How are you using your card?

Whilst true I don’t want a credit card. As i’ve never taken out credit before I would like to keep it that way for as long as possible

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You do know that you’d still get the same protection by purchasing on a credit card then paying it off immediately. That way you don’t get any form of credit. It’d help you when it comes to getting a mortgage or loan.

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In what way is Monzo safer than another debit card…?

The instant notification allows you spot fraud quicker than a traditional bank which can take up to 5 working days to appear

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While I agree that this is good, I’m not sure it necessarily makes the card safer to use. All the notifications to the user really do is close the feedback loop and make the time to fraud report quicker, rather than making it safer to begin with. Combined with excellent support and a couple more revisions of the apps in this area, they could make the process relatively painless though.

I’d say that actual safety features include the ability to freeze the card if it is not in your possession, the manual enabling of magstripe ATMs (still a surprisingly common method of fraud), pushing all transactions to be online wherever possible and the potential for Monzo to use their data along with modern technologies to build a Stripe-tier fraud engine.

That’s for plain fraud at least, the area where other non-debit cards are much safer than debit cards are with bad merchants of any type, charging incorrect amounts, double charging, not delivering goods, delivering faulty goods and/or exceptionally poor service. For these kinds of issues, I would personally much rather have somebody from American Express behind me than Monzo (Sorry!), even if I’d be paying quite a lot for the privilege.

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This is a good point actually. As far as I knew, you were safer using a credit card online apposed to a debit card because of the additional protection with regards to purchases that have gone bad (either the seller didn’t provide the goods or someone used your card without your knowledge).

I’d be interested to know if Monzo (as they try to move towards being more of a ‘bank’) will look to offer a credit card to account for these very real concerns. Alternatively are they able to provide that protection with debit cards (once the Monzo card moves from prepaid card to debit)?

Otherwise I can’t help but think they will have a tough time competing with traditional Banks.

Thoughts anyone? Or anyone from Monzo who can comment further on this? Or is there a better channel to ask these types of questions?

Monzo’s definitely not going to offer credit cards (in the foreseeable future) -

The plan is to set up a marketplace bank, which will enable Monzo users to choose from a range of providers, to choose the solution that works best for them.

This is something that Tom’s thinking about (& asking for feedback on) -

https://community.monzo.com/t/what-about-credit-cards/5373/4?u=alexs

And yes this is the best place to ask these questions :slight_smile:

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The simple fact of the matter is with a credit card its the card companys money thats been hit, with a debit card its yours… And the onus is on you to get it back.

I have had visa card fraud happen… I have also had bad merchants… With the fraud I was phoned and the items didnt even make it to my statement, with bad merchants I simply showed visa that they had failed in whatever way and the bill was removed before it even became due.

I have had visa credit cards for years, never once have I used the credit part, I simply set them to direct debit my current account and forget about it… I avoid things like cashback or ATM cash advances as those have a cost. I really like my monzo card and account, but I have to admit a good credit card, one with a decent rewards system or linked into flyer programs, has a LOT of benefits for me that Monzo wont duplicate.

The real protection from a credit card is in the niche case of the merchant going bankrupt before shipping your purchase. A credit card must provide Section 75 refunds on purchases of over £100 (and under £30,000) for free.

Protection against your card being stolen/misused or from dodgy retailers is included with all UK debit cards, although it’s easier to handle dodgy retailers when using a credit card. Personally I’m happy to stick to debit cards, my experience with credit cards is that they tend to help obscure your actual spending and give you a lesser feeling of control over your finances.

@integralist Hi Mark :slightly_smiling_face: so as @alexs mentioned we have no plans to offer a credit card once we launch current accounts. Mastercard Chargeback Protection is applied to our pre-paid card scheme and will also be the case for Monzo debit cards.

Chargeback protection covers claims for things like broken goods, failed delivery or payments to a company that has gone bust, similar to Section 75 for Credit Cards. The main differences being that Chargeback Protection covers any payments over £10 rather than £100, and the claim must be lodged within 120 days of purchase or payment for service. There’s an interesting article with some more detail in MasterCard Chargeback Protection here It is worth quoting something mentioned which is important to consider

"chargeback is closer to the purchase or delivery protection policies offered by credit card providers than it is to consumer protection under law."

Hope this helps!

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It may well have been mentioned somewhere in this thread already, but one of the weirdly interesting things that has come from using my card has been buying lunch every day with it.

Watching the cumulative cost of buying lunch regularly from places nearby has been staggering and perhaps a bit scary on occasion…:unamused:

But, it’s something that I wouldn’t really be able to see as clearly, were I using my other cards. So I’m happy that I have that knowledge!

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That’s great! Thanks @Naji for this useful information :slight_smile:

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I also have a couple of decent credit cards, an Amex and another cash back Visa card. The Amex gets me £80-100 per year in cash backs and my Visa card slightly less but is fee free for overseas spending.

I’d happily chop my Visa card in, but my Amex I find is very good and the app is good.

I guess my perfect scenario is that Monzo has fee free foreign spending, a £50 free overdraft buffer and maybe cash back on U.K. spending, nothing greedy, maybe 0.5% of spend?

I can only keep my fingers crossed, but if it could be managed people would be queuing around the block to join up.

so with the near introduction of the debit card, i’m assuming the tests are over (or will it still be ongoing~covertly)

I’ve just started using mine for exactly the same reason - lunch spending. I know roughly how much I spend each month, but not in any detail. Monzo will enable this analysis. So far I’m finding using my Monzo card a pure delight. I haven’t used it abroad yet.

The experience with using it abroad is just as great!

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My understanding is that debit cards will be rolled out to a small group of testers before being launched to the wider public. This is Monzo’s opportunity to squash any bugs before full launch.

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I’ve used it abroad at ATMs and things and it is like magic! Can’t get over it! Sometimes the exchange rate works out in my favour and it’s always exciting to see the initial predicted price drop

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Use it for food shopping in general and anything risky like eBay or kickstarter/indiegogo where I’ve had problems in the past & other cards charged for my refund monzo don’t…
I also used mine in India,cheapest ex rate & saved me the hassle of finding an ATM or a bureau de change- both would of charged more! Love my monzo beta card account
Also the app & this forum is superb at helping out,have you noticed the 1 star ratings on the AppStore are ALL for the £100 initial fee,what poor losers,they don’t know what they’re missing lol
:slight_smile:

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Personally I use it for everything. My salary is still paid to my legacy bank (switching to a Monzo competitor in the meantime while the current accounts aren’t yet available), I leave just enough money in there for the single direct debit that I’ve got and move the rest to Monzo. I haven’t used my legacy bank card for 6 months now and I don’t regret it at all.

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