Ah, that’s nice, didn’t know that.
Don’t think I know of it. Is it a new thing? I’d probably stick to Transferwise if needed tbh
they have both been around for some time but Taavet and Kristo from TransferWise are probably better at PR and certainly seem to get more press coverage and be seen at more conferences and workshops.
I moved to the UK from Australia and had all sorts of run-around with Nationwide (staff telling me one set of criteria for opening an account, then other staff saying i wasn’t eligible). In the end I opened with Lloyds, which was fairly seamless.
One issue with the Monzo setup above is that immigrants often don’t have a fixed address (e.g. I was jumping between Airbnbs for nearly 2 months as I got established - an expensive exercise). It would be great if you could pickup a Monzo card from a designated location in major cities (e.g. a central post office), rather than having it mailed out to you.
Cards are mailed out within 2 days now, so it should be doable even if you’re switching locations every week or so.
I know Monzo can deliver cards to foreign addresses. Would Monzo also accept a foreign address in the signup process?
I don’t think that would be possible because Monzo account can only be opened by UK residents.
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Even temporary residents? And they can keep the account open even when they leave, right?
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You can have an account while resident in the UK, but if you leave the UK (permanently, not just a few months on work) then you are supposed to close your account as by being non-resident you are in breach of the account terms and conditions
I think you’d need to enter your temporary UK address. You might be able to have the card shipped overseas to your permanent address before you arrive, though.
Here’s what @simonb (who works for Monzo) has said in the past:
This sounds to me that you’ll still need a UK address when you leave, though. I’m sure Monzo can confirm in app.
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Just asked in app. I’ll let you know what they say.
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I’d be interested in some wider background here. In the article, it states “we don’t have to verify your address, because we verify your date of birth instead”. What is the underlying reason to verify the date of birth? Is it KYC legislation?
Nothing changed!..people living in other EU countries can’t apply!..for Revolut or Monese it’s not an issue!..
The article is nothing to do with EU accounts, how is this relevant?
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Has Monzo sorted out the issue with the swift code or IBAN?
This is really good for international students who have just arrived in UK. Will certainly pass the word around!
International inbound transfers are not officially supported yet.
It’s certainly not currently as international inbound transfers are not reliable.