Unfortunately, any such regulation would be likely an EU thing. If the UK does end up leaving the EU, we are unlikely to continue benefiting from such regulation. I fully expect that the same thing will happen with roaming data and mobile phone charges.
Hi All,
Thought I should make a community account in order to vote and supply a potential idea.
First of all I’d like to say I love that this has been passed on to the community to help decide as I think it will make a huge impact in the future of the business. I myself voted for Option 1 to have 1% in Europe and 2% rest of the world but only because other wasn’t an “other” option.
Before proceeding I’d like to confess that I am in fact one of those members that uses the card while going abroad but not in the UK. Please don’t shoot be for it but I do like rinsing the Amex new members reward to rake in airmiles.
Secondly I’d like to highlight what Revolut currently charges below:
Revolut
Free up to £200/ €200/ Fr200/ 800zl (or currency equivalent) per month. A 2% fee applies thereafter
So from what the community has currently voted we would in fact be worse off than using Revolut so if going down this route I would urge that it is at least matched.
Now enough about problems and let’s look at solutions.
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The current solution of £200 could be enhanced by making it £400 over 60 days. Let’s face it most people won’t be abroad every month so allowing people to worry less about going over the 200 limit and being charged (just a thought)
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I unfortunately don’t have enough knowledge of the Monzo business to know the main source of the revenue stream but as it’s a Bank I assume it is from people keeping money in “the bank”. Therefore why not offer a solution where if people start paying in their salaries into their Monzo card (set what minimum threshold you feel is fair £1k+ maybe) they may start using it as their main card. If that’s the case I’d also recommend an option to change card colour to premium associated colours like gold or black. By paying in the minimum every month (and not being allowed to transfer money straight out after) you can then increase this threshold to lets say £500. Again still not unlimited because that leaves it open for people to abuse the system.
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This option might be going against initial principles but have you guys looked into providing a “Premium” account? The services you can provide on this can range significantly but simple things like £10-20 per month which may include Phone/portable devices, travel insurance, breakdown cover, discount at certain chains… Again this wouldn’t be a new idea in terms of banking but it would keep an additional revenue stream coming in (assuming profit will be made from providing a partner solution). Then again increase premium holders to £500 per month or even more depending on cost/pricing. For reference I keep my blue amex (no yearly charge) simply because I have American Express my essentials on it. That insures all the portable items in my household. So for £16.99 all mobile phones, computers, sunglasses, headphones, watches, etc are covered up to £1,500 for everyone I live with (cost can be shared
).
Sorry if a bit long winded but thought I should give my two pence on this. I completely agree that the cost can’t continue to be absorbed by Monzo but by highlighting the revolut rate I hope we can do one better on them while continuing to grow and expand the business.
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Agree but with a maximum of one month roll over.
Me, so i answered the poll for me.
I think I would go for option three 
Not sure £2 would cover the costs. Unless it was being charged to everyone every month (going against the “free” aspect of Monzo) This would also impact the people that don’t use it for traveling and in fact use it for what it was build to be a user friendly finance tracking platform.
There’s one thing I don’t quite understand about this topic. I was in Spain until a couple of days ago. I took cash out of an ATM once during my visit, and the ATM charged me EUR 1.80 on top of the amount that I withdrew (with my Monzo card). Is it the case that some banks have the effrontery to charge me for taking money out of their machine, and also to charge my bank / card provider for the privilege of letting my use their machine?
See my post here explaining the flaw in the maths. For that small monthly fee, you need most people jumping to premium; even though only 13% are generating the costs.
Monzo’s benefits are also meant to be the future marketplace, better spend tracking/budgeting tools, API access, fair costs etc.
The cost can be debated. Principle is a premium fee for those for whom the primary standout monzo feature is free withdrawals abroad.
See my previous reply. I’m debating principle not detail 
And I’m debating that 87% won’t pay so 13% get something cheaper
It’s £8.63 per month for the 13% to pay their share, if you want a figure.
Option 4: free withdrawals if you keep a minimum amount of money on your Monzo card per month or if you use Monzo on a minimum number of transactions per month.
I assume ATM charges have some sort of fixed rate part - so per pound withdrawing say GBP 10 of currency is more costly that GBP 100 - so perhaps option 3 could be made more attractive by applying a rate to low value withdrawals too which could allow the normal percentage rate to be lower
Another question though - is the “dirty 13%” actually the same people - or are you saying statistically over all transactions cost is from 13% - so it could be different people - because obviously we are not all abroad all the time so if the later then it doesn’t really identify “overuse”.
When I first read the blog post and looked at the options I was drawn to option 3 as this would be fairer to the customers who would genuinely benefit from an allowance to use on holiday. However, I’ve been thinking about this some more. Monzo don’t set the charge - it is applied by the local provider. If you don’t like the idea of foreign cash withdrawal charges there’s no point in having a go at Monzo (as some have done already in this blog), write to your MEP and actively campaign for zero charges for cash transactions across Europe - just in the same way that mobile phone operators have been forced to remove roaming charges in Europe, we could campaign to have banks remove the ATM charges [seen as we are all part of Europe. Oh. We got voted out].
I think there should be a standard rate applied (Option 1). It has been great being able to withdraw cash from the ATM without charges - thanks Monzo - but I agree this is not a sustainable business model going forward. Don’t blend the rate as in option 2 as this isn’t fair to customers using their card in Europe.
This to me sounds like a fair use of the card and should drive up the use of card payments rather than cash.
But I do like the idea of a reward system whereby loyalty - using your Monzo card for card payments in the UK, and in fact anywhere in the world - is rewarded with zero ATM charges for a percentage of cash versus card payment. Do Monzo make money from each card payment? I’m aware that retailers get charged a fee, something like 1.5%, by the merchant for each card payment (we all know this from trying to book an EasyJet or a Ryanair flight).
So, my option 4 would be… and this is where the number crunchers at Monzo could advise better, but say for every £10 you spend on the card entitles you to £2 of charge-free ATM withdrawals in Europe and £1 in the rest of the world. The more you use your Monzo card the more you can benefit from zero ATM charges. If you’re only using Monzo for ATM withdrawals then you pay the fee.
2 Likes
Give customers the option to choose between plans. Obviously you’ve vetted out each option to cover your costs… some ways may work better for some than others… it may cost you more to implement this, but it will appeal to the greater audience and will result in more growth. Thanks for considering my suggestion.
Oh blimey - you miss the point !!!
Good post. I agree with all of this.
It is a competitive market out there and, while I realise that Monzo needs to ensure the business is sustainable, I for one am part of a fickle bunch who will happily switch services if there is a cheaper alternative. At the least, Monzo needs to match it’s closest established rivals like Revolut.
1 Like
If you want to make things overly complicated for users and punish people who only use the card sporadically… Lets keep it simple
I am one of those who signed up on the basis of free overseas cash withdrawals and my first trip to Greece was a revelation; I ended up needing more cash than expected as so few establishments took cards. The decision to use Monzo for this purpose was based on Martin Lewis’s recommendation (moneysavingexpert.com). At the time I didn’t think about (more accurately did not KNOW about) the costs to the card issuer for these transactions, just that the cost to me was less than my bank’s debit card (2% + £1 for cash in Europe).
However I fully subscribe to the notion that a business should, as a minimum, cover all it’s costs an am not averse to any system which restores that balance. Simply put I will continue to use whatever system costs me least.
So either a one off charge or a 1% or £1 charge-per-use would not deter me.
1 Like