Is there contact info to talk to someone from Monzo rather than a community forum (no offence anyone!)
While on a recent trip to New Zealand I asked a question about the charges NZ retailers are adding, I got lots of ideas and guesses but nothing definite from Monzo
Charges merchant end arenāt anything to do with monzo.
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Go to āHelpā type āspeak to an agentā
Youāll then need to navigate through a thicket of questions, but you should then get to speak to someone.
Itās not āspeakingā as such, and itās not live chat - itās more like messaging.
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You wonāt get to speak to anyone from Monzo on here, itās mainly customers just like you. You speak with Monzo in app via the help section.
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Thereās a thread pretty recently about NZ charges. If youāre referring to surcharges (2% usually) added for using card or for using contactless then this is nothing to do with Monzo and canāt be avoided with any card.
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I suspect I am referring to a surcharge, and yes as I remember it was about 2%. I accept itās not a Monzo thing, but I wonder if Monzo are aware. It just seems wrong to me. Monzo is a debit card, it even says ādebitā on the card, so to be charged a fee seems wrong. Here in the UK is a move towards cashless. New Zealand by these surcharges seem to prefer a cash transaction
Even if they were, is there something youād be expecting them to do about it? If the banking systems in NZ charge a fee for card transactions thereās nothing any bank can do about it.
When any bank advertises fee-free spending abroad, thatās only regarding fees (or lack of) imposed by them, itās always with a caveat that local charges may apply.
Itās the same as non-Link ATMs in clubs etc, they charge a fee but itās nothing to do with Monzoās fee-free cash withdrawals, itās the ATM charging in the same way itās NZās banking system charging here.
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Monzo canāt do anything about it, no bank can. Itās just a way that they do it in NZ. Monzo donāt charge you any fees.
Itās not just international; NZ residents pay the same surcharges.
Theyāll know how banking works.
I think the issue is more a MasterCard one as in NZ, overseas debit cards are processed as credit cards apparently. I donāt know if the same applies to Visa, though years back I know in Australia I always had to select the credit option even with a UK Visa debit card.
Visa debit cards from NZ still pay the surcharge; most just choose to enter their PIN rather than paywave.
At no point was I ever asked to choose debit or credit or savings. Of course I was only there for 2 weeks but it spanned large cities to small towns and I used card for everything. My other half used his NZ Visa debit card and we had the same experiences.
So do you have to pay in cash to avoid the surcharge or is there another way to avoid it?
For total avoidance yes.
But some places only charge if you use contactless. Itāll say on the terminal usually.
You have to accept the surcharge so it should usually be clear.
However it seems a Wild West situation out there, fees being charged whatever the retailer wants, and different terminals seem to have different options. I was never asked to choose credit or debit but thatās not to say none do, and they may well see a UK debit card as a credit card.
I find that foreign debit cards are generally processed as credit cards, not as debit cards as most people think.
So, for us foreigners, cash seems to be the way to go in NZ. Do their ATMs apply charges?
Like I said I didnāt have a single time that happened to me, the only places I ever paid a surcharge it would have happened regardless of who paid it.
Essentially - assume youāll pay 2% more in NZ unless you pay with cash. Thatās how locals work too; if you donāt itās a bonus.
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