I’m hoping someone here can help or share advice. I’ve been having serious issues with my Monzo card today and I’m not getting any help from Monzo support.
Here’s what’s happening:
I tried using my card this morning contactless and got an error. Had to use a different card to pay as was in a rush.
This evening I went to another shop and tried contactless again and it didnt work, then tried chip & PIN. The terminal immediately showed “use magstripe” before I could even enter my PIN.
I tried using the magstripe, but that failed too—just another error.
So at this point, the card is completely unusable.
I contacted Monzo support and explained everything. But I’ve now had two different agents tell me to “enable magstripe” and do a payment with it to fix the issue. That makes no sense to me—especially since:
Magstripe is outdated and rarely accepted in UK shops.
The only magstripe setting I can find in the app is for ATM withdrawals, not for shop payments.
I don’t want to rely on magstripe for security reasons.
I’ve asked them to clarify why chip & PIN and contactless aren’t working, and whether the card is blocked or faulty. But I keep getting the same generic advice about magstripe.
Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a way to escalate this properly and find out what’s going on without going in circles?
I’d begin by ordering a new card in the app. Pretty sure there’s an option in the flow to say it’s faulty and you definitely won’t be charged for a replacement
If the replacement is also faulty then back in touch with support and/or raise a complaint
It’s likely a faulty card and needs replacing, but before you do that, check that you haven’t accidentally frozen your card first. Also, when you try using your card, do you get any notifications from the Monzo app?
If you get a notification, this might tell you what’s wrong (and is likely NOT a faulty card issue). If you don’t get any notifications, then it is likely a faulty card and needs to be replaced.
If you order a new card and that one also doens’t work, then something is going on and you would need to speak with Monzo Support.
It’ll be a faulty card - order a replacement as others have suggested.
My OG Flex card stopped working about a month ago. On any terminal, it refused to recognise contactless and when Chip&Pin was tried, it declined (on the terminals) as ‘unrecognised’.
The same Flex card in GWallet works fine.
I ordered a replacement last week and it’ll be with me tomorrow.
My card is definitely not frozen—that was one of the first things I checked before contacting Monzo support. The app shows the card as active, not frozen, and there’s no indication that it’s been blocked.
When I try to use the card in shops, the terminal shows an error, but I get no notifications or messages in the Monzo app. There are no declined transactions, no signs that a payment attempt was made, and no error messages in the app itself.
I’ve ordered a replacement card, but I’ve been told it could take up to a week to arrive. The problem is, I’m supposed to be going on holiday tomorrow with my children.
The hotel we’ve booked requires a physical bank card at check-in for a pre-authorisation. They won’t accept Google Pay or any other alternative. Without a working card, we won’t be able to check in.
I’ve already paid for theatre tickets, train fares, and other activities—none of which are refundable. So unless something changes quickly, I’m about to lose a lot of money and miss out on a trip I’ve planned for my family.
With all due respect if it’s a faulty card what do you expect Monzo to do? Hand deliver it to you with an apology note. Get the disappointment and that annoyance that the card is faulty but it’s something that can occur to any card potentially. This is hardly something that’s distinctly Monzo’s fault
Anarchist
(Press ‘Help’ search ‘Contact us’ or email help@monzo.com or call 0800 802 1281)
7
They may accept any working card, even if the T&Cs suggest otherwise.
Yep so long as they can hold funds they’ll be happy, many hotels will take a different card for check in a hotel is hardly going to turn you away because the one card they have in file doesn’t work they’ll just add a new one to your booking
I appreciate your perspective, and I agree—any card can potentially fail. But I think it’s fair to expect a bank to respond quickly and clearly when a card stops working without warning, especially when there’s no visible damage, no freeze, and no indication in the app that card is blocked or anything is wrong. So don’t even know if card is actually faulty,
What’s been frustrating isn’t just the fault itself—it’s the lack of meaningful support. I’ve received useless advice, continually being told to activate magstripe in app and to use magstripe (which isn’t accepted at alot of UK retailers), also setting to turn of magstripe in app is only for atms. No one has explained why chip and contactless suddenly stopped working.
They won’t even look in to it every response is magstripe activate and use magstrip.
I’ve ordered a new card, which won’t arrive in time for a trip I’ve already paid for. That’s not just an inconvenience, it’ Could be a financial loss and a ruined holiday with my children.
I’m not expecting hand delivery or an apology note. I’m expecting clear communication, urgency, and a solution that reflects the impact this has on a real person’s life. That’s not unreasonable.
I’ll contact hotel and see if they will accept a different bank card. There terms and conditions state you have to present same card you used to pay when check-in.
