To be honest if Monzo start charging I wouldn’t be taking my Monzo card abroad. There are plenty of other options to spend your money. I don’t use my card abroad much at all but to be restricted to £200 a month is just pointless and no use to any customer.
I actually am having doubts on going ahead with the Monzo current account now if you U-Turn on fees so easily.
There could be a way to collaborate with a few other independent financial services providers and share the costs but I’m not an expert on financial services, or the relationships between the providers. Not suggesting it’s the solution as I think the 3 Monzo listed work perfectly, but it’s just an idea. Nothing crazy about that.
Hi and thanks for your reply
You’re quite right that we’re not entitled to free access to money; I just think that as a baseline it would be good practice for the whole financial industry to agree that in today’s hi-tech world, with a robust infrastructure already in place, access to ones own money (not credit or any other instrument) should be free. Thereafter everything else is going to cost anyway, including any other services we require from the banks.
That’s essentially what happens in the UK now, with free withdrawals at ATMs and inside banks. I’m sure there are ‘costs’ involved in delivering your crisp wedge at UK ATMs as well, but they are absorbed/offset/amortised via other services. So why not worldwide?
Remember about five or ten years ago when UK banks were talking about charging for ATM withdrawals and there was a public outcry? If we demand it, it will come. Alternatively if we acquiesce I can eventually see UK ATMs charging as well.
Anyway, its just an interesting point, and I’m aware many won’t agree, but I feel quite strongly about it, hence why I tend to transfer my business to whomsoever will allow this facility. I love Monzo but I can’t deny that if/when ATM charges come in and they start to affect me deleteriously, I will be signing up to other providers/banks and using a mix of cards/options to minimise or prevent costs for access to my cash. Yet I will happily pay for other services Monzo might offer, if I need them.
I voted for option 3. I usually sort out my cash before I go abroad but sometimes you just need the extra from an ATM and 200 per month suits me fine.
Having said that, maybe it’s possible to guarantee costs are covered by customer loyalty. I suggest Monzo should encourage the behaviour that suits their business plan (for example: using the card for x transactions per month or having at least x amount of money go through the account per month, etc.) by offering incentives such as free ATM withdrawals if these conditions are met.
In Europe it is fine, but I may well be in that 15% that abused the card when I went to Bali earlier this year. Only two places accepted cards - a pharmacy and a bakery. Everywhere else is cash.
I’m happy to report that Monzo worked flawlessly for cash withdrawals and I even converted two of my friends that I was travelling with over to Monzo as they were impressed by the free withdrawals. I suspect that I took out closer to £500 in a month rather than £200.
For this reason, I think a £1000 annual limit before charges kick in would be my preferred option.
It would be great if ATMs did not charge at all, but I guess it’s easier said than done to work out the foreign charges. I’m not sure how it works in detail, but I can’t imagine having foreign banks charge Monzo little or no fees at all when users use their ATM since they have their own operating costs to cover.
I think a lot of other users will probably do the same as you and sign up to a mix of options to minimise costs- and that’s fine! I think others have suggested similar fintech banks like Revolut (also capped at £200 free), Starling, N26- and the Halifax Clarity.
Of the options listed, the first seems the most equitable. Although to avoid the need to revisit this issue as pricing structures evolve, it might be easier to have pricing for within the EU (were pricing is likely to be regulated, consistent & stable) & the rest of the world… notwithstanding Brexit!
The only other point I would add in the pursuit of keep Monzo free for the majority is an allowance of free withdrawals for emergencies. Say 1-4 per annum which would need to be physically pre activated within the app to make the next withdrawal free. Although whether this doable from a tech point of view is a little beyond my capabilities, without impacting adversely on operating costs.
You make a good point,although when we leave the EU the financial rules for us in the UK might change,but I guess Monzo have to decide which option to take as the situation is now.
Sad to see that the prevailing answer so far is worst than even Revolut (!). For many of us, travelling away from Brexit-land is actually a necessity for business travel, visiting friends, as well as longer holidays. There are many different reasons for which one may not want to use foreign-travel credit cards to withdraw money. If Monzo really wants to be the best current account for a billion people, they’d probably have to think a little more than going down this path -my two cents.
I selected Option 3 as a basis but if I had to think of an Option 4 I’d think it’d be a good idea to have more than one current account that suits individual customer’s needs. For frequent travellers, perhaps an annual fee to use the account and for a non-traveller account no fees for UK use but then a pay-as-you-go fee if they do happen to go abroad. The fees should be set in such a way that both account users will benefit depending on their personal circumstances.
Option 4: Could the amount of free cash withdrawal abroad be linked to how much you have used your card in the UK? – This would prevent a high percentage of users only using the card abroad. So, for example, you can withdraw cash equivalent to 25%, or 50% (or whatever Monzo think you can afford to support) of your previous month’s usage in the UK. So, say you have made £1000 of transactions on the card in the UK in the past month, you can withdraw £250 worth of cash from an ATM abroad. After that, fees at 2%. If you haven’t made any transactions, fees would be at 2%.
Is there a reason why Monzo couldn’t just ask each individual consumer which pricing plan they want at set up? If all three are suitable in Monzo’s eyes (as they suggested them), any reason they couldn’t have it as a setting (maybe changeable once a year)? That way, everyone sort of wins. I feel like I am missing something here but not sure what
I like this as option 4 preferably. Option 3 otherwise. It’s stops abuse, encourages card rather than cash use when it’s an option and hits the bigger rather than smaller spenders who are the ones who probably the ones running up the bigger charges in the 1st place. I should add, this was too an early post of combine 3 and 1.
And if UK banking suffers after Brexit will Monzo decide to change things again?
Hi, daft question. I’t doesn’t seem obvious how I ‘vote’. I’ve read the rational and can see votes so far aand can reply to things. Can this be made more obvious or link added?
Scroll right up to the top of this page, or click here!
You need to hide the results to vote 
Thanks. I couldn’t work out before I was supposed to click on what looked like bullet points to me before. Voted now
Just a thought. Which option would @anon91821566 and the Monzo team opt for? After all, they are Monzo customers aswell.
Tom voted option 1. You can see that in the results.