ATM Language / Charge Message

I’ve flagged it with in app chat and they’ve passed it on to the payments team. Still not sure if it’s a monzo thing or an atm thing.

The prepaid card has always done this everywhere I’ve used it. I believe it’s just how prepaid cards work as other prepaid cards I’ve had worked in the same way. However as it’s a UK bank account it should default to English!

I have had a mix, sometimes it even happens with my MetroBank card

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Had the same happen to me yesterday at a Halifax atm.

Just had to get the prepaid dig in there eh? :wink: Hope you get your invite soon man. Think you want it the most out of everyone out there.

Using a legacy bank debit card in an ATM usually gives no messages.

When using my Monzo CA I regularly get asked:

  • What language would you like to see/use?
  • Your card issuer may make a charge for the withdrawal - proceed? Y/N?

This happens in standard ATM machines regularly, any ideas why and will this no longer be the case when the final CA cards are issued?

I don’t see any reason why we should see different behavior for Monzo vs other banks here. I guess the ATM providers might just need to update their BIN ranges?

Anyway, I’m sure the team will let us know what they’re expecting at some point.


I’ve moved your post here as the issue that you’ve raised is probably related to the one that’s been mentioned in the OP.

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I haven’t seen anyone mention this, but I am still getting warning messages when withdrawing cash using the v2 CA debit card. This happened at an RBS machine (“Please note that your card issuer may apply a cash advance charge / Do you wish to proceed?”) and yesterday a Card Machine ATM. In August, it was predicted that the new cards would stop the message appearing.

I’ve reported this on the in-app chat, and Liam responded that they are looking into it and it is likely that “some settings need updating on the operators end”. I take this to mean that :monzo: will need to contact the various ATM operators where this is happening and get them to update settings. To that end, I’d suggest that if anyone else gets this message using the new v2 debit card, it is worth reporting it on in-app chat.

A quick update based on my most recent report in-app about the cash advance fee message. Apparently :monzo: have determined that the cash advance message commonly appears at ATMs because to date most MasterCards used at ATMs in the UK are from abroad. So I guess ATM operators just see a MasterCard and display the message, regardless of what the BIN is. Monzo are working to get this resolved. So might not be worth reporting every instance of this message in-app, as it is being addressed.

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It is annoying, as it increases the number of steps required to get cash out.

Also, last night, I was forced to take receipt (the only choice was cash with receipt). I don’t want one. My watch had pinged me to tell me I had just taken cash out, and the cash hadn’t even appeared from the machine yet!

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Yes, it’s annoying, but Monzo are working on it. My understanding is this is just one of those issues that’s being worked through, which is the point of the preview CA.

I’ve noticed this at a certain ATM. Happened on the prepaid card as well, I only got a cash+receipt option, except when the machine was out of paper when it would happily just give me cash. Crazy, don’t know who wrote the software in the machine. Hopefully once the Monzo debit cards are recognised as ‘local’, this will go away too (though why you would force visitors to have a receipt, I don’t know).

@triddick, it just occurred to me what the difference likely is between your Clydesdale MasterCard debit card and the Monzo ones: does your Clydesdale Bank card use the LINK network (should have a LINK logo on the back)? I imagine it does, as I think all the main UK banks have their debit cards attached to the LINK network. Monzo, on the other hand, does not use the LINK network, and withdrawals only work with ATMs which are also connected to MasterCard’s network (which is the vast majority).

I imagine that if an ATM sees a LINK card, it assumes it is a domestic UK one (since the LINK network is UK-specific). It doesn’t matter whether your bank card is also a MasterCard or Visa debit card, from the ATM’s perspective, it is a LINK cash card. With the Monzo card, however, the cash is being requested via MasterCard’s network. Until now in the UK, this has only happened when someone used a MasterCard credit card, or foreign MasterCard debit card, to withdraw cash from an ATM. Hence the “your bank may charge you” notice, since almost all credit cards charge a cash advance fee for withdrawing from an ATM. And also the language choice, since the assumption is you are not from the UK, because you would just use your (LINK) cash card if you were.

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I see the charging message with other MasterCards with UK BIN like Handelsbanken UK. As for language options I like it always gives me the choice and think it a backwards step to lose that additional functionality. For someone to get wound up by it and start writing to Sainsbury’s and lobbying Monzo I say take a chill pill and get a life

I don’t think Monzo is asking ATM operators to remove the language choice specifically, but this is something ATMs only offer if they think the card is non-UK. The assumption presumably being that someone with a UK card is able to navigate in English. I think we clearly want the Monzo cards to be recognised as UK debit cards, and I’m not sure there will be a way to preserve the language menu in that case.

There are also people resident in UK who have Welsh as their first language and may prefer to use French or German as their second choice. People who speak Polish or Spanish as their mother tongue. The idea of an ethnically pure nation post Brexit where we all speak English and the language menus on ATMs, and NHS and council documents in other languages are discouraged by the English speaking majority are a real shame. Disregarding the xenophobia shown in UK society, Monzo also plan to roll out to other countries and should they all use the same BIN this could create issues if their card holders outside the UK were forced to use English with Monzo cards. Unlikely to be possible but if it was possible to programme cards in a per user basis so normally you get a language menu but for the most strident English only campaigners they get to save the wear and tear on their poor fingers from the extra button press!

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I’m not defending the system, just explaining how it works as far as I’m aware, and it’s nothing to do with Monzo. When an ATM recognises a card as a domestic UK debit, it doesn’t present a language choice, it just uses English. And even the language choice provided for ‘foreign’ cards is not about an inclusive society, it’s about appealing to tourists. Otherwise why would it only offer French, Spanish, and German. If the ATMs were trying to be inclusive, there are various other languages which should be offered, based on UK demographics.

None of this is really relevant to Monzo, it is part of a different discussion entirely. The question here (and for Monzo) is: should Monzo cards be recognised as UK debit cards. I can’t see a good reason they shouldn’t be, and it causes confusion if they’re not (cf. the ‘your card issuer may charge you’ message). As far as Monzo’s future roll-out into other countries, it’s up to them how they handle it. But I would think that if launching in, for instance, France, they would want the cards issued there to be recognised as domestic French debit cards.

I get the option on bank machines and the ‘more expensive’ ones but on the cheapy corner shop ones I don’t get it.

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People take a chill pill :wink:

Ideally from a retailer perspective you want UK Monzo cards appearing as UK MasterCard not International MasterCard as some ePOS terminal operators charge less for UK cards and more for non-UK ones!

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Still get this message at Sainsbury’s. Is it likely to be resolved soon? I think these sort of messages would make a lot of users assume there would be a charge.