Monzo boss would like purchases of Alcohol and tobacco to be declined by Monzo - I think not!

In a recent interview published in the Guardian (link at the bottom of post) Tom Blomfield ( Monzo’s CEO) is reported to have said the following :

“But alcohol and cigarettes are the two (things) I would really love to put a block on.” Monzo doesn’t have the data to do this by itself, he explains. “But what Tesco could do is send entire receipt data through the Mastercard and Visa networks, which would then enable us to say: ‘Aha! There’s alcohol on that!’ Then we could decline the transaction until you take the alcohol out of your cart and re-swipe your card. It’s entirely possible, it just needs all the shops to adopt it.”

Has he lost his mind !? I know I for one would be cutting up my card within the hour if such a rule was implemented and I’m guessing from standing in Bars and watching other Monzo users also buying (lots) of alcohol with their cards too that many other users might just feel the same !

Am I wrong ?

Full article at :

3 posts were merged into an existing topic: Guardian interview with Tom