Getting about a 10% refusal rate in Netherlands, not just Monzo but any UK card that I have. Appears that a lack of Meastro is the common denominator, is this something Monzo sill adopt?
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Welcome to the community!
Just checked the app help document and yepā¦ It says that a lot of the Netherlands uses Maestro, where Monzo uses Mastercard. Sorry about that!
Indeed, just been rejected again in another bar, running out of cash now. Is Meastro something Monzo will use??
Who knows? Not anyone here, thatās for sure.
Enjoy your trip, though. 
Itās a quite well known quirk of Dutch banking that they have their own little payments ecosystem based around maestro. Last time I was there I went to a cashless Albert Heijn that was only accepting maestro card and had some other bizarre things going on like needing to carry a scanner around instead of having a normal till, so basically I could not trade with them.
I think I heard somewhere that their love of maestro was to do with a group of merchants realising they could pay lower fees by edging out Visa and MasterCard.
As far as I know, Monzo doesnāt have any plans to appease such a niche in a country it doesnāt even issue accounts to.
You would need to get a local account. Think Bunq for the Dutch equivalent of Monzo, who do provide maestro cards.
There are others too as Holland are not far behind the UK on the fintech scene, although their names escape meā¦
Probably my post on a similar topic in May. Many retailers told me Maestro donāt charge fees to retailers, so lots of places only accept that and not Visa, MasterCard or Amex
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Yeah, must have been that!
I wonder why itās just a Dutch thing then and not an everywhere thing? Surely no businesses like paying interchange 
How does Maestro make money then? I though interchange was the general money making idea?
Itās not a major issue, although it could be if on the end of a largish bill, but just something you need to be aware of if travelling in the Netherlandsā¦
No idea, but it was the same reason given in many places.
Itās amazing how many retailers lost out on my average spend of Ā£40 because I didnāt have Maestro. Surely thereās a point at which that undoes the fee saving.
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yeah, Iām a fairly regular visitor to the Netherlands, and itās a huge source of frustration that I donāt reliably know whether Iām going to be able to pay for things on my card.
Iād really like to be able to get a Monzo or similar Maestro card for these travels, but I guess itās not on their roadmap because itās such a niche requirement
Agreed on the frustration, another āoh, look at the chap with no funds/dodgy cardā moment todayā¦
Iāve only ever banked with Natwest or Monzo and Iām sure some of my cards were Meastro enabled at some point, none are now tho, neither debit or credit.
Natwest and HSBC used to issue Maestro cards as their debit cards but they eventually moved to Visa.
yes, Iāve had the most success paying with a Visa credit card in the Netherlands - unfortunately, barclays charge me nearly 3% foreign transaction fees, so I tend to avoid using it unless Iām in a bind