
when you are named as a beneficiary on a Monzo policy
when you contact Monzo
you are added to Monzo Split.
The information we might collect and hold about you includes:
your name
your identity documents
your contact details, such as your email address, phone number and address
payment details including card details, transactions details and any references
your cookie and tracking preferences
interactions you have had with Monzo
your social media handles and posts
Monzo Splits that you are added to
tab notification settings
bills that you upload
payment details.
Our reasons for using special category information
We may need to process sensitive information about you that data protection laws call ‘special category data’. This is information that can reveal a person's:
mental or physical health
racial or ethnic origin
political opinions
religious or philosophical beliefs
trade union membership
genetic or biometric data (if used for identification purposes)
information about sex life or sexual orientation.
Data Protection laws say we need a second lawful basis to use special category data. This can be: explicit consent, exercising legal rights in connection with an employment relationship, protecting vital interests, establishing, defending or exercising legal claims or reasons of substantial public interest.
We process special category data for reasons such as to:
adhere to regulations
prevent fraud.
To process special category data we rely on substantial public interest, such as to authenticate your identity using biometric data.
Automated decision making
We sometimes make decisions without a human using automated decision making.
Some examples of where we do this include deciding if we need to take action, like freezing a transaction or account because we suspect fraud or money-laundering, or other unlawful activity against Monzo or a customer. We decide this based on patterns in our data, like an account or policy being used in a way that fraudsters work.
If we make an automated decision or create a profile about you that significantly affects you, you have the right to request a manual review of that decision by a person. You can also share your perspective and challenge the outcome. You can ask us to review by contacting us using the details above.
Artificial intelligence
Sometimes we may use artificial intelligence to provide our products and services, which may include using different technologies, for example generative artificial intelligence models. This includes things like helping with customer service queries, detecting and monitoring fraud, helping make business decisions or improving marketing. We may also use your data to train and analyse the performance of our artificial intelligence models.
Our reasons for using your information 🔍
Data protection laws say we need to have a lawful basis for using your personal data. At least one of the following must apply: contractual or legal duty, legitimate interest, public interest, vital individual interest or consent.
We need to use your data for a contract to:
facilitate a payment
send you receipts of your payment
help you with your queries
ensure that we are talking to the right person
supply you with services.
We need to use your data to comply with our legal obligation to:
prevent illegal activities such as financial crime
keep records of information we hold about you in line with legal requirements
adhere to banking laws and regulations (these mean we sometimes need to share customer details with regulators, tax authorities, law enforcement or other third parties)
detect and monitor fraud and other crimes.
When it’s in our ‘legitimate interest’
We use your data for our legitimate interests or those of a third party. This means using data in a way that you might expect us to, for a reason which is in your and/or our (or a third party’s) interest and which doesn’t involve overriding your rights. Details of the processing of your data on the basis of legitimate interests are set out below.
Such legitimate interests may include:
analytics to help us solve problems with services you use
product and service development to deliver you the better offerings
requesting feedback if you’ve shown interest in a service
testing third party services through our user research initiatives
helping to respond to customer service queries
improving marketing.
When you give us your consent
With your consent we are able to do things such as:
share your story
answer any surveys, take part in research or prize draws
tell you about products and services through channels such as social media, depending on how you interact with Monzo
exclude ads by sharing limited data with third parties
track, analyse and improve Monzo based on how you interact with ads and Monzo accounts.
You can withdraw your consent to processing at any time by contacting customer services. Such withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of the processing of your data prior to the withdrawal of consent.
Who we share your data with 🤝
Companies that give services to us
Here we mean companies that help us provide services and need to process details about you for this reason, such as:
cloud computing power, storage and software providers
our business intelligence and analytics platform providers
companies that help us with functional analytics (to help us solve technical problems with the website, for example)
software companies that we use for emailing you, or for processing and storing email communications with you
companies that help us with customer support if you reached out to Monzo
our insurance providers and other third companies that give us benefits.
Social media companies
We may share hashed versions of the email address and phone number you give us with social media companies, other communication platforms, and analytics and search engine providers.
Law enforcement agencies
We may share information about you with:
authorities that spot and stop financial crime, money laundering, terrorism and tax evasion if the law says we have to, or if it’s necessary for other reasons
the police, courts or dispute resolution bodies if we have to
local health authorities, such as Adult Social Services, to safeguard your wellbeing
other banks to help trace money if you’re a victim of fraud or other crimes, or if there’s a dispute about a payment
any other third parties where necessary to meet our legal obligations.
We also may share your details with our regulators if required.
Anyone you give us permission to share it with
We may share your data:
on social media platforms
with journalists
with third-party advertising services to show you relevant ads on non-Monzo sites, who may use your data for their own purposes and in accordance with their own privacy policies, which are listed here.
Other Monzo Group companies
The Monzo Group is made up of different companies, this includes: Monzo Bank Holding Group Limited, Monzo Bank Europe Designated Activity Company, Monzo Bank Limited and Monzo Inc. To provide you with our products and services your data may be shared with:
Monzo Group employees located in the United States of America and the United Kingdom
Monzo Group processors.
How long we keep your information 📁
We’ll keep your information for 6 years in case we need to respond to a legal claim. In some circumstances, like cases of anti-money laundering or fraud, we may keep data longer if we need to (that’s in our legitimate interest) and/or the law says we have to.
To work out how long we keep different categories of data, we consider why we hold it, how sensitive it is, how long the law says we need to keep it for, and what the risks are.
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