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
Nothing has changed as far as I’m aware. I had income due on a Thursday once, Monzo made that available at 4pm on Wednesdays. In the same situation Barclays deposited it at midnight on Wednesday morning. So unless Monzo have gotten faster in the past month, Monzo are only making the funds available to claim at 4pm on the third day for mid-week BACS payments in my usage, regardless of what they’re claiming, so Barclays have always been and still are faster for me.
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing!
I agree with you on this! A company’s values and ethos play a big role in my decision making and that’s probably the thing I like about Monzo, though their handling of plus has soured my opinion of them. When it comes to a bank though, UX matters to me just as much, Monzo (and other U.K. fin techs) haven’t and aren’t doing enough or innovating fast enough to fully entice me away from my legacy bank, but my legacy bank are doing just about enough to keep me from leaving them too.
I believe Monzo had first mover advanced though. Starling just launched a full current account first. A more relevant comparison would be active users who receive their salary, which I don’t believe we have figures to compare. The real test will come from how the penetrate beyond the fin-tech crowd, especially in other markets where Monzo don’t have all the buzz and good will they generated here by being first. A lot of companies with popular products in similar situations to Monzo failed as soon as someone like Apple came along, made a better version and penetrated mass market largely thanks to their reputation and not having to worry about profit.
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.
It seems to be that Monzo are paying me later than you say they are supposed to. Not that Barclays are paying me unusually early.
In fact, Monzo’s wording suggests they only pay on the 3rd 2nd (I wrongly assumed from your previous post that BACS must have been a 4 day process) day (just like Barclays)
Get paid through Monzo and we can advance you the money at 4pm on the day before it’s due. No fees, no hassle, just more time with your money.
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
No. I was unclear on the processing time of BACS so I wrongly assumed from your post that it was a 4 day process and Monzo were supposed to pay on the second day. That’s my bad, sorry.
My regular salary is paid on Thursdays. Monzo allow me to claim this at 4PM on Wednesday. Due to the misunderstanding I thought you were implying that Monzo should be paying me at 4PM on Tuesday. Barclays just automatically deposit it shortly after midnight on the same Wednesday, so about 16 hours before Monzo do. This was consistent within my social circles as most of us banked with Barclays (some still do) prior to the fin-tech insurgence.
Exactly. It is an example of how good Monzo are marketing features which are not actually that groundbreaking. It is what makes them have such a large user base - not necessarily the features themselves.
Yes Nationwide are the worst than all banks put together. Who does updates all day Saturday or Monday evening that no other bank can send a faster payment to them? Every other week, whilst you only hear of this from other banks once a year or never. Shame you closed account they have a service status page.
I don’t think the pay early thing is a point as it’s just a day it’s useful in some cases but it’s not life changing.
Things such as how they handle chargebacks is much more relevant. For example a large bank would simply refund the customer out of their own pocket in most circumstances regardless of the amount instead of leaving the customer out of pocket for months whilst it’s sorted in the background. It’s a much better experience to hear right that’s sorted don’t worry.
see for me that doesnt ever enter into my decision to go “full monzo” if I receive cash I spend it the next time Im in a bar, or a taxi, or just keep it in my pocket, or under the bed depending on how much , and I haven’t had a cheque for …hmmmm… no idea , so what is important to some ( the minority? that get paid in cash ? )doesnt necessarily mean its important to “most” that dont get paid in cash , but we have been over this hundreds of times before about what is “required” by some doesn’t even occur to others, and at the end of the day there are other bank providers that do allow you to deposit vast sums of cash should you need to regularly
Monzo can do no wrong … which is the whole point of this thread to sit back and watch the arguements about how great Monzo is / isn’t …to your viewpoint
I believe Monzo have about as many salaries as Starling’s total customer number (not all of whom are active). This is taking the 4m Monzo users and assuming #fullmonzo is still around the 30% mark.
They’ve certainly done that in the UK (I don’t think the “fin-tech crowd” has 4m members!), and that’s despite not being first - Tom came from Starling, remember…
, and I haven’t had a cheque for …hmmmm… no idea , so what is important to some ( the minority? that get paid in cash ? )doesnt necessarily mean its important to “most” that dont get paid in cash , but we have been over this hundreds of times before about what is “required” by some doesn’t even occur to others, and at the end of the day there are other bank providers that do allow you to deposit vast sums of cash should you need to regularly 