Making Monzo: Cheque Imaging

Who for though? For Monzo shareholders? For customers? For the developers?

It makes sense that Monzo prioritise what they develop on a case-by-case basis, but as it’s been pointed out above the reasoning behind this makes zero sense.

It’s a chicken and egg scenario - cheque depositing is cumbersome at the moment, so it looks like few people want to deposit cheques. In reality if there was a way to deposit cheques that didn’t rely on putting it in an envelope (Post Office, cheque imaging etc…) the likelihood is that more people will deposit cheques directly with Monzo rather than another bank.

One of the things I looked into before closing my high street bank account (Co-op) was whether or not I could deposit cheques. When I saw cheque imaging was coming, I closed the account down knowing that there would be a simpler way (imaging) than posting it off coming in the near future. I’m now contemplating opening an account purely for paying in cheques.

Tbh, I’m annoyed at Monzo for stating (promising?) that cheque imaging was on the horizon to then tell us that it’s been postponed so they can concentrate on business accounts (which they categorically stated would not affect current account focus). So they’ve lied / misled on two fronts.

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I guess investors could interpret this as worrying, since concentrating resource on bringing more customers in (business customers) rather than doing things to make existing customers happier and encouraging people do things that could potentially cost Monzo money (how much are cheques to process on the existing method and how much via imaging?)

You’ve got to think about retention…

Isn’t the argument here though that for the vast majority of customers, they joined knowing full well cheque imaging (and paying in cheques to an extent) isn’t something that Monzo are really bothered about, so they therefore wouldn’t be bothered by imaging being taking off of the road map.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I specifically checked cheques were payable into the account before using Monzo as my main account and closed my Co-op account because cheque imaging was on the horizon. Because Monzo said they were developing cheque imaging.

So yes, I joined full in the knowledge cheque imaging wasn’t available. But I took Monzo’s word that they were getting cheque imaging into the app in the near future.

This is a trust issue - they’ve failed to deliver on something that they publicised was going to be part of their app by August (after a delay of 6 months).

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Just to add on this @cookywook can we now confirm then that the original position on CA/BA teams being separated is now false?

It is in fact as feared that BA work is being prioritized over CA in some instances?

Would be nice to have a comment on this

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Okay, but to carry that on you closed an account with Cheque Imaging because Monzo would have it :soon: that isn’t Monzo’s fault - you didn’t mitigate your ability to cheque image prior to your move to Monzo.

However, post your move to Monzo they are now saying it is effectively not on their radar, is a poor show - although I think it shouldn’t be something they think about, they said they were and now aren’t.

True, which is why I’m going to open an account to do so from August (as that’s when I’ll start receiving cheques again from work). I took Monzo’s word that it was coming in early 2019, then August 2019, now it’s off the radar. It’s not a massive issue, it’s just inconvenient and makes me wonder what else they’ll shelve.

Agreed, especially when it was being advertised as upcoming functionality (and therefore a reason to open an account with them).

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I agree its not great precedent - It’s a tough one because although the stats may be bias, there is kind of a valid reason for not putting the effort in.

There is a constant argument between what Monzo should do that Legacies do and what they shouldn’t do - there is always complaints about Monzo not being “market leading” and then when they drop something they feel they have a valid reason for to develop something else, the pitchforks get raised again.

I do however agree that it is disappointing to want something, be told it is coming or developed and then dropped altogether, even if there is a “valid” reason for it.

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Hi maybe I’ve missed in other posts so apologies if this point has already been covered but I’m just wondering how attractive the Monzo Business account proposition will be anyway if it doesn’t include a modern cheque deposit feature - as I’m sure the payments experts will know cheque is still quite widely used in all business sectors.

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That’s a fair point. Thinking broader, do any business banking services use cheque imaging? I thought cheque imaging has a fairly low maximum deposit, which could be unsuitable for Business Banking?

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Yep, Lloyds specifically mentions business banking:
https://www.lloydsbank.com/business/banking-online/business-mobile-banking/depositing-cheques.asp

HSBC doesn’t say it’s just for Personal Accounts but can’t see it specifically says Business Accounts either.

But yeah, I don’t get the whole let’s stop doing something that helps Business Banking customers and Personal Customers alike.

I’d rather them ditch the CompareTheMarket and USwitch clones and not pretend they’re not a money grab.

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not sure of the scheme limit but my legacy bank has £500 maximum per cheque, 20 cheques per week limit for business accounts. I believe the business banking sector that Monzo and challengers are interested in is SME level so would have thought a similar faciilty would be needed to compel, depending on overall package being offered. Maybe target market is more nuanced, ie ‘modern’ industries that have been set up by people who don’t need or want any paper

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Wouldn’t it also be the case that businesses are more likely to be more comfortable sending their cheques in the post and paying for them to be sent tracked or signed for, for instance?

I can understand why this wouldn’t be of great appeal to a personal account holder but for a business account holder, surely the cost doesn’t outweigh the benefit?

Potentially yes. Sole Trader though - it’s a lot of messing around for someone to find the time to do it.

Definitely siding with the ‘cheque imagers’ here, the amount of work that has seemingly already gone into it why not just finish it? I don’t think we’re 100% clear why its being shelved and that’s what is causing the discussion. I wouldn’t use it myself, but can absolutely see why it’s needed.

Just reading some of the business bank account rates, most charge a fee to deposit a cheque - you’d have thought with business banking on the horizon, this has the potential to be lucrative for Monzo.

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But is it a ‘first feature’ that needs to be done now? If not then we end up…where we’ve just ended up.

Yes granted depending on the different levels of business.

I feel like its a shame to shelve it but I do see the reasoning behind it, its old and archaic and maybe it just isn’t something Monzo really want to entertain or develop further.

They see it as on the way out and want to help drive the market into making that decision possibly?

Maybe this is where they’ve made a decision that their idea of the future of banking is cheques just completed killed off.

It has been on the roadmap for a while, you have to assume the foundations must be somewhere near being in place?

Yeah for sure - I see this.

Taking a picture of a cheque is a cool way of paying it in, it seems like the sort of evolutionary idea Monzo loves to implement.

The other point is business tech is usually late to catch up with consumer tech. 3 years ago I worked somewhere that received 300 faxes a day. Slightly unrelated, but you get the idea!

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See I kinda disagree here - it is a “tech” way of solving an archaic problem, which has already been solved (see any form of online payment).

Without someone pulling the plug I don’t think the market will change - we’d still be using floppy discs or as you mention faxes if at some point someone had said “enough is enough”.

Although I do see your point that you do sometimes have to supply product to everyone as everyone is slightly different and uses things in different ways.

I just don’t get enough cheques (literally cant remember the last time I dealt with a cheque) to be bothered by its shelving

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The problem with cheques is they’re sort of unavoidable - if someone want’s to pay you that way they’re going to.

Young people aren’t sending cheques, it will be the older generation, but conversely it’s likely the younger generation (or business accounts) that will need a good solution to get them paid in, especially with branches closing in rural areas - cheque imaging is that solution.

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