When they were told to audit transactions in accounts and look out for the illegal activities they employed people that had no skills in looking for such activity but when activity was found they swept it under the carpet and continued servicing those accounts.
You are correct but I suspect Richard was meaning those on subprime mortgages. Those should have never been given out. Of course, it isn’t fully the fault of the borrower or the bank but the bank has a responsibility to properly means test applicants to ensure that they can afford the loan this includes taking into account expected deviation of the interest rates.
I saw people on well above national average wage earning £50,000-75,000 basic before any bonuses losing their homes. I am sure with hindsight had any of them been proactively been offered loss of earnings insurance with their mortgage that would have saved many people.
Back to the original point of the thread. I personally am still a fairly new customer of Monzo. I signed up recently when the current accounts started to go public. Therefore I may essentially still be in the bubble, however, Monzo has innovated in their accounts more in the last couple of months (or even weeks) than my old bank has in the last 20 years.
The only changes I can think of that my bank (Natwest) have introduced over the last few years are:
A mobile app
Direct debits not to automatically debit on a Friday if due over the weekend or a Monday.
I find it very difficult to know what has been debited from my old bank and therefore how much money is available as Natwest can take days to show a debit card transaction (especially if spent over the weekend). Direct debits are sometimes taken, your available funds are updated but the current balance is not, so you are left wondering what has come out (I have found myself trawling through my direct debits to see what has come out rather than my transaction log as they update the requested date but don’t update the log).
In contrast, my current experience with Monzo is that payments reflect in the transaction log immediately (in fact I often receive a notification on my phone before a transaction shows complete on card terminals or websites).
I like the pots feature, the main balance does not reflect how much is in the pots as well (unless I go deeper into the account). This helps keep track of my money, it also helps keep the pot money out of mind yet still easy to access if required. The recent addition of the coin jar pot has also allowed me to ditch a different service I used and has the benefit of instantly debiting from the account (unlike chip that takes the roundups once a week). Granted it is lacking some customisation that dedicated services offer however it is a new service that I am confident will be improved upon over time.
As others have said Monzo has a lot on their plate at present, migrating everyone who is still on the old cards rather than the account yet they have still been trickling out features. I do however expect that there will be a surge in features throughout the year.
Oh and in relation to the interest issue. This really isn’t an issue for me, however, Monzo has spoken about partnering with providers of ISA’s etc which should stem such questions. Personally, interest rates have been of little concern to me even when interest rates were higher as the money obtained was usually minimal or even outstripped by negative interest for overdrafts.
Hey Beth. I’ve explained my misgivings before, so don’t really want to start a debate on this thread. There’s been a few things about Monzo that have left me with a sour taste in my mouth recently, but the main objection I have is with the business model. I’m uncomfortable with how much of the online economy relies on advertising/referrals/offers/whatever you want to call it. I believe this model is bad for consumers and for the economy as a whole. Several industries have gone from a user-pays model to an advertiser-pays model, and I really don’t want banking to be added to the list. So as long as Monzo plan to make money from referral fees, I won’t be using them for anything other than getting cash from foreign ATMs.
Amazing, you’ve visisted the community on 191 days & spent 5 days reading posts, for a company that you apparently don’t want to help I guess it’s a good thing that they introduced the foreign ATM withdrawal fees
They’ve made it clear that the marketplace will be the core of their business model from the very beginning..And if you believe that, that’s going to change, you’re even more optimistic than me
I am very happy with the rate of development of Monzo. It is serving all of my needs apart from joint accounts and rare cash deposits. I don’t care about cashback and benefits because I know they are mostly negative sum and false economies,
I have plenty of dumb pipe incumbent banks who are willing to provide those services for free in the hope that they can cross-sell/rip me off down the line though, so it doesn’t really matter too much right now that Monzo has not reached that stage yet.
I don’t agree others are catching up btw. There is a difference between acceleration and velocity and Monzo is already flying at great speeds.
I was just wondering if anybody else has been following what the telegraph has had to say about Fintech banks
I was pointed towards reading the telegraph as it is highlighted on the Monzo web site as an area where their is an article on Monzo
I was particular interested to read that it compares Monzo, Revolut, Starling and Atom bank
Unfortunately the telegraph highlights that Starling is perceived as the leader right now as it incorporates all the best bits from Revolut and Monzo
It comes back to the original point of this thread that competitors are catching on and developing in many ways a more rounded banking product
Monzo needs to accelerate a little and start delivering on its promises
Further more I’ve used the telegraph to highlight the facts regarding competitors as if I had stated it on my own it would have been perceived that I am somewhat biased towards Starling so please don’t shoot the messenger ?
As a general rule, I’d agree but I thought Tom had some great ideas about making cashback work, at one of the more recent Open Office events.
I know that getting it set up almost requires a small business on it’s own so it could be a while before this is ready but I’m looking forward to trying this out, it sounds a lot like Tail -
I enjoy using Monzo, however I would not give up my legacy bank for my family joint account & savings. I use Monzo for my personal spending & have to say I am tempted by the more advanced Starling bank. I dont use my overdraft on my legacy account however the option with my personal account would be appreciated.
I shall probably stick with Monzo for the rest of the year however if it doesn’t catch up with the likes of Starling it may be time to move next year.
That is the problem with Fintech, its so easy to move to another you feel you can chop & change. I keep wishing to move from Natwest to First Direct however its such a hassle I end up staying for the sake of credit cards & savings accounts & mortgages.
I guess it’s a good thing that they introduced the foreign ATM withdrawal fees 
I really thought about it but I thought to make it clear to everybody what I meant, I composed my sentence in the way I did. 