What about an initial £600 a year fee free every year? £50 a month rolling? If you go away every month you still get a long term reward and if you go away once a year you also get the same reward?
Anything after that is a flat 2-3% fee.
I think it’s better to offer this option and expect people to use it rather than offer something you know most people aren’t going to make full use of.
For us as customers voting on proposals for fees yes it makes a difference knowing the impact of our withdrawals on Monzo and hence if the suggested fees are reasonable or not
Why should they have benefits held back? Because they are using the card as it was agreed?
I do not understand the logic of punishing users because they are withdrawing abroad, when it was one of the great points of having a Monzo card.
My thoughts are that the allowance needs to be an annual one rather than a monthly one. I wouldn’t be travelling abroad more than once or twice (at a push three) times a year. Alternatively a rolling period of a quarter (3 months). I’d also be more inclined towards a flat fee rather than a percentage
The idea of this should be to discourage the sorts of customers that are causing you the excessive charges rather than penalise everyone else, so I do agree that a greater control is needed.
It’s concerning that these are the actual charges that ATM providers charge!! What a sad state of affairs. Money is money.
Some European countries are more into cards than others. In scandinavia it would be more than fine, Sweden is basically cashless anyway! But I was recently in Sardinia and very few places accepted card. Also quite a lot of places in Germany you wouldn’t be able to use your card. I’m not sure how this helps other to make things more complex, but I guess for these reasons option 3 makes most sense, because then you can save your cash withdrawals for when you go to countries where you need it most! Although I also think it could be an annual allowance so you could save it up for your holidays (unless you are lucky enough to go on holiday every month!) - but keeping track of it then could be harder?
that is a novel idea…+1 for originality
Annual free allowance of £500-£1000 would be much more preferable than a monthly limit.
I think it’s great you’re giving people a choice, however at present- the most popular option number three makes no sense to me at all. What makes total sense- is if there’s fees you have to pay as a bank, and can’t offset them or absorb them anymore, then pass them to us the customer without preload and I can’t see how anyone can be overly upset or argue with that. In other words option 1. I travel a lot, and I’ve used the Monzo card in many countries. Yes of course I’d like to have zero fees, but to call overseas ATM withdrawals “an abuse of the system” is a bit daft when this information has only just become apparent to us. And if you offer a great card with free capabilities then they’re going to get used.
Passing on the fees as they are seems as fair as possible to everyone involved in my opinion- 1% Europe, 2% worldwide. Option 2 seems a slight compromise that’s a little irritating but no big deal ie why pay more if you only travel in Europe, why pay less if you’re outside of Europe… Option 3 seems only to benefit those that don’t go abroad much or if they do- spend very very little, and then not really benefit them either, because once they’ve withdrawn more than £200 they’ll pay close to what they would anyway with the standard fees.
When I receive a current account I’ll be using my Monzo card all the time, full time in England, for everything but at the moment I don’t, because it’s not as convenient as using my existing current account for obvious reasons- why move my money onto another card when it’s already in my primary account? So I guess I’d also say that I expect your data will change when everyone is on a current account because more will use it all the time and in the UK much much more. That’s what I’d expect, so would it be possible to re-evaluate this at the end of the year? Would it change things if much more people are using the card in the UK? Especially those that would otherwise only primarily use it outside the UK?
Ultimately, whichever option gets chosen, I’m very very happy with Monzo and the way this issue is being dealt with further reflects on the quality of your service. Personally I’d prefer you pass on the fees as they are. Then there’s no ambiguity, those that use the service pay the fee, those that don’t don’t and you’re not subsidising or penalising anyone to offset the behaviour of others. When I use the card abroad I’m often away for long periods and I withdraw cash so I’d like to pay the fees I accrue so it’s not unfair to others. With this information about bank fees- I am one of the people that are costing Monzo money, but- with a current account, I will not only use the card abroad but all the time, all day every day. And- I’d like to pay my fees at exactly the rate they cost so it’s fair to others and to me.
