Thankfully after several hours of mess I think I have it resolved. But this experience I think is a deal breaker. The one thing you want from a bank is easy access to your own money. While First Direct were great compared to Monzo, I don’t think I’ll pivot to them as their app experience isn’t as good.
What would would people recommend as an alternative, Starling? Revolut? Anyone used either of them for large transactions?
Revolut are not a bank, don’t give them large amounts of money.
I’d pick a bank with a branch, preferably a local branch, so that if/when you need to do this again you can walk in there and have it solved.
You don’t have to have all your eggs in one basket though, if you were happy with how FD dealt with it, leave large amounts there and use a bank with a better app day-to-day.
If you don’t mind, can I suggest that you raise a complaint setting out clearly the process and where it’s failed you? It might also be worth saying that it’s breached your trust and you’re thinking of leaving.
I ask because it’s important to me that this gets fixed and I think that a formal complaint will hold more weight. You might also get an apology and some compensation.
Totally down to you though. I understand if you’ve had enough and need to move on!
It’s a great point, I did request to raise a formal complaint yesterday, as seems to be the norm now I haven’t heard any more on that either, but will persist.
Well you could use FD as the main account and Monzo as your day to day spending, connecting them up via plus.
Or if you want an FD experience but with more features then HSBC is actually a good option. I’ve done that and I have no complaints.
Yes, as I mentioned just a few posts above. £30k bank transfer recently from my Starling account without any issues.
I was also using Starling as my main account when I retired so it’s where I received my private pension lump sum (which was 6 figures). I then maxed out premium bonds (50k transfer to NS&I) and some other large transfers to various accounts without any issues.
Have you been in a position where you’ve had to use Starling telephone support for anythig urgent or complex? How did it go?
I’m actually not too bothered about Monzo’s relatively low standard payment limit. What really bothers me is represented by the following…
Although I haven’t yet been in a situation where I need urgent or complex support from Monzo, the apparent lack of useful phone support does concern me. I just don’t understand how it expects to grow into a bank that many people will trust with large sums of money with such limited phone support. In-app chat is just not a good platform for help with urgent or complex issues.
I haven’t called them but a few months ago I made contact in-app and received a phone call from them around 10 minutes later. I can’t remember what it was about now but the person who called said it was easier to explain over the phone than to write back! I was quite impressed by that.
I have, it was a long time ago but the answer was really, not well. It took about 6 weeks for a resolution to an issue I thought was simple but clearly beyond their first line customer support.
However when I’ve contacted them about things their front line can deal with it’s been very responsive.
I like the idea, but did they make you go through security before they’d talk to you?
Yes - I have a text from Starling around that time with a verification code for me to read back.
Would be better if this was done via an in-app notification (commenting on previous post)
Not obvious which one, though, so maybe add a quote?
I found the initial part easy with Starling, they ask you a series of questions but after that I was left in limbo waiting for someone to review the transfer. In my case I was moving savings and it was 6 hours before the transfer went through.
In the case on Monzo, it does sound like it needs improving further. I guess it obviously doesn’t happen enough for it to be a priority.
I didn’t even get the questions - it just went straight from Starling to my HSBC current account. I have had the questions with smaller payments, though.
I think I shall write feedback as Peter_g suggested too as not being able to get instant access to my money really worried and frustrated me
I now use Monzo for monthly spending only. And a mix of Barclays (50K limit) and Wise (20kUSD limit) for large sums of money that I move around every few months. Most comes from US shares.
Well your money doesn’t magic out of thin air, you aren’t moving it to Revolut one day and back out the next.
Not a chance!
Well, that’s clearly an interpretation of risk, not a real assessment.
Move your money into somewhere that is FCSC protected so there is zero risk to it. There are plenty of options that are real banks.
If you want to go around taking risks with your house deposit based on your own assessment of how likely a collapse of any non-protected financial institution is, fine I guess it’s your money. Not a path I’d recommend to anyone else though.
Made up number to try and sound safe.
100% of the time my money is safe. Great, glad we cleared that up.
If you spur of the moment want to move large amounts of money, Monzo could be better, but most people don’t do that. Nobody is surprised by the need to pay the house deposit.
Everyone wants their money to be safe 
I’d choose safety over convenience any day, especially when we’re talking about such large amounts of money.