It always amused me when a traditional high street bank charge £20, 25 or 30 for a SEPA payment but a challenger bank like Handelsbanken charge 20p to cover their costs
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As far as I can see no FSCS Protection on Monese. Sounds fishy to me with no checks on address. I’d be worried about them going under. Monzo is transparent therefore there’s trust, and with FSCS on the Current Accounts, Secured.
Monese is like Monzo was with the prepaid card, not covered by FCSC (or an EU equivalent) but money ringfenced. So it is just as safe or not as having your money with Monzo’s prepaid card.
Monese do still check applicant ID and residence. Where they are able to prove their UK residence that proof is seen but if they a new resident just gone to the country say for a new job or following marriage they will check existing residency elsewhere and if applicant has documents regarding relocation such as a job contract or marriage certificate they may look at that depending on their nationality (as that effects right to work). The great thing is they do AML and KYC checks in house so you don’t get automatically rejected if you don’t have the usual documents. If you don’t have a passport but have a NATO ID or Police warrant card or perhaps have an ISA or pensions annual statement instead of a bank statement they may consider that, or accept government issued ID documents given to refugees. They would rather ask for more documents and get dozens until they are satisfied than say The Computer Says No. Obviously they still turn people down, but they are more flexible than traditional banks or fintechs that have hived off their ID checks to a third party.
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Monese is an electronic money institution as many who operate in this space are. Monese bank with Barclays so the risk is on Barclays going bust rather than Monese. Does that make Monese a risker proposition, maybe a tiny bit.
Monese do identity checks (take a picture of ID, take a picture of yourself; same process as Monzo and Starling) which does pass through some validation process, only after that are limits lifted on the account. I suspect those checks satisfy money laundering regulations.
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There is no suspect about it. Their checks do comply with AML regulations and indeed it is not just banks but emoney, credit unions, insurance companies etc that all have to comply with AML and KYC rules.
I used to be a Money Laundering Officer at a financial services firm reporting to the then National Criminal Inteligence Service, so have an interest in these matters. I have been in the Monese offices in London and Tallinn and on one of my trips to their Tallinn office (where their customer services is based) I spent some time in their department watching checks in progress and asking them questions on their policies and proceedures, and personally feel they are as robust in this regard as the likes of Monzo or Starling.
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True, I’m on the test Current Account so forgot about the prepaid haha, I guess it would be compared to that best, However I still stand with, Monzo has been transparent so far, therefore I feel willing to trust them and when I read as a headline on a website “no address checks”, I’m not inclined to trust.
Quote “Simply install our mobile app, and use it to open a personal UK Current Account instantly. There are no credit checks, and you don’t need local proof-of-address”
- edited comment out, I’ll admit when I was wrong.
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@SheaLavington you take things so personally. Try not to. @anon44204028 appears to have experience and be knowledgable in this area. This community is an opportunity for us to all learn from and help each other.
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"you don’t need LOCAL proof-of-address” that one word sums it up. If you don’t have UK one then you need one from where you coming from e.g. French or German etc if no UK proofs yet
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Touché, I didn’t read that properly, currently commuting home so just on the phone haha, however still doesn’t ease my mind, it’s still worrying to see for myself. Perhaps not you, but for me.
@SheaLavington I am not trying to change your opinion and you like everyone else is entitled to your own opinion. But if you do not want comments back or others to express their opinions you have come to the wrong forum. Here people are welcome and encouraged to comment on others posts or opinions. Don’t get upset by people daring to express an opinion different to you, they are free to do so. Just because someone responds, comments or disagrees does not invalidate your contribution.
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Likewise, please refrain from direct messaging abuse to anyone with whom you disagree. It’s uncool.
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never heard of it, just take a look , it seems hey charge everything for it. £4.95 monthly fee, 0.5%. for foreign transaction, minimum £2 for foreign transaction, cash deposit £2 etc… i will never get it. it’s so much worth seems than Monzo and my Halifax clarity - which has no fees at all( expect for interest for cashwithdral)
I like the way you pick and chose which fees you quote.
Taking some you missed for example you get a FREE allowance of 5 ATM withdrawals globally. They charge 0.5% yet Monzo customers voted to charge 3%! Yes, 2.5% MORE than Monese 
and Cash deposits at Post Office are actually £1 NOT £2.
Hey guys, please try and keep this thread on topic! If you have an issue with something another user has done, you can always reach out to myself or the community leaders 
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I’ve been using monese for about 7 months now as my main bank. And shifting all of my discretionary spending to monzo, first on the prepaid and now on the CA.
The only thing I’ve really felt has been sub optimal is slow faster payment over a weekend. Which often doesn’t arrive until Monday.
The fee is a consideration but I don’t actually mind paying for a service that’s good. I do some of my work in the EU so recieving that payment into a (linked) euro account is great.
As has been noted above the fees monese on FX are now better with cash than monzo. I’m actually pretty annoyed at the way the community voted. But there you go. Having run the numbers over the 7 months I’m significantly better off paying the fiver and 0.5% than the £200 and 3%.
Security on monese is loads better (pin and finger print) and you can also download statements which is useful for proof of address etc.
In short in my opinion monese is a better bank right now. However I’ve invested in monzo and I think they will be the better long term bank. But I expect that’s 3 years away.
If anyone wants to use my referral link. Here it is:
Get a £5 welcome gift when you open a Monese account and deposit money. Just use my code: CBJ8YP45. Download the Monese app here: https://monese.app.link/earn
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Totally agree as it stands Monese is a better account at the moment. Also can be mentioned they have the ability in app to send SEPA payments as well as FPS.
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At Monese most of their customers use their service as their main banking account, and for them, the capped monthly fee means they are never stung with hidden charges unlike most banks. They also have a growing number of customers who need a more flexible product for casual use with no fixed monthly fee.
So today they have it.
They have just launched the new Monese Starter Account.
The new Starter Account has ZERO monthly fees and is available for everyone across Europe, no proof of address and no credit checks.
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It will be interesting to see if Monese launch their planned business accounts before Starling launch theirs!
And don’t forget they do EUR accounts too! https://monese.app.link/pAPGd6LGyH?invite=MQF6Y4C6
Wonder when Monzo will?
Interesting. Where’s the source for this?