There is also another major U.K. payment scheme mentioned in the introduction which many fintechs have not joined, though - LINK. Although this seems far less controversial with users since, in practice, it is rarely an issue.
Also potentially relevant and related:
The U.K. financial industry is working on something called the New Payments Architecture (NPA) which basically seems to be an amalgamation of the separate payment schemes of Faster Payments, BACS and possibly ICS (Image Clearing System for cheques). It sounds like it may be easier to plug into all three at once after the system is fully integrated and up and running.
The promise is also that it should allow innovation in new “over the top” technologies that plug into the payments system. For example, in Australia there is a system called Osko which works like this; it is essentially a direct extension of their “New Payments Platform” which creates Paym-like functionality.
feels pretty pointless adding to this, but may as well. I love everything about mondo, am fully mondo, have got others joined. BUT - one thing thats driving me nuts is cheque processing. as a sole trader, I get a lot of cheques. I am spending too much time worrying about the long processing time when posting cheques, and whether or not they have bern received. currently watching one I think has been “lost” in the post, £180. sadly, I have no choice but to consider my options. bloody annoying!
Anarchist
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If you get lots of cheques, I’m surprised you ever considered Monzo, to be honest. I wouldn’t consider any bank which didn’t offer cheque imaging in your situation.
My suggestion would be to let your loss of business do the talking.
CASS over your account to another provider and in the CASS reasoning state that it was due to not offering in app cheque imagining.
Monzo tried to use their own statistics to back up that it wasnt needed so if you CASS out thats the only way of reaffirming their statistics is wrong im afraid.
As a sole trader, don’t you have the ability to tell customers what your payment methods are? I’m genuinely curious, but what are your reasons for wanting to stick with cheques, when it’s not a guarantee of any funds being available?
If your customers are posting them to you, think of your annoyance of losing a cheque, and apply that to the situation of a customer posting you a cheque and it not arriving.
no, I’m not going to leave just cos of this. I’m happy to batch the cheques up and deal with once a week, but just need to know they’ve been rcvd safely. happy to take to a post office, for example. rightly or wrongly, the freepost part makes me more nervous, so will start posting to the banks address instead for now.
Interesting… Have you ever asked them if they’d be happy doing a bank transfer? Do they post the cheques to you?
I’d be interested to know if with the current climate, there’s been a change. A cheque involves going out, potentially to the post office, which for any who’ve been shielding, might no longer be their most preferred choice.
I know lockdown encouraged my gran to switch to online banking, and she’s really enjoying it in comparison to having to visit a branch - especially as they’re slowly being shut!
trust me, these people struggle with the modern world. not everyone is physically or mentally capable of using technology. some dont even have it. some people struggle physically to write a cheque! dont assume everyone is young, fit & able… just cos monzo’ers are
I’m not… I was/am genuinely interested. If you’re saying these people aren’t physically able to write a cheque, then it seems like you’re assuming someone is fit and able (taking it to a postbox, signing their name, etc).
I just want to say. Am seriously pissed off that the cheques I posted using the freepost address never arrived. I always post into a sorting office to minimise the chance of problem. It annoys me intently that something can get “lost” in the bloody mail system. I even write a return address inside the envelope! aaaarrrggghhhhh
the bottom line is, for me a “business account” has to have the ability to pay cheques in, other than posting.
I’m beginning to realise thats inevitable. I don’t do a LOT of cash or cheques, but even a bit is proving a pain. Pretty gutted to have to change tbh, but left with no real alternative.
You don’t have to move your entire banking if you want cheque imaging. Lots of people have opened a second account purely for this and then transfer the money back into their Monzo.
And this is why Monzo will continue to haemorrhage money, because people can’t use Monzo for everything. And because they have a 2nd account for the stuff Monzo can’t (won’t?) do, they gradually migrate entirely to that account and Monzo lose that customer completely.
The opposite could be true for 100% digital businesses - high street banks aren’t a credible business account, when they charge per electronic transaction (along with an account maintenance fee) as you end up spending more than any of the neobanks charge on their premium tiers.
It’s all about context. I don’t think you can rule one provider out, for everyone, because of feature x. It might not meet your needs, but it’ll meet the needs of others.
I finished it for you.