ATM Fees Abroad: Asking the Monzo Community to decide pricing

The team has already said that they’re typically charged a percentage not a fixed / flat fee -

So you are now saying that there should be a fixed cost per transaction?

Tom said in answer to a question at an Open Evening that they are typically charged a combination of charges for each withdrawal of which some are flat fee and other a % so they face both charges when a withdrawal is made. I take Tom’s word on that.

Do you have a reference for that? :wink:

No offense to @tom but personally, I’d rather go with the statement from the member of the team who may be closer to this process, that we have in writing & that’s more recent. Perhaps the latest analysis dug up some more detail on this.

No. I have always said that Monzo and Tom have said that the fixed and proportional charges they get for ATM withdrawals abroad equate to approx 1% in Europe and 2% in rest of world.

I therefore support the proposal that reflects that reality.

I think option 3 is fair and that its is realistic that you would only withdraw £200 cash as you can use your card for most transaction nowadays

£200 free allowance per month is fine for those who go on a number of short holidays but not for those who may only go abroad a couple of times a year and withdraw a similar amount through foreign ATMs over a 12 month period. My wife and I have never holidayed abroad until this year when our son emigrated to California and got married. We can’t be popping over their for a weekend or a week every other month and would prefer to stay for a month when we do go. Why should we be penalised for withdrawing more than £200 in that month if we make no other foreign ATM withdrawals in the year?

Clearly for us option 2 would be the preferred approach and is the simplest to understand, but that feels unfair to those who travel mainly in Europe. Therefore I feel inclined to select option 1, or an option that provided a £2400 free allowance per calendar year. In fact, an annual allowance of £1,000 would probably be more than adequate.

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I was also happy with an averaged % fee in option 2 for ATM withdrawals.

1.5% outside the UK which is actually a fair rate.

I use my pre-pay card overseas mainly, but also in the UK for nights out and have just got the Monzo Debit which will be used in the UK and overseas.

While I support the costs being passed onto the end user at cost, if the system is being abused by some customers only using the card to benefit from fee free ATM use abroad, maybe the charges could be less for regular users, such as those that have salary paid directly into a Monzo account? Perhaps preferential rates could be given to investors such as myself who are helping to build this better bank for all?

Your blogpost is misleading. There are different cards offered by the big banks. For example the Halifax Clarity charges nothing for foreign ATM use if you are in credit - similar to Monzo currently. Barclaycard offer a card with a five-year fee-free foreign ATM usage, even using it post-paid.

By all means increase your charges, but when people check they will find you are not the cheapest option for overseas ATM usage.

There’s a potential that you’ve skipped a paragraph in the blog post…

Each of the options below is cheaper than the major banks we tried. With these options, it may be possible to find specific cards that offer cheaper withdrawals abroad (like Revolut, Starling and WeSwap) — our aim is not to always be the absolute cheapest on the market if it means we can’t build a sustainable business, but instead to find a fair way to pay this cost as part of the overall Monzo experience.

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As you know, plenty of users will end up paying a cost for using those credit cards. Since they’re credit cards, it’s not easy to compare them with the options mentioned in the blog post & explain how the charges work either. So I don’t think it was unreasonable not to mention them.

As for users finding other options, there’s only one other option that I know of that doesn’t charge any fees for foreign ATM withdrawals & isn’t a credit card. Can you see where this is going..?

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Yep, I’m in this boat too. Monzo is great for international use but if it was capped at £200/month I’d simply get rid of the Monzo card and go to an alternative from an established bank/building society.

I voted for option 3, but the idea of a fixed number for the year seems much more in line with the Monzo ethos. For those of us who don’t travel abroad regularly, knowing that a couple of trips a year will allow us to take out somewhere in the region of £400 during each trip would fulfill these needs and push the costs onto where they’re being incurred — people withdrawing thousands of pounds worth of foreign currency on a regular basis.

For what it’s worth I think the notion of treating people differently based on some time or salary-based hierarchy is a bit arbitrary. If you take significantly over a thousand pounds from overseas ATMs it’s not unfair to recover costs, which presumably are far less than most money exchangers anyway.

So you only want customers who can’t get regular credit cards? Ok, maybe you don’t need my custom.

Yes. This makes complete sense. Which established bank offer you these great rates on ATM withdrawals abroad?

To be clear, I don’t work for Monzo.

And my point was that some people who use the credit cards that you’ve mentioned will still end up paying charges for these payments. That’s how the credit card providers are covering the cost of the charges that ATM providers charge & making a profit. So it’s not accurate to suggest that they are a ‘free’ solution.

I was not suggesting that Monzo should only appeal to people who can’t access credit cards.

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Barclaycard. Halifax. In fact, in my recent trip Barclaycard charged no fees and gave a better rate and also had no daily limits.

Sure, but it is very easy to avoid the charges. My point is very simple: if Monzo increases its charges then people will stop using Monzo.

Barclaycard is a credit card. Halifax - which account?

I was actually asking @k_getchell but appreciate your input too!