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This is the point i also took from that. I was assured on another thread that this wouldnt be the case by monzo staff but it seems to be the actual case now.
Profitability over customer satisfaction is a bad way to go im afraid. I know id personally rather be able to pay a cheque in to my monzo account in a safe and reliable manner rather than switch my electric provider
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Yeah, I don’t like cheques, but I think there is still at least one use case for them that doesn’t yet have a satisfactory digital equivalent.
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In the type of scenario concerning delivery of firewood, there is a way around it, portable card machine. The plumber I used to use before he moved elsewhere, used to bring a portable PayPal machine with him. I guess it all depends on whether companies want to diversify into other ways of receiving payment.
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Your stats of ‘0.1% of customers have deposited a cheque’ are misleading. I’m not going to put anything of value in a non-trackable freepost envelope, and sending stuff tracked costs at least some money. I have received a couple of cheques over the past year which I paid in via a legacy high street bank account’s app.
It’s hardly a massive inconvenience, but you did say at the time you started offering business accounts that this wouldn’t affect the development of other projects. This isn’t as bad as the extremely long period you didn’t have Apple Pay, but that did come up when trying to evangelise Monzo at the time and people literally laughed out loud. Pretty much every legacy high street bank offer cheque imaging. Prioritising is all well and good but it seems odd that such a simple feature is so time consuming it needs to be cancelled indefinitely. If you go ‘Full Monzo’ and only have a Monzo account, you have a markedly worse experience in this area than pretty much any other bank.
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This is why I recently opened a different account, monzos future isn’t very clear right now.
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Over 1.7 million now
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Well that’s something we can both agree on.
I’d rate them outstanding.
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This is a bit like Search on Android all over again. Monzo didn’t work on this because “not many people used it.” But it wasn’t very powerful and sometimes didn’t work, so people probably didn’t bother using it. If it worked well, it would have a higher chance of being used more often by more customers.
The current process for paying in cheques by post is slow, required an envelope and a postbox in a handy location. The statistic of 0.1% shows only that the current process is fine for those 0.1%.
How many more people would pay in cheques if it was as easy as taking a picture? How many people keep other legacy accounts open for paying in cheques quicker and easier? The usage data of current cheque processing can’t really answer those questions.
It’s disappointing it won’t be happening as scheduled not just because I’d personally find it useful, but also because it’s something that other legacy banks now have and does Monzo a disservice not having it.
Having said that, it is allowing Monzo to work on bigger and better things, which is great! 
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Having to post cheques into Monzo is the main reason I still keep a “legacy” bank account open. The lack of my sending cheques to Monzo shouldn’t be seen by Monzo as an indicator to not needing to use cheque clearing. It’s just simpler to pay in at the highstreet when I need to, and I don’t have to worry about a cheque being lost in the post.
This really does seem like a missed opportunity. Cheques are often the default payment method of some businesses or types of transactions.
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Although I never quite drank the kool aid, I was as excited about Monzo as the next person. But as time has gone on, it’s slowly lost it’s appeal for me.
First it was the limits on foreign cash, then the crappy savings accounts, the charges to deposit cash (up to a tiny limit), the delay on cheque imaging, the longtime coming soon payments redesign, and now the “pausing” of cheque imaging (why not just call a spade a spade?).
I actually have workarounds for all these things, but it’s frankly just grating on me that Monzo loves to pull out all the spiel about being the bank of the future and making banking work for everyone…
It increasingly looks like Monzo is quite specifically for people who exclusively use digital money and live in all Monzo communes where they can live the Monzo life and split bills and share tabs while having a laugh about legacy banks.
The future of banking looks to me like cherry picking the services to offer based on what’s profitable and letting other banks subsidise the bread and butter stuff.
I haven’t bitten the bullet yet, but I’m fairly close to switching away. I clearly don’t value the things which many other users seem to love and prefer the no nonsense approach of Starling, who seem happy to offer actual banking services without any fuss, excuses or (most patronising of all) offering up selective staistical justifications).
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As a shareholder @ravipatel, what do you feel Monzo should do to maximise your investment?
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At the risk of stating the obvious, I’d assume that it’s because your view doesn’t govern other people’s behaviour. There’s a political parallel here somewhere that I can’t quite put my finger on… 
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Not who you asked but as someone feeing in a similar position, I find it likely monzo will be bought out for the tech (feel like this is more likely) or fail as a known public bank if they keep on the same path.
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I’m not going to pretend that my investment is material enough to worry about so it wouldn’t be fair for me to answer. I’m writing as a customer whose wants and expectations aren’t being met.
I’m not going to pretend that balancing spending and profitability isn’t an extremely tough balancing act, but it does feel like the focus has tipped massively towards short term profitability.
As an armchair pundit it’s easy for me to say that this is a mistake and that the horizon should be more long term.
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I haven’t had a cheque in a while but knowing I can deposit it within seconds with a competitor rather than waiting a week or without hoping it hasn’t got lost or stolen in the post; is a no-brainer what people and myself will choose to use!
I also pay in cash fairly regularly; the current way is a royal pain in the a*se… I’d much rather pay in to my legacy account. I find it shameful that I’m charged at all when I’m doing most of the work advising how paying in at a PayPoint works to staff!
I feel the current metrics are completely skewed away from reality as users will pick and choose what features to use from other banks and simply transfer the funds over to Monzo.
Monzo have lost some appeal to me as I’ve also had comparable and in some factors better budgeting and spending features unlock in my legacy bank app.
When the/your legacy bank is catching up so fast and is including similar features but makes paying in and using cheques easier… Would you be tempted to switch!?
I can withdraw cash abroad cheaper (over the £200 fee free limit) with my legacy bank debit card too (as it’s part of the Global ATM Alliance.)
Overall I’m left feeling that Monzo is slowly loosing it’s edge and the legacy banks are quickly nipping at their heels.
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As a challenger bank, Monzo has a narrow window of opportunity to leverage its strengths (push notifications, on boarding process etc) whilst also bringing the other features that make the traditional banks useful, before the old banks catch up.
There will come a time when there are no bank branches; there are no cheques and nobody carries cash, but we’re not there yet. In the meantime, Monzo needs to catch up with the legacy banks and provide the old-world features that are still part of our society, particularly if it wants to broaden its customer base. Cheques may go away, but cash will be around for a good few years yet, particularly as the people who are without a bank account (1.5 million in the UK) depend upon it.
Cheque scanning may not be a priority, but I’d argue paying cash and cheques in, without having to pay for the privilege, should be. At the post office preferably.
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Replies like yours makes me wish there was a downvote button.
Well, the above got my post removed as off-topic, even though it gained three votes.
Aimed at one of the so-called “Coral Crew” who himself has posted off-topic in this thread - it’s a clear case of circling the wagons!
Oh well, best keep it on-topic:
It’s clear to me (and many on this thread), that Monzo is going in a direction that excludes common features of legacy banks. Cheque imaging being adopted by other banks is one of them. I mean, let’s be frank, you cannot amend details of a regular payment, but you have a map of spending!
Woot-woot!
And yet such a “feature” will not even available to business accounts?
To turn back on imaging is another thing altogether. This, I believe, is a sign of more to come. Finite amount of resources, direction currently going. The two are not compatible. That, and the paying cash in fiasco has led me to believe that the many missing “legacy” banking features are not heading this was soon, or later for that matter.
I’ve been using Starling as a secondary account for a while. Just made it my primary.
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Not a chance at all.
Monzo has already stated that they’ve had offers and are not interested now or in the future.
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Right now they have money. If they don’t get bought and do ever become sustainable, monzo seem destined to becoming a niche bank.