Not to put too fine a point on it but Monzo wasn’t first with a number of these.
Getting paid early - many banks have informally (or even officially) offered this for years including for cheques in some cases
utilising a large alternative network of locations for handling cash - you mean like having branches and using post offices?
paying a contact in your phone - you realise that both Pingit and PAYM both existed before Monzo was founded?
Multiple Pots - Intelligent Finance, Principality Building Society and others all offered this well before Monzo was founded. Other banks just let you open multiple accounts and you can usually custom name them if desired.
Very true. When I first heard of this it just made me think of how NatWest would pay me early when I banked with them. It was strange how Monzo flouted this as a feature because I’m aware of several banks which do this automatically and without fanfare. Definitely not on their website homepage. Not that it’s a bad ‘feature’ or anything.
When I was with Barclays Monday’s payments would go through just after midnight on Saturday. With Monzo you get it Friday at 4pm
All other payments were credited on the 3rd day of the BACS cycle where Monzo are 4pm on the 2nd day so unless Barclays have implemented a change since last May Monzo pay earlier
I’m not familiar with this blog so can’t speak to its quality/reliability, but for what it’s worth here’s a blog post from mid 2018 surveying when each bank usually deposits salaries into your account
None of these are as early as Monzo’s get paid early (4pm previous working day).
I know some banks release Monday pay on Saturday and that’s not represented in the table, but that’s still not as early as Monzo’s feature (Friday for Monday pay day).
This may sound a bit fluffy, but I think business is becoming more about values and ethos. Monzo has always been the leader here - I have never seen a bank that people engage with in the same way. It’s definitely a “firm of endearment”, if you will. In more recent times, transparency and staff engagement on the forum has reduced, and along with the service issues, I see this as a big risk for Monzo in terms of differentiation. Ultimately, it is this, rather than features, which will win the day, so I do hope they get back to their best. The big banks have still not been forgiven for 2008, but that will wear off if they continue to be reliable, and continue to modernise.
Among the challengers, it’s interesting that, despite Starling having a huge head start with features, and some which are still technically better (like the unlimited foreign cash) they have struggled to attract people in the same numbers as Monzo, and I put that down to the fact that they just feel like a legacy bank in disguise. Last time I used their app, I literally couldn’t work out how to do basic things, but they do seem to be getting a little more traction now.
I wonder though. Whilst those interested enough in the broader issues (and values) of what “good” banking means - those on forums such as this - will be concerned, I’m not so sure the vast majority of customers (and potential customers) will be bothered.
The rise in ethical investing and shareholder revolts recently over company ethics shows this is becoming increasingly important to a growing number of people
I think there is one thing Monzo does have over the competition
(Here in the UK at least), whereas most, if not all other FinTechs have a “customer” base, Monzo have a real “fanbase” and not just on here.
Whether that is good or bad for their business, I don’t know, but it is pretty unique among financial products.
Maybe I’m missing something here, but as far as I can see, this feature only works once.
After that first use, there is still a month between paydays, so you are back where you started.
and if you have a problem in that month with paying for something at the start of the month it would be incredibly useful to some , and then budget accordingly for the rest of the month , but I agree there is still a month between paydays
