I’m very disappointed with the move to charge fees for withdrawing from ATMs abroad. It was the primary reason why I took out the card.
My own bank offers better online banking now, plus a zero fees’ foreign transactions at the same Mastercard rates (but alas no ATM free withdrawal). They also pay 1.5% on balances up to £20K.
It seems that Starling still offers ATM withdrawals for free so I will apply for one of their cards, but before I leave Monzo are there any benefits to staying now?
Since Monzo blocked actual thread concerning their suicidal idea to charge 3% above 200gbp (I can see why, seeing the outrage of their customers) on any foreign withdrawal, I will just add my 5 cent here. I was with Monzo since it was still called Mondo; I appreciate the idea, the execution, i love the app, the bold card design. Their card helped me A LOT in Japan, HK, Spain and a couple other places. Sadly, in places like Japan, cash is king. You are guaranteed to withdraw more than 200GBP. Honestly, when you are anywhere abroad, 200GBP is nothing. You will cross this limit very fast. I already signined up with Starling to diversify and avoid the charges. Its sad because I was a strong ambassador or Monzo among all my friends. I guess paradise could not last too long.
The outrage of their customers appears to be roughly limited to the people that use Monzo exclusively for cash ATM withdrawals - personally Im not outraged - I accept ATM withdrawals cost Monzo money for their customers convenience _ I personally don’t have a problem paying for the privilege of good exchange rate if I chose to withdraw over £200 / month in cash - it will cost me £3 for every £100 over the ‘free’ limit that I chose to withdraw - yes I know some countries run on cash and don’t offer POS terminals - tough - its your choice to go to these cash economies
I holiday 4 or 5 times a year in Europe and haven’t withdrawn more than roughly £200 on those holidays combined and still received an excellent POS rate with no charges
Starling will be no different from Monzo when the reach critical numbers - you will make the most of the free lunch and move on to another starting card supplier - which is your right - obvs - enjoy , it really doesnt concern you how the supplier makes a profit and offers a superior product as long as you get free cash - great
Had they gone with the 1%/2% option that most closely reflected what they said withdrawals cost them in Europe/Rest of World then fair enough. However as both a shareholder and a card holder since Mondo days I think they have shot themselves in the foot. And while the 3% is expected to cover costs up to and above the £200 threshold, the actual impact of that threshold is yet to be known. Heavy use of the card just for withdrawals up to the £200 without the customer reaching the 3% fee and hence contributing to covering Monzo’s costs is likely to mean Monzo not recouping as much as they anticipated. From a business planning perspective a fee without a free allowance avoids issues of the card being used solely within that allowance and Monzo remaining seriously out of pocket. It will now be interesting to watch Monzo from afar while using Starling or Monese.
it will, and as the high cash users switch to Starling , lets see how quickly Starling reign in their high ATM withdrawal fees - as they surely will - yes they will get lots of new users , maybe mostly from Monzo , but they will cost them exactly the same as they cost Monzo on their free lunches - its unsustainable as a business model- and once they have had their free lunch and Starling put fees on their cash withdrawals they will move on to the next free offer- Monzo won’t have gained income for product development and neither will Starling
People opening Mondo knew about those and other costs up front. When opening such a complex thing as bank, they knew this is one of the cost they will have to consider. It could’ve been covered by customers or covered from the profit bank makes by re-investing our money. I would much rather like to see them being open, honest and transparent about what is achievable and what is not, from the very beginning. Luring in people to reach “critical numbers” only to then start charge people is neither nice nor transparent; If anything, the new breed of banks, from brand point of view, was suppose to be exactly that: honest and transparent. Different from the old banks, hidden fees, increases after you sign up, small print. No wonder people get outraged. I am also not surprised by being passive aggressively “corrected” by a guy above, who has a personal finance stake in Monzo.
I have a personal financial stake in Monzo also - I disagree with you about Monzo not being open about the fees - they in fact couldn’t have been more open, they stated that a few users were costing them a lot in FX fees on cash withdrawals and it was unsustainable - they then asked the community to select which fees they wanted , opening the charges up to a public vote - maybe the wrong answer was achieved - I swapped my vote from 3 to 1 - but you cannot seriously accuse them of not being open and transparent - nobody is forcing you to use Monzo - you obvs don’t like the new fee structure because it affects you personally - as I said it doesnt affect me that much - horses for courses - I want Monzo to succeed in what they are trying to do - I am willing to pay for that if the choice is paying a few quid for over £200/ month ATM withdrawals or Monzo going bust because I chose to withdraw all my holiday money in cash or I chose to live abroad and use Monzo solely for cash withdrawals
They are? When did your legacy bank poll you for your opinion on their charging structure. The free withdrawals was never envisioned as a way for people to rinse their card for ATM withdrawals - once this became clear they readjusted their expectations and asked the community for the best solution.
I have made up my mind. When you quote that post of mine under a Joint Accounts thread it was answering a poster as to what Monzo would be doing…it did not say I agreed with what they would be doing. But instead of posting my opinion I gave a neutral answer as the primary thread was about Joint Accounts and too strong an opinion on the 3% fee may have taken that thread off at a tangent
I do not feel it was bait and switch. The prepay was just to test systems prior to rolling out the bank account. The pricing estimates had been done for 8,000 or 80,000 beta testers not 400,000 card holders. Having had such a massive take up escalated their charges beyond all planned estimates. That is why they needed to take action.
and in fact they have given all users about 2 months notice of the new charges coming into effect - so users could make their minds up as to whether they want to accept the new fee structure or make alternative arrangements so it really is a pointless continual conversation - if the users that cost Monzo money try to “game” the system and still only withdraw cash up to the 200 limit with no other transactions , Monzo will be aware of who they are and take whatever action they deem appropriate
