Glad to have an announcement, but also good to see a 2 month “notice period” as it were before it comes into effect.
I think it’d be nice to see a split of the actual amount of money withdrawn & the fee + the total added together.
In the example in the blog, I don’t think it adds up, but something like:
Exchange rate 1.00kn ~ £0.12
Withrdrawn: 600kn ~ £72.00
Fee: 3% = £ 2.13
The total would then be the total for the transaction line.
I’m sorry, cause I love Monzo. But you’ve got the worst rate among your competitors.
You’ve tricked your customers by comparing only the big banks, without considering what other competitive cards are doing.
Revolut: 200£ and after 2% Better than Monzo
N26: Always 1.7% Better than Monzo
Starling Bank: Unlimited free Better than Monzo
As we mentioned before, it may be possible to find specific cards that offer cheaper withdrawals abroad. 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 meet this cost as part of the overall Monzo experience.
They’re not trying to beat other banks, they’re building a sustainable bank - so that they don’t have to offer hidden charges or similar.
If you have an alternative, then feel free to switch to them. To me, the whole Monzo package is better than the competitors.
I still dispute the comment in Tristans recent blog “we wanted to work together with our community to come up with a solution that’s fair for everyone”
if you genuinely wanted the fair solution you would have adopted the 1%/2% model, but you wanted two things (a) to cover Monzo’s costs and (b) a polpulist solution. You have achieved that.
You have covered costs
Supported the popular solution
but NOT picked the fair solution
The whole MSE / Pre-paid Travel Card Users have spoken, pushing the vote in favour of what works for them and now we’re all stuck with it.
Joy.
3% isn’t competitive.
Even worse - They will all jump ship to the provider at the time with the cheapest, leaving actual Monzo long-term users (the one’s actually using it as a current account) with this mess.
This is true. We are very open that others will be cheaper than us — Revolut and Starling are both! We’re choosing something that is sustainable long term for us as a business as we switch to current accounts — I hope that “Monzo as a package” means you want to keep using Monzo and that this fee structure means that you can still go on holiday without being ripped off and continue using Monzo
not sure how you guys ended up with 3%. its too much?? did yiu check your competition?
Revolut gives £200 free then 2% and in addition the best FX rate, their currency converted is way better unless you withdraw over the weekend where you might win if rate goes up (fx markets close on weekend).
add to that the free UK and EURO accounts for 2 day free international bank transfers on local currency…
i love Monzo card et all but you are way behind right now
would love to know how the revolut package is not better to Monzo’s tbh. i use both right now and as we are today with the 3% increase Revolut is miles ahead (already offers UK/EURO accounts, 2% over £200, instant free international bank transfer and better rates).
only thing revolut sucks compared to Monzo is the lovely community the latter have
I really don’t think that charging people above the odds for withdrawals > £200 was the right decision. You’ve incentivised people to game the system. No one who is aware of the rules will withdraw > £200 when abroad… why would they when they know they are subsiding your users who stay within the limit? They’ll use their Curve / Revolut / Starling / Bunq / N26 cards.
Can I suggest we try not to rehash the discussions we had before about people’s personal preferences? We wanted to go out and let our customers choose pricing and we’ve gone with the vote (I happen to think it’s the best option for most people)!
true. We are very open that others will be cheaper than us — Revolut and Starling are both! We’re choosing something that is sustainable long term for us as a business as we switch to current accounts — I hope that “Monzo as a package” means you want to keep using Monzo and that this fee structure means that you can still go on holiday without being ripped off and continue using Monzo 
