Car hire with a new flex account - card number conundrum

Help
1

I’ve stumbled into a strange scenario, so I wanted to make a thread about it in case anyone else has had this happen or comes across the same in the future.

I created a new Monzo Flex account a couple of weeks ago. I never typically have a credit card, but as I was looking to book some car hire for a holiday I thought I’d get one.

I booked my car hire with one of the large car hire companies using my Monzo Flex card in the Monzo app shortly after creating my Flex account, as my physical card had not yet arrived. I had naively made the assumption that the card number on the card in the app would be the same as the physical card which were due to arrive in the next few weeks.

This is important for car hire specifically, as the car hire companies expect you to present the card you booked with at the time of collecting the car.

However, the physical card arrived today and the card number is not the same as the one I had in the app prior. As such, I find myself in a scenario where there’s no way for me to present a card with the old card number or prove that the card number in question was updated at the point my physical card arrived.

So…the car hire company want proof the virtual card was mine / changed legitimately before updating my booking. I had work out how to contact Monzo support (incredibly difficult now by the way - really appalled Monzo have gone down the ‘make it as difficult as possible to speak with us’ route). I am seeing if they can help me with the ‘proof’ the car hire company want to see.

I suppose my thoughts are:

  1. For this reason, it would be helpful if the physical card issued matched that of the card available virtually in the app prior to physical card delivery
  2. Car hire companies are clearly quite backwards…this could easily happen if a card was stolen or updated in the time between booking and collection of a car
  3. I feel like a silly (and slightly stressed out) goose
2

Your card number should match the number in the app?

Unless you used it via Apple/Google Pay, then that number will be visible in your Apple wallet, but only the last 4 digits.

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3

You can’t see what that card number is though just the last four digits.

What the card number in the Monzo app is should match the card as you say. So if that isn’t the case this sounds more like a fulfilment problem. Maybe the system generated two card numbers and split it across digital and physical?

Monzo support is definitely it’s Achilles heal. I’ve no idea how it keeps winning those awards (suspect gamification to be fair).

It’s Monzo’s fault and they need to sort this for you.

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4

The ‘virtual’ flex card which was created alongside my flex account, which I used to book the car hire, was terminated at the point my physical card arrived.

As the physical card has a different card number, it is treated as a different card, which is why I’m in this situation.

Monzo have given me some sort of statement which may help prove to the car hire company how this happened, but it’s been rather unnecessary stress I must say

5

I’m not sure that they are too bothered unless you were using a specific card to get a discount. Usually, driving licence, sometimes passport, and always a debit or credit card matching your ID. They just can’t demand the same card number as if you’ve booked it a while in advance, your card will be reissued with, sometimes, a new number.

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6

I recently hired a van with Enterprise and they weren’t bothered which card I presented on collection, just that they could take a deposit on it.

In fact I paid for the rental online with a debit card, and used a credit card for the holding deposit.

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7

Enterprise have always been decent.