Hmmmm I’m not sure about that you know, as the homeless relay a cash quite a lot. Like you said maybe Monzo should give up on the unbanked part of the market then as a digital bank might not be for them.
That was really dismissive, now I’ve reversed what you said it starts to sound a bit silly does it not?
I was talking to a French friend the other day, and she said there is still a lot of cheque use over there, and something like Faster Payments is expensive/not used much. Don’t know how representative this is, but I was 
It doesn’t sound silly to me, not trying to do everything at once sounds like a practical reality.
To me not focussing on the non-digital first market with all available resources sounds like a solid way of making a business with stable foundations that can last long enough to gradually make the sort of exceptionally long term investments in the huge social undertaking that tackling banking for the homeless is.
Are LINK still offering the Universal Cash Deposit Transaction on LINK network ATMs? That would handily solve the OOH availability issue (24/7) and Monzo might be able to negotiate a lower LINK rate by being the first to take it up.
Back on topic …
Personally I’m not sure this depositing cash at the Post Office for £0 is going to be a thing much longer.
Sure Monzo are going to potentially get some stick for charging from the outset, but that’s better than charging later — look at foreign ATM fees.
People will argue that Starling or Revolut offer it for free … sure, but they make up the costs elsewhere.
Personally I don’t put cash in much, so the cost doesn’t bother me … however, getting ahead of the curve & not increasing costs for customers is much more advantageous & transparent.
There’s a big difference between cash deposits and foreign ATM fees.
Cash deposits are free with just about every bank.
Foreign ATM transactions cost money with most other banks.
I know monzo are trying to be different, but charging for free things, and giving expensive things way for free, isn’t the way to do it!
But the established banks don’t charge as they will get you for a range of other things, be it DD fail charges or higher fees on international transactions.
And as has been said elsewhere on this thread, if other institutions want to cover the costs of cash and make it free to deposit, then great, good for them, but Monzo model is pretty fee-free.
I don’t think its free, I think its PR “free” if that makes any sense. you don’t inform the customer that there’s a charge, but in fact there is.
The overdraft will likely have to change soon as flat fees look like they’re going to be banned by the FCA.
In your opinion.
2 things:
Cost is a side effect of going via a third party for cash deposits vs opening own branches. Hence the small cost to you.
Low limit is based on Paypoint & not the Post Office which this thread is about … so please, stay on topic.
Genuine question, does the Post Office not have any limits?
I think half the battle with Paypoint is the low overall limit. Paypoint has lots of room for improvement, it could actually work the more you think about it. I don’t think anyone could have anticipated how disinterested Paypoint Shop Owners would be in the brand.
I’m not massively up to speed with it. But … I trust the Post Office have more of a handle (or higher insurance coverage for) higher cash handling or storage. Ultimately it’s a risk game - and you have to look at this from either party. Post office have been in the game longer vs “Barry in the corner shop”. So they’ll be better prepared for storing vast cash quantities.
To your other point. I bet Paypoint were adamant they had well trained (or easy to train) shop owners … but it’s not always the owners that do it, or convey the training to the staff.
Personally I feel Post Office staff are better trained, managed & insured for higher limits & better customer service
Maybe highlighting my own particular bubble, but I have never had to use Paypoint for anything before
I have had the privilege of going in many of the "corner"shops that have them though and the service even generally can be pretty variable. I am not totally surprised as a result
I have a feeling the limit might be partly to do with security which newsagents et al don’t have. It could be really dangerous from a crime perspective if a newsagents suddenly had to hold onto loads of cash.
Although this could probably be dealt with by having a 7 day limit rather than a 180 day limit.
I had to use it for topping up a meter when I first moved out. Oddly it was a ‘Barry’ at the corner shop I went to, he’s now a post office. I imagine his service will be just as bad.
Oddly, I’ve never understood the mentality shop owners have that seems like they’re asking you “What you doing in my shop?”
When I think of pubs closing or the “crisis on the high street” I generally remember that it’s mainly the rubbish and/or rough pubs I did not drink in any way that closed and that a lot of those shops were badly presented and not particularly awesome at customer service
Why are corner shops generally so dilapidated and disinterested?? You would have thought some would not be by at least pure chance
No we are not talking about that, I was referring to the fact that cash is still used by a lot of people. Since Monzo wants to welcome the unbanked it doesn’t really gel that somebody is basically saying if you want to rely on cash then consider looking for another bank.
They are not even with Link as they decided to use Mastercard instead. In saying that Mastercard own Link so hopefully Link will be properly merged with Mastercard and Monzo can take advantage.
If so they will definitely gain 1 customer to go fully Monzo…