I completely understand Monzo’s move to levy an ATM charge after first £200 is withdrawn abroad, but could Monzo not at least match or try to beat the 2% charge that Revolut imposes for this?! They are your direct competitors after all 
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they should have just charged the 1% or 2%…it was the free allowance that screwed it up
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No, they mentioned that in their first blog post on this, it wouldn’t cover their costs.
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.
Also, Revolut aren’t really a competitor at this point, they offer a very different service & the competition is the legacy banks 
@anon44204028 Revolut offer a free allowance too.
true, but while the 1% EU and 2% RoW option would have met your costs but also been competitive, the 3% option is uncompetitive and a turn off for customers who holiday instead of staycation
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I’ve literally just pointed out their acknowledgement of that in their blog post.
Monzo should be able to add more value in different ways. As we’ve said many times before, if this is enough to put users off Monzo, they’re probably not using the service in the way that it’s intended.
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I respectfully disagree, no fee is competitive with fee-free options, of which there are plenty. For fee-charging options, 3% is pretty fair - it has a reasonable margin, but no ridiculous charge like Lloyds’ fixed fee.
£200 of cash is more than plenty for the vast majority of holidays. More importantly, it fits in line with an amount that is an occasional abroad use as part of a more profitable overall usage mix.
In truth, I think a better option may be to not distinguish abroad usage at all long-term. How about a £250 ATM allowance worldwide?
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£200 may be OK for a single person on a trip but for a family on holiday with kids it may equate to £20-25 per person which is unlikely to be enough.
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In most countries that should be more than enough (also, £25 per person would be one card per eight people… that’s one big family sharing one account. I’d say at least £50 per person). There are exceptions, definitely, but there aren’t many countries where £50 of cash per person isn’t more than enough for a week or even two week holiday.
Completely disagree that Revolut isn’t a competitor?! It offers the same and other services that Monzo offers!! Also, I would strongly disagree that £200 is enough whilst on holiday, especially in more remote countries where it’s cash businesses you’re dealing with! That would be an allowance of around just £6.66 per day - please!!!
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- Revolut is a prepaid currency card (including cryptocurrencies now), Monzo is a current account. They’re indirect competitors, but not direct competitors.
- As I said, there are definitely exceptions (Japan is the number one I can think of, maybe Germany but I’ve heard it has got better). I said, and would stand by, the vast majority of holidays.
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and yep that’s right!I think it should be easier to view how much you have remaining, with a useful guide as to how much that is (roughly) in the local currency.
Shown at the top of the app would probably be ideal.
Also, is cashback at tills not charged? I know that you don’t differentiate cashback amounts in the app in the U.K., so it would seem that they would be free (although I’m not sure how prevalent cashback is abroad).
Liam
I assumed £25 per week i.e. £50 per fourtnight holiday, so for 4 people not 8
It’s worth noting, perhaps, that whilst Monzo may not charge a fee, 3% would be on the very low end of ATM DCC fees (4-10% are typical), so the odds of withdrawing in GBP being beneficial are practically nil.
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OK then, how does Monzo stack up against Starling in terms of ATM charges???
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I know you’re looking the obvious answer, but I’d argue that for most people (including myself, and I travel more than average, but not nearly as much as some) the answer is ‘they’re no different’. £200 is simply a massive amount of cash to withdraw. My total annual ATM withdrawals worldwide don’t usually come near that (they did last year, due to being in Japan and the Philippines - Japan and the Philippines are both quite cash-heavy, but PH is so cheap £200 would have been more than enough).
Nobody is the best or cheapest at everything, I much prefer the overall Monzo offering. Others are free to disagree! I’m glad there’s some real, meaningful competition in banking now.
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Sorry, but I completely disagree that £200 on a rolling 30 days is “massive amount of cash”, especially in cash heavy locations I travelled to around the world! Irrespective the 3% Monzo charge, versus the 0% of Starling is a significant difference!!!
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And there’s nothing stopping you from using Starling for your foreign ATM withdrawals while they’re offering them for free..
Just do a quick transfer of the money you need, withdraw the cash & you’re good to go 
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As I said, it really depends on perspective and needs. It isn’t a significant difference if you can’t imagine withdrawing anywhere near that much cash. From my perspective, it’s an enormous amount, far far more than I could imagine needing for almost any trip.
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Only if you go to a large city in a western country with high card acceptance. I can’t remember the last time I left the UK for more than a couple of days and didn’t need more than £200 in cash. For a trip next week, I will need more than that to pay for visas at border crossings.
That said, whilst I do think that the option they went with was the worst one, I don’t think it’s unreasonable or unfair. I’m happy to pay a reasonable amount for the privilege of having instant access to cash anywhere in the world (just think about how incredible it is that that is so simple these days). If I were otherwise happy with Monzo, this wouldn’t be a deal breaker. I can understand why it would be for some people though.
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