🇨🇿 Monzo in Czech Republic

Hi,

Just curious if anyone has used their card in the Czech Republic? I’m going there next week and was hoping to use it with little to no issues.

Thanks in advance.

-Chris

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No issues whatsoever worked with contactless and chip and pin even for buying bus tickets from the machine at the airport. I tried the card in small shops, fast food places and restaurants no issue at all.

If you have Apple or Android Pay you should find that works without issue too (except with Amex). On a previous trip to Prague I paid my hotel bill with Apple Pay.

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Most excellent, thanks for letting me know

Hi Chris, did you have any issues when you visited Czech Republic, or was it another success for Monzo? I am visiting in a few weeks and am hoping my Monzo card will make my life significantly easier.

As an update I returned from Prague the other day. I had zero issues with using my Monzo card, whether paying by card or withdrawing cash.

As long as you remember to decline the conversion at the ATM you will get the MasterCard rate as opposed to the bank.

I was advised to avoid withdrawing cash from the EuroNet ATMs and use an official bank ATM instead (easy to spot). I did use a few EuroNet ATMs and didn’t seem to be charged for anything other than the MasterCard exchange rate.

Hi there, I don’t know if you have been to Prague yet, but I was there yesterday and made a few transactions which were all :thumbsup: with the Mondo card!

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Thanks Paul.

Got back a couple of days ago. No issues at all, though cards weren’t that widely used.

Fantastic to have the Mondo conversion rates, saved me a lot of inconvenience in terms of cash collection… though Brexit hammered me more than I’d have liked!

:thumbsup:excellent to hear!

I went to Prague on business and the hosts gave me some advanced warning 'be careful when using your bank card,the fees may be high (and they are right, I reckon legacy banks charge about £5 per transaction in fees and exchange rate loadings - erm not with :mondo: of course!

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I used in Prague recently with no issues. Only issue is because presumably there’s not much data with these merchants the locations on the map are often wrong. I would suggest when you make a purchase overseas and the map is wrong then use the report an issue button to correct it.

Card acceptance isn’t that bad in Prague and most places take contactless (if you have other cards on Apple Pay they tend to work well too). If you use the local bus + Metro combo (cheapest way into city centre) you can buy a ticket with contactless at the machine at the bus stop. The ticket was 48CZK which was £1.51 on my Mondo card. Not a bad price to get into the centre!

I tried Mondo in a couple of bars, some restaurants, Tesco, a local shop and airport duty free with no issues (except for the locations on the maps). Didn’t need to get any cash out in the end. Worked in Prague a couple of years ago and still had some CZK.

When I lived in Prague I had an issue with card fraud, it was spotted by the credit card company but it was a pain having to wait for replacements. That’s why I was glad Apple Pay worked in most places as it doesn’t transmit your real card number to the retailer, I feel OK using Mondo though as the real time notifications can mean I’d see any signs of fraud immediately and do something about it.

On the flight home I bought something from the BA on-board shop just to test the card in a situation where it can’t authenticate (BA has no wifi on planes). The transaction appeared after three days.

Has anyone tried using Mondo on an airline that has buy on board food and drink? I’ll try it next time I’m on easyJet.

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I’ve used Mondo on both Ryanair and EasyJet. They both go through as delayed transactions without an authorisation a few days later.

Successfully withdrew cash :euro: via my Monzo card at a number of ATM’s :credit_card:(Bankomat) around the city of Prague, also managed to pay contactlessly and within a number of shops with no issue.

I didn’t get as good a rate as some of you guys from earlier… thanks Brexit… :chart_with_downwards_trend:

That said every time I did get the Mastercard rate, and avoided any excess charges! I didn’t get charged any extra at ATM’s, but I did spot a few that had them, just worth keeping an eye out!

https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html

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I’ve been using my Current Account card here in Prague no problem, supermarkets and restaurants have taken contactless and I’ve used a couple of ATMs for markets and street food.

One thing I will say is that if you’re using public transport (which is cheap and very good), only a few ticket machines accept card - the other, older machines you will see in most places require coins. So it might be worthwhile taking out 200 crowns, breaking it for change in a shop, and using those coins if you are planning on doing single trip tickets like I did. The airport machines take card, and you can buy a single passes or a pass for 1 or 3 days if you will get use of it, but outside of the airport I didn’t see card ticket machines.

i am a new user i wanted to know i should go to prague if i valid this card

I’m out here at the moment with the CA. I find everywhere I use contactless it then follows up by asking for the PIN. Is there a reason for this? Transactions are anywhere around £5-25 I find.

Also, just to note, a lot of bars and tourist attractions are cash only I find.

Hey guys, I’m off to Prague in around 8 days, I went a couple of years ago, but was old school with just cash… A couple of questions…

Nightlife wise - can you pay by card or is it predominantly cash for bars & clubs?

I’ve seen you can use them on public transport, and I’m sure you can on their trams in Prague itself if that’s still the case?

Many thanks! X

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Just back and lots of places take cards. However, normal bank ATMs now charge 190 (almost £7) per withdrawal on UK issued cards or 12% if you choose to let them do the conversion.