# šŸ‡ØšŸ‡¦ Monzo in Canada \[Discussion\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Travelling with Monzo\ **Created:** [8 August 2016 10:02 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005 "2016-08-08T10:02:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![anon15900467](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/77aa72/32.png) [@anon15900467](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon15900467)\ **Post date:** [8 August 2016 10:02 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/1 "2016-08-08T10:02:04Z")
Hello all, Iā€™m off to Toronto, Canada this Christmas and wanted to see if anyone else had been there with their Mondo card and if they ran into any issues? I assume itā€™s similar to the US but wanted to check. Loving my Mondo card so far šŸ˜„ ---
**Author:** ![RossA](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/rossa/32/17491_2.png) [@RossA](https://community.monzo.com/u/RossA)\ **Post date:** [11 August 2016 06:41 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/2 "2016-08-11T06:41:13Z")
Sounds like it works perfectly (not that I would expect anything else)!: > [@Travel report (Canada + USA)](https://community.monzo.com/t/travel-report-canada-usa/5081): > > Iā€™ve just got back from three weeks travelling around Canada and the US. I didnā€™t have a single issue with using my Mondo card anywhere in the Canada - they use chip and pin everywhere and contactless worked too. It seems Canada doesnā€™t have an upper limit for contactless transactions as the symbol appeared on some supermarket terminals even for $100+ transactions though I only used contactless for smaller payments so Iā€™m not sure if a larger payment would have worked. However - all ATMs I useā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![anon69626857](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@anon69626857](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon69626857)\ **Post date:** [14 September 2016 10:45 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/3 "2016-09-14T10:45:07Z")
Iā€™m just waiting on my cardā€¦ I have a trip to Canada [BC] coming up, does anyone have any experience from there? ---
**Author:** ![anon52111418](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9d8465/32.png) [@anon52111418](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon52111418)\ **Post date:** [7 June 2016 13:02 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/4 "2016-06-07T13:02:35Z")
Yep, visited Alberta a few months ago. Worked flawlessly, though only used it a handful of times. ---
**Author:** ![alexbilbie](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/alexbilbie/32/128_2.png) [@alexbilbie](https://community.monzo.com/u/alexbilbie)\ **Post date:** [14 September 2016 10:46 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/5 "2016-09-14T10:46:02Z")
Iā€™ve just got back from three weeks travelling around Canada and the US. I didnā€™t have a single issue with using my Mondo card anywhere in the Canada - they use chip and pin everywhere and contactless worked too. It seems Canada doesnā€™t have an upper limit for contactless transactions as the symbol appeared on some supermarket terminals even for $100+ transactions though I only used contactless for smaller payments so Iā€™m not sure if a larger payment would have worked. However - all ATMs I used (both at banks and on the street) all charged at least CAD$2.50 - $3.50 per transaction which was annoying. Our brief stop in the US (New York) showed that they still have an insanely screwed up system there. Most street ATMs donā€™t work because Mondo doesnā€™t allow for magnetic stripe cash withdrawals and only the major banks (Chase, Bank of America, etc) seem to have ATMs that support chip withdrawals. Again these ATMs charged a few dollars to withdraw cash. I also had a farcical experience in a small supermarket whereby I used chip and pin (which took about 60 seconds to go through) and then the cashier insisted I signed a receipt as well. With bars and restaurants there was a mixture of chip+pin payments and magnetic swipe payments which really confuse the Mondo timeline because youā€™ll see an original transaction (pre-tips) the following day; then youā€™ll see a second payment (with-tips) a few days later; then youā€™ll finally see a refund of the first transaction. The Mondo app does have a note about this when you view the original transaction. Also worth mentioning is that _everyone_ who saw my Mondo card commented on the colour - unlike others on this forum Iā€™ve not actually experienced that in the UK yet. This was our third trip abroad with Mondo this year where we havenā€™t taken cash with us and just relied on card transactions and taking money out at ATMs. All in all another great success šŸ˜„ ---