Completely understand where you’re coming from, yes it sounds like Monzo haven’t been very proactive in their response to the whole thing hopefully the hotel can accept another card and your holiday isn’t ruined
Anarchist
(Press ‘Help’ search ‘Contact us’ or email help@monzo.com or call 0800 802 1281)
11
And neither do the bank of the terminal rejects it.
I know you’re not expecting this to work, but it may be worth trying: if the terminal recognises that the chip isn’t working, then it may well allow the magstrip for the transaction. I’m not saying it’s definitely going to work, but I think if it were me I’d at least give it a try.
I did try using magstripe yesterday evening after contactless and chip & PIN both failed, but magstripe didn’t work either.
Monzo support told me I need to activate magstripe in the app before it can be used. But when I checked, the only option I could find is under Controls, and it says:
“Magstripe ATMs – Turn on magstripe ATM withdrawals for 7 days.”
Unless I’m misunderstanding, that setting seems to apply only to ATM cash withdrawals, not to magstripe payments in shops.
Isn’t magstripe supposed to be automatically enabled for in-store transactions? Or is there a separate setting I’m missing?
If anyone understands how magstripe works with Monzo cards, I’d really appreciate an explanation. Also—would turning on the ATM magstripe setting help with shop payments, or is that unrelated?
I’m sorry but if my card no longer worked, the common sense thing is to just replace it.
This isn’t a monzo problem, it’s a card problem and these things happen.
Having two accounts mitigates this issue, just send money to another account and spend whilst waiting on the new card. Adopt digital wallet pay too which is convenient.
For concerns of the hotel; take the old card with you and explain what happened and the new card is on its way or visible in the app.
Thanks for your input, I understand where you’re coming from, and I agree that replacing a faulty card is the sensible step. As said above I’ve already ordered a new one, but unfortunately, that doesn’t solve the immediate problem I’m facing.
This isn’t just about inconvenience. I was meant to be travelling tomorrow with my children, and the hotel we booked requires a physical bank card for check-in. There terms and conditions state it has to be same card you paid with.
I have phoned hotel to explain situation as did not want to travel all that way just to be turned away and have no wear to stay and they won’t budge, they said will not accept any other card and definitely wont accept Google Pay or digital virtual card etc, and they won’t accept my explanation or a screenshot from the app. Without a working card that is same card that paid with, we can’t check in.
I spoke to 2 different people and both said same thing.
I’ve already spent a significant amount on non-refundable tickets and bookings for the trip. So yes, card faults can happen—but the lack of clear communication from Monzo and the delay in resolving this has real financial and emotional consequences.
Having a second account is good advice , but it doesn’t help me now. I’m not blaming Monzo for the card failing—I’m just frustrated that I’ve had to chase for answers and still don’t know why it stopped working.
I get that maybe they don’t know. But what if it was a emergency and I needed cash. I know I can use my virtual cards to pay in shops and Google pay but I can’t use that to withdraw out cash.
Any way sadly looks like won’t be going away tomorrow, will just have to hope new card works when arrives.
I think part of the issue here is the hotel for some reason and there inability to budge, so I can understand their frustration as they’re getting nowhere and being told you must use the card which you used when booking which is now impossible because the new card won’t even have the same number. Leaving them literally stuck in a position of having non refundable stuff on a broken card then cannot use, I see both sides to this its most certainly a frustrating situation and would make me check with hotels around policy before booking with them
The hotel should allow some flexibility. I’ve booked a hotel on a credit card months in advance once before and before checking in had closed the card and opened another with a different credit card provider. Hadn’t even thought about it when checking in and they went to charge the card details they had only for it to be declined (which was then when I realised they had my old credit card details), I just gave them a different card to charge there and then and it was done.
They would much rather have the money I suspect than not be able to charge you, and of course things in life happen… cards can be lost, stolen or become faulty so there will be a mechanism for them to charge a different card.
Agreed but they’ve said they tried calling the hotel and they’re not budging, sincerely hope they can get it fixed and not lose their non refundable stuff
Obviously the Monzo customer support could have been much better and initiated a card replacement straight away (instead of getting you to waste a few days trying to change magstripe settings in the app over and over again, and silly things like that)…
But I’m more shocked at that policy from the hotel that it has to be the same card. I’ve heard the same for airlines, that they can ask you to present the card at check-in and deny boarding if you don’t have it. I guess it’s some sort of anti-fraud thing, but I’m sure many people book months in advance and then no longer have the original card when they turn up (lost, stolen, expired, etc.)
Flex card stopped working about a month ago. On any terminal, it refused to recognise contactless and when Chip&Pin was tried, it declined (on the terminals) as ‘unrecognised’.