Normally it is when a fixed-income investment like a savings bond matures, and you get your investment amount back, the repayment is known as redemption.
1 Like
Well, that’s what I kinda tried to convey - we, customers, don’t matter in 3D secure schemes at all. You might say all you want, we don’t get a vote right now. It’s peddled as ‘security for online transactions’ but it’s not really true. Yeah, it gives us some protection, because thief or someone who made a photo of the card, wouldn’t be able to pass through 3d secure, but a customer wouldn’t be liable anyway - due to ‘card not present’ aspect. I haven’t read about in a while, but online ‘card not present’ claims are always merchant’s liability, not bank’s (someone please correct me if I’m wrong).
You might not want to care, and I totally get where you’re coming from - my views are not different. But banks/merchants don’t care even more and they are in the position of power. You either succumb to 3D secure and fill whatever is required, or merchant has the right to deny your transaction. Those are the only options and I don’t suspect it would change anytime soon.
when it is a choice between a poor interface and a transaction going thru or not having SecureCode and transaction declined I know which most consumers will prefer
Oh wow. first direct have added personal loans to the app. Not as good as Nationwide, as you can’t overpay by transferring funds directly into it as you can with the building society, but for a running balance it’s good enough.
1 Like
I like the way Nationwide lets you pay extra to the loan account, I was able to clear mine in half the loan term
2 Likes
I just paid off my loans with First Direct as they were terribly uncompetitive. I moved to Zopa in October and have saved a lot of interest. I can also overpay whenever I like, which I do.
My Zopa loan was 3% and they’ve since brought the rate down to 2.8%. First Direct was charging 5.9%
Zopa referral link: https://www.zopa.com/loans/mgm/5f183fb9e6db
What’s in it for you: £50 if you take out a loan or invest over £2,000
What’s in it for me: £50
1 Like
I moved mine to a Virgin money card. 0.5% fee to move and 0% for 25 months. Will save me about £1,200 in interest (with my over payments)
2 Likes
So just doing a quick rundown of Arro, from the outset it appears to be pushing the quick and easy selling point for both personal and business accounts.
Things to note:
-
Charges: £1 for using an ATM or making a fast transfer, Personally I think this will put everyone but the most determined off.
-
Selling Points: They seem to be pushing the quick and easy, access to the same facilities line. I guess that this is probably OK for people with no credit history, migrants etc but the charges for these basic services probably outweigh the high charges for transactions that would otherwise be free with a real bank.
-
Terminology: Interestingly they seem to skirt around the fact that they arent a bank by saying that they are “not like a traditional bank”, to me thats a bit like using the word lite instead of low fat, it implies that they are but doesn’t say it explicitly (because they aren’t).
-
Community Engagement: Doesn’t appear to be any community engagement
In conclusion, I don’t think that Monzo has much to worry about, I really can’t see what differentiates them from the mountains of pretty average prepaid cards out there. Also I think that consumers need to be very careful about terminology, the “not like a traditional bank” is a bit sketchy because the wording might cause people to assume it is a bank but without the protections offered, It doesn’t actually say that it isn’t one.
…Also £5 for an international ATM withdrawal, makes all the arguments around here look silly doesn’t it
6 Likes
5£? What were they thinking? Who in their right mind would sign up for this? I don’t think the “no credit check” argument stands given most (all?) current accounts don’t insist on any kind of credit for a current account - they only do a credit check (and might refuse you) if you start adventuring in the land of overdrafts.
Personal experience - when I arrived in the UK I had absolutely zero credit history and that hasn’t prevented Nationwide from opening me an account the same day, so there’s definitely nothing exceptional about the credit checks when even a legacy bank doesn’t do any (at least for a basic current account).
And yeah their debit card looks quite awful as well. It’s like a bad copy of Starling.
Also 15£ per rejected direct debit. That’s even worse than my legacy Nationwide account which used to charge 12£ for this. Also 2,99% “foreign exchange charges” which I assume they’re adding on top of the Mastercard exchange rate. Again it’s quite surreal to even mention such fees for a new/challenger bank.
4 Likes
I honestly have no idea, perhaps the seriously misinformed? I guess perhaps those who are here less than legally? I’m not sure if the new reporting regulations apply to prepaid cards.
The reporting requirements apply to both banks and emoney institutions according to a recent RTE radio programme
1 Like
Possibly, but wouldn’t Revolut be a better idea then if for some reason you’re specifically looking for a prepaid card? I feel like the Arro people didn’t even bother looking around to see what their competition is. Maybe someone’s just got money to burn and decided to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks (hint: this definitely will not stick).
Also I wonder what their marketing will be (if any - so far this is the first time I’ve ever heard of them). Their current offering will be a tough sell compared to the competition - Monzo, Starling, Monese, Revolut, etc.
