Would it be possible to look at a rewards based system to penalize that top 13% who are potentially using Monzo just as a travel card? Perhaps you need to make a certain number of ‘day-to-day’ transactions, i.e. at supermarkets, convenience stores, mobile phone top-ups etc, in order to ‘redeem’ overseas travel perks, or, something along the lines of your Monzo card has to be used 21 of the previous 30 days before the overseas transaction was made, in order to promote daily/cult-like monzo use and remove those who perhaps leave it in a drawer collecting dust until their next overseas voyage?
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Option 1, most of the posts here are along the lines of, brilliant option 3, £200 is enough for me so I continue to get it free, the problem with this is the income stream may well be small if you take that option because people will swap to other cards when they hit the £200 limit within the month and judging by the posts the majority of people here will continue to pay nothing, 3% moves you below the HSBC offering and within pence of Nationwide. The point is to have sustainability and remain competitive within the marketplace, which from your analysis of the big 6 you achieve by quite a margin undercut with the 1% / 2% model.
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I selected option 2 for the following reasons -
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A simple solution for a simple problem.
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Future proofing that will be required for navigating the uncertainty that is the UK leaving the EU.
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A flat rate is fair across the board for all users.
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A lot of European countries allow card usage for everything now. However the rest of the world still has a majoritavely cash based economy, higher fees for ATM withdrawals in these cash based economies is a large negative.
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Option 3 is not viable as any sensible customer who has done research will choose Revolut since it provides the exact same policy but with a 2% charge once you’re over the limit.
Generally I think this has been handled terribly. I respect the honest approach with coming forward to explain the decision you are trying to make. That respect does not extend to the fact that you’re letting a community of individuals with varying degrees of knowledge on the subject make a decision. I’m getting a bad case of Brexit déjà vu despite this being much smaller stakes.
You are the company trying to build a bank you’d be proud to call your own yet you aren’t able to make a decision that stays true to your values without putting it to a public forum. I have lost faith with this company and suspect I’ll be opting to use a different but similar provider shortly if the poll remains the same.
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Like a lot of others I am amoung the % who signed up from the recommendation of Money Saving Supermarket regarding how cost effective it is to use abroad. Throughout the times I have used Monzo it has been great. I truly believe that this is a really good business model.
Whilst I have used my card within the UK I don’t very often and admittedly did not consider (or was aware) of rising costs to the company which until now has been absorbed solely by Monzo.
Like most people I will continue to look for the most cost effective way of accessing my funds abroad and do hope that this will continue to be with Monzo.
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Monzo isnt accepted in many Dutch shops, so you’d be forced to take cash out… so I don’t entirely agree with point 4.
I’m not sure why this is relevant, you aren’t out of pocket by this change. Contrary to popular believe it’s completely acceptable to change one’s mind. Especially for what’s essentially a startup where decisions such as this are very important for laying the groundwork for the future of the business. You should think yourself lucky you’ve been given a choice to how you wish this to pan out.
Well, given they are registered with the FCA, I suspect it would be unwise for them to lie, it is in the handbook [1]. Plus they mentioned it in the e-mail they sent me and presumably the blog post too.
Ant
[1] COBS 2.1 Acting honestly, fairly and professionally - FCA Handbook
You should be carrying a backup card in the event it’s not accepted.
+1 this makes sense to me.
That’s the point of Monzo though - you get the best possible fee (the Mastercard rate) and get an instant notification so you know how many £’s you’ve spent, rather than just knowing you’ve spent a few of whatever currency you’ve taken out (you’d know it’s a percentage of the $100 you’ve withdrawn, but you’d need to sit and work out how that converts exactly).
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So you have three options that you have presumably modeled to show they would cover the costs - would it be too hard to have the option as an account setting - so you could choose the one that worked best for your personal circumstances
Rather than applying fees onto amount withdrawn per month, why not consider fees that are linked directly to activity? I.e 2 free cash withdrawals per month abroad and then 3% fee on any transactions thereafter.
There could still be a monetary cap on the 2 withdrawals (£400, for example) but it may deter those ‘abroad only users’ that are making frequent cash withdrawals. Some users may resort to ‘bulk withdrawals’ but this is true for option 3. I suspect this likely covers the majority of users and the ‘charge per transaction’ incurred by Monzo
You should be aware that Tom said the free limit would not be aggregated between months here, and also here.
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The modelling is probably based on all customers being on the same scheme.
Otherwise, everyone spending less than £200/month will pick Option 3, and others spending more will pick Option 1 or 2 depending on the balance of their EU and non-EU spend. Either way, it will ensure that overseas ATM fees continue to make a loss.
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Well, I think it’s within people’s capacity to understand these three options. But I am very worried that there is a perception that the fee-free value will aggregate over several months, which will not happen - Tom has said so here and here.
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Definitely option 2 - keep it simple! Can’t believe people are suggesting more complicated solutions but guess that’s because it would suit their particular needs. 1.5% is still going to be considerably cheaper than other options. I find that I get less and less cash out either in UK or abroad and probably £200 annually would suffice, so I would do well on third option but that won’t help Monzo!!!
You should use your brain and try to understand I am answering Monzo. I didn’t ask or care about your opinion.
OK - so can we see something similar to the existing limits where as they’re monthly / yearly, so for example say £300-400 per month limit, but no more than £1400-1500 per year. For me, I don’t go on holiday often, but would love to make use of this on the odd occasion it does happen.
Also posted on Facebook:
Option 4:
Up to x in a month: 0%
Over x but below y: the fee + .5%
Over y: the fee +1%
So similar to number 3, but don’t punish infrequent holiday makers. £200 probably isn’t enough in one month if you happen to be away on a (rare) foreign holiday for a couple of weeks.
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The simplicity of this will come down to user experience and how it’s implemented. More complex solutions don’t necessarily have to be hard for the user to understand. 
Wow, nice summary. Would be good if this was pinned to the top…