**Author:** ![anon37764999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df788c/32.png) [@anon37764999](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon37764999)\ **Post date:** [20 October 2016 20:16 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/6 "2016-10-20T20:16:47Z")
Currently travelling round Canada and have used my Monzo card everywhere with no problems. The upper limit for contactless transactions is $100. ---
**Author:** ![Dawid](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/dawid/32/16337_2.png) [@Dawid](https://community.monzo.com/u/Dawid)\ **Post date:** [18 April 2017 17:40 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/7 "2017-04-18T17:40:01Z")
Iā€™m in British Columbia at the moment and also had no problems. Used Monzo card at Toronto Airport (contactless) and in Maple Ridge in various stores using both contactless and the traditional way ---
**Author:** ![anon84175820](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/90db22/32.png) [@anon84175820](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon84175820)\ **Post date:** [19 April 2017 16:12 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/8 "2017-04-19T16:12:40Z")
Used Monzo at Niagra Falls to purchase tickets without any problem. ---
**Author:** ![anon34503025](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@anon34503025](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon34503025)\ **Post date:** [25 May 2017 21:45 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/9 "2017-05-25T21:45:30Z")
I just got back from Toronto and I used my Monzo card all over the city and at Niagara with no problems. The exchange rate was excellent and I loved the Monzo app updating me with the payment confirmation and the currency conversion. The only thing I would say to watch out for is their ATMā€™s as they all charge about 3CAD. I tried to pay by card rather than taking out cash. ---
**Author:** ![anon1775821](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@anon1775821](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon1775821)\ **Post date:** [9 July 2017 17:59 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/10 "2017-07-09T17:59:35Z")
Hi off to Canada in August, does anyone know if I will be charged to get cash out of atms? Havenā€™t used my card yet@ ---
**Author:** ![alexs](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/alexs/32/2443_2.png) [@alexs](https://community.monzo.com/u/alexs)\ **Post date:** [9 July 2017 18:04 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/11 "2017-07-09T18:04:27Z")
Hi Jo, Iā€™ve moved your post here to keep all of the advice about Canada in one place. I hope that makes sense šŸ™‚ This wiki should contain most of the key info for using Monzo in Canada - > [@canada Monzo in Canada \[Wiki\]](https://community.monzo.com/t/monzo-in-canada-wiki/9441): > > This is a wiki crowdsourced by the Monzo Community to help you travel with Monzo. Just like Wikipedia, anyone can edit it to help out others. If you have any tips or feedback for visiting Canada with Monzo, please feel free to edit this guide. You can also add a comment or question below ā€” someone will then incorporate your comment into the main text below and then delete your comment. To create your own ā€œMonzo in ā€¦ā€ guide if one doesnā€™t already exist, just copy [this template](https://community.monzo.com/t/monzo-in-template/8297) into a new post anā€¦ & hopefully the posts in this topic fill in any gaps. If you do have any more questions though, just ask them here šŸ™Œ ---
**Author:** ![anon89955710](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce73a5/32.png) [@anon89955710](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon89955710)\ **Post date:** [29 July 2017 20:24 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/12 "2017-07-29T20:24:47Z")
I tried a number of banks in BC - National Bank did not charge a fee ! HSBC and Bank of Montreal do charge Ā£2 -Ā£3 Making a list of banks that donā€™t charge in each country would be useful . ---
**Author:** ![Unknownstarz](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/unknownstarz/32/9502_2.png) [@Unknownstarz](https://community.monzo.com/u/Unknownstarz)\ **Post date:** [30 August 2017 11:44 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/13 "2017-08-30T11:44:36Z")
Used from 19th - 28th Aug in Canada, Ontario (Toronto & Niagara falls/Outlet) Area, had no problems with any purchases. Exchange rate was near to market rate which is amazing. $100 CAD contact less payments. ---
