Firstly… Epic response - I’m sure people will disagree (I do in parts), but the detail and thought that went into it was very good - Bravo sir!
I could try and work it out based on your comments, but are Monzo prepared to say exactly how much it does cost when a customer deposits cash? Also, Is it a % of the fee deposited, or a flat rate?
I definitely think there is a whole shift in mindset that is needed for the majority of people to see this as a positive (despite it being an “extra” service that Monzo previously didn’t offer at all).
10 years ago, free banking and having 1 current account felt like the norm, and to a lot of people (outside of the fintech bubble), it still feels like the norm.
So to effectively need to get your head around fees for “basic” services, coupled with the need for other banks to service your needs, will definitely take some time for people to comprehend.
It’s not a service I’ll use (I despise cash), and the PayPoint/Post Office argument is irrelevant for me (the only 2 locations of each within a 10 mile radius of my house are both PayPoint and Post Offices!) - But I can understand why PayPoint might be more attractive to some.
It’ll be interesting to see what the take up of the cash deposits are, and whether Monzo decide to change/remove the fee in future.
This is based on a hunch, not on any facts or inside knowledge If ‘Joe’ does sell his car for £2.5k and only had a Monzo account… Then I would suggest that they contact Monzo Under specific scenarios, Monzo can increase payment limits for buying cars (for instance) so I’m sure there’s at least the possibility that they could do the same for cash deposits, albeit at a greater fee (I would assume)
I agree with this, I have an account as a ‘just in case’ / backup
Surely this person would have to go into the bank to get that much cash in the first place, and nowadays it would be much easier to just do a bank transfer between the two of you? I know thats what I did when I bought a car for 900 a few years ago.
Oh yeah, absolutely, I’d prefer a bank transfer for sure, and a trip to a bank/paypoint would be required for a cash sale either way…
The problem I’m highlighting is that limits are restrictive and you’d be stuck with £2.5k in cash and no way to pay that in unless you’re willing to split it into £1k every 180 days, with legacy brick-and-motor banks you can just go drop that full amount into your account with not many questions for smaller amounts (I believe all they do is ask where you sourced it from for certain quantities)
Firstly, excellent write up. I won’t use the deposit feature as I have other bank accounts, but I’m especially pleased at the notification workflow.
Now the awkward question:
It’s interesting to compare the policy to charge for ‘Pay–as–you–use’ debit card top–ups (“Absolutely no”) to ‘Pay–as–you–use’ cash deposits (“Fairer so as not have everyone subsidise a subset of users”)
I wasn’t a fan of top–ups, but some on here did say they would be willing to pay to use them. So why the difference?
Nice! There’s a fair amount of users saying that the £1 is unfair, but given the justification, and how much legacy banks charge for things that don’t cost them anything, I’m for it!
Not for International Students, for instance, they won’t. When I first came into the UK to study, many years ago, after Christmas and Easter breaks I’d always bring a stack of money to last me for the next few months that I’d deposit ASAP. £1000 is simply not enough.
As such I believe students will be put off it 1) for having to pay for it 2) for having low limits. Essentially I expect your data to be very skewed, but also I can see why you would do that - nobody likes risk
I guess I’ll keep my @firstdirect@ for the time being, their machines are convenient, free and of-high-enough-limit.
As other people have mentioned, the £1,000 limit might be a tad low for those one-off cash deposits. I understand the money-laundering/fraud risk is much higher with actual cash but will COPs be able to manually lift the limit for those ultra low-occasions where we might need to deposit more at once? Or, is that rolling 180 limit part of the contract with PayPoint?
Seems a very limited service. Even with a legacy bank I wouldn’t bother deposititing anything less than £100. With a £1 charge I probably wouldn’t bother depositing anything less than £300, seeing as that’s the limit then I’d never use it. Just use the cash or stick it in a piggy bank. I think the only time I have deposited cash in the last 5 years was after my wedding and that was well over the Monzo limit.
I suppose this feature will just be of use to young people who have received cash as a present, or maybe someone who is extremly poor on the breadline and needs to deposit some cash to pay a bill. Anyone see anyother use?
I’ll be honest - I’ve no idea how a PayPoint machine works. But I wonder whether the limits are restricted by PayPoint - if people are depositing large amounts of money it could make newsagents etc. more vulnerable to being targeted for theft? Just a thought.
I didn’t include this as it may be commercially sensitive from PayPoint’s perspective. I’ve asked them if they’re happy with me revealing it.
It’s a flat fee, slightly less than £1. We chose £1 as our flat fee as it is easier to communicate and we also have a separate monthly servicing fee to pay.
The £1000 / 180 day limit is imposed by Monzo, the maximum £300 per-transaction is imposed by PayPoint. COps will not be able to lift either of these limits.
(How would the deposit work, will the paypoint scan a QR code (or similar) from the app , or use the chip and pin like post office? )
Edit seen that monese website says paypoint uses chip and pin for deposit, although being able to send someone a screenshot of a QR code to pay in money to my account from anywhere in the UK would be very useful.
I think a £1 fee for paypoint convenience is fair,
Although monzo covering the 10 minute wait by depositing the money instantly would be a much better user experience, just makes it that bit more slick, is there any real reason for this? monese paypoint deposits are instant
(plus if they could also do this for withdrawals from savings pots)
We’ve discussed with PayPoint ways to remove this delay - they may be able to make a change which would allow us to eliminate it, but there’s no chance of it happening this year.
The technical reason for it is because normally the communication between PayPoint and Monzo looks like this:
Machine in the shop → PayPoint: I’ve got a bright card here, put £100 on it
PayPoint → Monzo: New deposit! £100!
Monzo → PayPoint: OK!
PayPoint → machine in the shop: OK!
Machine in the shop: [prints successful receipt]
But sometimes, if something goes wrong, it could look more like this:
Machine in the shop → PayPoint: What is this? Pink? Orange? IDK but £100 please
PayPoint → Monzo: New deposit! £100!
Monzo → PayPoint: OK!
[Machine in the shop’s internet connection dies]
[some time passes]
Machine in the shop: [prints unsuccessful receipt]
[some time passes, up to a maximum of 10 minutes]
PayPoint → Monzo: Sorry but actually something went wrong, don’t do that £100 deposit
Monzo → PayPoint: bummer
So we have to wait for 10 minutes after that initial “New deposit!” message to make sure we don’t get a subsequent “something went wrong” message. If PayPoint can add a message which says “Nothing went wrong and the machine in the shop says it printed a successful receipt” then we can remove the delay.
I’m not sure how monese get around this, perhaps they credit you immediately and then take the money back if something goes wrong?
If ‘Joe’ does sell his car for £2.5k and only had a Monzo account… Then I would suggest that they contact Monzo 
