Am I able to use my UK monzo in the USA

[Kcb.99 (Kallum)]

Hi, just wondering if I am able to use my UK monzo in the US and if I need to edit my account or if there is any charges for using it. Thanks.

[ndrw]

Hello, welcome to the community. You may find these bits of info helpful:

Monzo: The Bank Card Made For Travel

Monzo in the USA [Wiki]

This is a wiki crowdsourced by the Monzo Community to help you travel with Monzo. Just like Wikipedia, anyone can edit it to help out others. If you have any tips or feedback for visiting the USA with Monzo, please feel free to edit this guide. You can also add a comment or question below — someone will then incorporate your comment into the main text below and then delete your comment. To create your own “Monzo in …” guide if one doesn’t already exist, just copy this template into a new post a…

You can use your card while abroad to pay in USD, Monzo will not add a fee on top of the MasterCard exchange rate. Just make sure to always pay in USD and not in GBP as the merchant’s conversion rate will almost always be worse.

You can also withdraw cash in a similar way up to your cash withdrawal allowance which you can see in app – Monzo won’t charge you for this (but the dispensing ATM may) unless you reach your withdrawal limit after which it’s 3% charge I believe

[Dex]

I first joined Monzo a few years ago specifically to use abroad, and was in the USA just a few weeks ago and used Monzo to pay for just about everything (even riding the subway in NYC). Now use it more widely as my main current account but can confirm it works a treat in the United States. Like nrdw said, be aware that the ATM operator may charge you for withdrawing cash, even though Monzo won’t. In New York there are some places that are much cheaper to use the cash machines than others (avoid big banks, try fast food restaurants like McDonald’s as they often have machines inside and charge about $1-$2 per withdrawal). Occasionally I found I had to enable the magnetic stripe on my Monzo card to use it (it is off by default I think - look in the settings in the app). Also had to “sign” using my finger as a pen on the card machine a few times instead of typing in my PIN. If you have a smartphone or watch with Apple Pay, for example, it’s often easier to use that rather than the card (as it is here in the UK). I’d still take a small amount of cash with you though - handy for tipping if you can’t add the tip to the bill. Hope that helps, and enjoy your trip!

[xnox]

Please note that there is also a separate bank Monzo US.

If you moved to the US and want a US account maybe Monzo US will be suitable for you if it supports all the things needed in the US. Like US wire transfers, US cheques, US Venmo, etc. I don’t know if Monzo US is or isn’t suitable for you.

[Kcb.99 (Kallum)]

Thanks for the useful information