Finally they seem pretty shady regarding the lack of FSCS protection - on their FAQ there is no mention of FSCS, instead there’s this:
Is my money safe with Arro?
Yes, it is. In accordance with the Electronic Money Regulations (EMRs), we ensure that all customer funds are safeguarded in a regulated bank account, and separated from any company money. This means that in the event of the Issuer becoming insolvent, the e-money is protected from other creditors’ claims and can be repaid to our customers.
This makes you believe like your money is protected while in fact it’s not really, at least not up to the level of protection FSCS would give you. So much for being a “simple, straightforward account”. I would consider them straightforward when they own up to their shortcomings and say out loud “no we do not offer FSCS protection” instead of trying to avoid the question like they’re doing here.
2 Likes
Oh definitely
My impression of the Arro office, “Hey everyone, lets try and make a load of money by half-arsing a new prepaid card, we can even charge people for the free stuff”
3 Likes
I remember someone on this forum asking for ideas/feedback about a new prepaid card he was planning to make - I think it was called PreeCard or something. Maybe he’s back in action! 
My response would be good luck… So Monzo (aside from all of the regulatory stuff for creating an actual bank) has spent significant amounts of time and money building a community and product that people love and that works.
Of course there are other competitors such as Revolut and Starling who are also pretty nifty (no hot coral cards though). I think anyone else coming into this battle is gonna face a struggle without just ripping off Monzo, Starling or Revolut. I certainly don’t think someone with less than a respectable number of millions to spend has much hope.
My point is it’s not just about the product, it’s about the brand. Everyone loves Monzo because its accessible, friendly and fresh so a half-arsed clone just can’t compete.
1 Like
8 posts were split to a new unlisted topic.
The thing is, there’s just no money to be made from a prepaid card. Charging through the nose doesn’t really work anymore (legacy banks do this and you need to have a good reason for people to switch away from legacy banks). Monzo (and Starling I think) plan to make money long-term through partnerships instead.
One reason that I’m glad Monzo is moving away from the prepaid card… Aside from the inability of GPS to stay online for more than a few days without a serious outtage 
Update: Probably a little unfair, the outtages are a recent phenomenon but still it will be nice for Monzo not to have to rely on them
3 Likes
So not strictly a competitor (because its a travel card) but when on facebook today I was served with an advertisement for the Endsleigh prepaid travel card https://www.endsleigh.co.uk/personal/travel-insurance/prepaid-travel-cards/
Now anyone who has been a student is probably aware of Endsleigh as they market heavily towards students and were once owned by the NUS.
What are the interesting points:
-
No overseas transaction (debit card usage) fees: So this is standard with Monzo and a lot of other prepaid cards.
-
Overseas ATM fees refunded if you withdraw £50 or more: Basically if you withdraw from an ATM of any kind they’ll charge you £2.25 but then refund it again if the transaction is over £50. Also important to note that this doesn’t cover the fees that individual ATM operators charge.
-
UK-based balance: So unlike many other travel cards that hold a balance in foreign currency (set at the time of topup), this one holds the balance in pounds and then using their own exchange rate “Unlike other payment cards, we do not use Mastercard’s exchange rates when you use your card outside of the denominated currency zone. Instead we set a fixed “day rate” which is available over the phone via customer care.” and convert during the transaction.
-
Many fees: Like any other prepaid card there are lots of fees ranging from topping up to dormancy.
What can we learn?
Well essentially they seem to have noticed that ATM fees are a contentious issue, I would suspect that they have done some maths and worked out that they can subsidise the ATM charges of >£50 withdrawals by charging £2.25 on lower withdrawals. Also important to note is a £9.95 purchase fee if initial topup is less than £100.
As well as the ATM fees, it’s interesting that they are holding the balance in pounds but also that they don’t use the Mastercard rate but their own (which I suspect is worse for the consumer) and provides no clarity, the fact that you have to ring them up rather than just posting them online leads me to suspect they would rather not tell you.
tl;dr: ATM fees used as a bargaining chip, lots of fees like all prepaid currency cards, obfuscating the exchange rate by making you ring to ask not using mastercards.
Update: Further thing I forgot to say was that the refund of the ATM fee rather than just not charging suggests to me a not particularly innovative technology stack, indeed account management seems to be online only and has the same URL as many of the other prepaid cards (indicating to me simply another rebranded white-label prepaid card).
1 Like
So I’ve just tried out this functionality for a cheque. I took about twenty photos in about 5 different places before the photocopier style image it produces was legible. This may be due to the cheque being filled in blue pen
Once I got through that it promptly told me that the issuing bank doesn’t support this yet. That bank is NatWest
Several times in the process the app seemed to time me out, needed me to sign back in with my finger print and that dumped me back on the home screen. So I restarted the process many a time
My verdict is that the feature is great but I would say it will needs a lot of work
2 Likes