**Author:** ![anon93718513](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@anon93718513](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon93718513)\ **Post date:** [30 August 2017 11:46 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/14 "2017-08-30T11:46:25Z")
> [@alexbilbie](#): > > Our brief stop in the US (New York) showed that they still have an insanely screwed up system there. Most street ATMs donā€™t work because Mondo doesnā€™t allow for magnetic stripe cash withdrawals and only the major banks (Chase, Bank of America, etc) seem to have ATMs that support chip withdrawals. Again these ATMs charged a few dollars to withdraw cash. It does šŸ™‚ You have to manually enable Magstripe transactions in app (for 24 hours). Turned off by default for fraud prevention. ---
**Author:** ![alexbilbie](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/alexbilbie/32/128_2.png) [@alexbilbie](https://community.monzo.com/u/alexbilbie)\ **Post date:** [30 August 2017 13:28 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/15 "2017-08-30T13:28:14Z")
> [@anon93718513](#): > > It does šŸ™‚ > > You have to manually enable Magstripe transactions in app (for 24 hours). Turned off by default for fraud prevention. Back in August 2016 there wasnā€™t that option šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![anon93718513](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@anon93718513](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon93718513)\ **Post date:** [30 August 2017 13:39 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/16 "2017-08-30T13:39:01Z")
Oh really? ā˜¹ Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![anon62728081](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@anon62728081](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon62728081)\ **Post date:** [1 September 2017 16:30 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/17 "2017-09-01T16:30:46Z")
Travelling to Niagra, Toronto, Calgary, Jasper, Banff, Kamloops, Whistler and Vancouver so Im happy to see people have used it with no problems. Monzo is perfect for me, As preload cards usually means locking in a exchange rate for ā€œoneā€ country. Im heading to the US after Canada and the mastercard rates for Monzo are awesome šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![mbell](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/mbell/32/61790_2.png) [@mbell](https://community.monzo.com/u/mbell)\ **Post date:** [8 September 2017 23:14 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/18 "2017-09-08T23:14:30Z")
Travelling to ON next week, reading this thread has set my expectations high šŸ˜„ Iā€™m also travelling with the current account preview, so Iā€™ll be sure to report back if it works just as well as the prepaid card does (no reason why it shouldnā€™t!). Safe travels folks āœˆ ---
**Author:** ![anon95680666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@anon95680666](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon95680666)\ **Post date:** [9 September 2017 08:30 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/19 "2017-09-09T08:30:55Z")
previously mentioned above by @alexbilbie ā€œWith bars and restaurants there was a mixture of chip+pin payments and _ **magnetic swipe payments** _ which really confuse the Mondo timeline because youā€™ll see an original transaction (pre-tips) the following day; then youā€™ll see a second payment (with-tips) a few days later; then youā€™ll finally see a refund of the first transaction. The Mondo app does have a note about this when you view the original transaction.ā€ - Current Account - ā€˜Mag stripe ATMs are not currently supportedā€™ - so presumably a problem in some bars and restaurants as well that only have magstripe POS terminals ??? ---
**Author:** ![anon36010260](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@anon36010260](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon36010260)\ **Post date:** [9 September 2017 11:01 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005/20 "2017-09-09T11:01:41Z")
As a slightly older traveller not used to modern concepts such as prepaid cards I decided to try monzo instead of carrying cash, I know a stupid thing to carry cash. However once I received my card the whole process of setting could not have been simpler. With that I topped up and headed of to Canada/Alaska still feeling nervous with this strange concept of no hard cash. Well I must admit how wrong was I to think I would be cashlessā€¦ All the thoughts of not being able to pay for things swiftly left my mind, I loved how I had instant notifications of transactions on my phone, exchange rate was good. I used the 3 options of tap, chip and pin and atm withdrawal ( 3$ fee) but hey not a problem. No declines what so ever, even in Alaska. Hubby was so impressed he will now apply for a card!!! Great service guys at monzo. [Next page](https://community.monzo.com/t/canada-monzo-in-canada-discussion/5005.md?page=2)