Thanks NatWest - any ideas on an app? 
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Not that Tide are a competitor, as they only offer business accounts. Ive been told Iām officially allowed to spread the word. In their own words, Tide has āunwrapped their public beta in time for Christmasā - https://beta.tide.co
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There is a certain synergy between Monzo and Tide one does personal but not business and the other business but not personal, and they have the same major shareholder
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Just got. My Transparent Loot MasterCard today. & I have to say itās so sexy!!! 
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Update : You can only top up via BT, no Applepay no debit card, no Banking licence. Topped up ten pounds VIA FPSand will take two hours too arrive in Account . Apart from card these guys are no where near Mondoā¦
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Some interesting numbers / information on Monzoās competitors in this podcast from 11FS, who also interviewed some of the Monzo team last week. -
From 5:40 onwards.
Reported funding of the challenger banks:
- Starling received an additional Ā£48m in January
- Atom Ā£135m total
- Tandem Ā£100m
- Monzo Ā£15m (I donāt think the host said Ā£50m)
Platforms which the challenger banks are built on:
For anyone whoās interested, the remainder of the discussion about the challenger banks is mainly focused on whether these banks really are different, their business models & whether banks trying to influence userās behavior is a good thing.
Itās discussion with some pretty influential, intelligent people from the fintech industry not getting challenger banks - although they obviously havenāt taken an in depth look at them either, to be fairā¦
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Lootās card and packaging certainly look impressive. What is their USP and what are your thoughts on their app?
while I have not seen their app, I thought they were targetting students as their intended market
The apps superb. & you can send money to any other account. No problems thus far ā¦
Now
Targeting General Public
Tom explained why itās beneficial for Monzo to have a banking license in more detail in the London Fintech podcast.
For context -
& the benefits are
itās also worth considering the fact that
Nice. Came to the forum to say Iāve just got my invite email from loot, just signed up.
Experience so far was good, signup and ID verification was quick. The card gets delivered without the need to top up either.
Have you spotted any other USPs apart from being able to send money to any account (which will be possible using Monzo, once the current accounts launch towards the beginning of next year)?
Nothing that Monzo isnāt planning. But you get an account number and sort code and virtual savings pots.
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So have Monzo moved the idea that current accounts will be early 2017? That would be good. Iāve looked at Loot too, seems quite similar. Not signed up yet as I feel loyal to Monzo!! Would just like to see the current account asap.
Message when logging into First Direct saying theyāll soon offer customer support through LiveChat. Canāt beat Monzoās support but if all the banks do this it wonāt be a differentiator for monzo
Thatās interesting to hear. The only thing Iād mention is theyād still have to do live chat as well as Monzo.
I tried using the TalkTalk live chat service a couple of days ago & just got a holding message saying that there would be a half an hour wait for an agent. And because the chat was built into their website, as soon as my mobile locked itself, I was disconnected! 
Every tech company seems to be adopting Intercom (the application that Monzo uses) though so that type of issue may not hang around for too much longer.
Iāve seen other apps use Intercom, but their support is limited to daytime hours, whereas we provide 24/7 support 
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Thatās why talk talk customer service is absolutely abysmal!!
They regularly feature as the worst company to deal with.
I guess it depends on how itās implemented, talk talk clearly have no idea or donāt care. Iām have every faith that Monzo will be much, much better.
The chat itself may not be a differentiator but I hope that speed and quality of support continue to be the best in the industry at the very least.
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