I understand your point and I think the most reasonable one is the monthly option between those three but a higher allowance or a yearly allowance would be much nicer as in some countries, like Portugal, Greece, Thailand, and some other Asian countries, cash is still used a lot. I understand monzo wanting to limit and find a fair compromise but it has to be competitive with other providers as well don’t you think? Especially because 3% on withdrawals would probably exceed what I would pay with my credit card which is extortionate I think.
Because it would make them want to use the account as their main account. A lot of banks to this. If you have a certain amount of DDs or pay a certain amount in you get cashback.
Monzo doesn’t have cash to give away right now so encourage customers to use it as their main account.
My option 4 would be to cancel the cards of those who solely use the card for the free international withdrawals and if possible charge them a fee to cover what they’ve cost you.
I also like the idea that someone commented where if the majority of your spending is done domestically (say 90+% for instance) then get free withdrawals, and work it down like that.
I don’t think that allowing £200 free a month would work unless as if you’re going somewhere for a week or more you’re likely to need to withdraw more than £200 in cash. Maybe the you could accrue the £200/month (up to a maximum amount) for every month you’re an active Monzo user (‘active’ to be defined by minimum spending perhaps?).
It seems no-one can offer free out-of-area ATM withdrawals for a sustained period. Look at Supercard (travelex) - when it launched (Beta) it was free. When it released, they added charges (although less than competitive options) Then all of a sudden, it was dropped completely. “When something looks too good to be true, it usually is…”
I completely agree, especially the full time current account in England. We don’t use it now as it is not convenient and there are limitations but using the card abroad is not an abuse of the system because it was promoted that way at the beginning. I would love to make monzo my main bank account in England but it is not easy as there are still serious limitations. I think an allowance (either monthly or quarterly or yearly) is needed to keep monzo an attractive alternative to everyone. I am very happy with monzo too, the quality of the service is unbeatable and the chat customer support is great. And going back to the ATM withdrawals abroad, of course people prefer to pay by card when travelling than withdrawing cash if it is not needed but in some countries there is no choice and cash is the only option.
I completely agree but a £500 yearly would be too low considering £200 monthly times 12 comes to a much higher allowance.
or Option 4 a monthly fee of say £5 entitling you to certain benefits such as 5 free ATM withdrawals a month and cheaper SEPA transfers if/when Monzo integrate Azimo or similar into their Marketplace
But if I was having benefits held back because I was withdrawing abroad, and had to do things to get these back I wouldn’t want to use the card, it would push me away more than anything.
Is this the thin end of fee wedge
If Monzo keeps loosing money. When Monzo starts to make money will the free worldwide atm transaction be reinstated?
To bridge the gap for the moment I suggest an annual outside
Europe cap of £1000? per year, atm free withdrawl, enough for most “holidays” in cash countries. Then 3% above this rate. Annual allowance already fits with Monzo model.
Your target audience is smartphone users, the same people who have desire to travel to distance lands. To punish all for a minority is what banks do now, Monzo is suppose to be different.
This is Monzo first crossroads with fees, the free atm withdrawals was a BIG selling point. If this proposal is only to help cash flow now and slow the loss, you must when you start making money reinstate the free world ATM withdrawals with a heathly annual cap. If this happens its the kind of action that would make Monzo truly a different bank that rewards customer who stick by the startup bank through the lean times when it temporally charges or changes one of its biggest rewards.
Do not become just another bank, which removes the good bits. Hope its not the thin end of the wedge
Revolut started with £500 monthly limit but after few months they decreased it to £200 a month. That thing dont work for people who travel abroad only 1-2 times a year. I got Monzo card because Revoluts limit was not enough and I had a backup. So main reason I got Monzo was no fees. No point for me to keep it. Or other option is to create many Revoluts/Monzos cards for family members and use them as they were yours. Dont go that way Monzo please. Annual limit would be better, something around 12x £200 a year should do.
Agreed- an annual credit may make more sense to this end
My 4th option would be a fluctuating % according to how many times a user actually withdraw money outside UK. Let s say i only use the card on line and once a year i use it to withdraw maybe i should pay less than those who withdraw more frequently. And yes, you guys are great cos of these “fees” don t become normal, stay extraordinary!!!