This is a wiki crowdsourced by the Monzo Community to help you travel with Monzo.
Just like Wikipedia, anyone can edit it to help out others. If you have any tips or feedback for visiting Singapore with Monzo, please feel free to edit this guide. You can also add a comment or question below â someone will then incorporate your comment into the main text below and then delete your comment. To create your own âMonzo in âŚâ guide if one doesnât already exist, just copy this template into a new post and write away!
Safe travels!
Currency
Singapore uses the Singapore dollar ($, SGD)
Card usage
Card acceptance is generally really good. Contactless is present in many, but not all places.
ATMs
There arenât any charges for withdrawals. ATMs are prevalent.
Payment and withdrawal limits
All Monzo cards have some payment and withdrawal limits. To check yours before you leave, tap âAccountâ under the picture of your card and then âSpending and card limitsâ.
Crowdsourced merchant data
The Monzo merchant data is often incorrect (eg. the map shows the wrong location or the name of the place is not correct). Please submit improvements to this data so it can get better for future visitors.
Miscellaneous
In terms of public transport- they use a card called EZ-Link, which works like the Oyster card. You can use Monzo to pay for a temporary EZ-Link and you get a deposit back on the card at the end of it. EZ-Link can be used on buses, trains, and some taxis.
To edit this guide, just tap the pencil icon below. Alternatively, add a reply with your comments and someone from the community will incorporate your suggestions into the guide and then delete your comment.
I just got charged s$5 on my Monzo debit card after declining the automatic currency translation for DBS (as in, I opted to pay in local currency). The wording on the screen did not say I would be charged the âaccess feeâ so please withdraw from DBS on your Monzo debit carefully. I am going to see if I can take a picture of the screen where it asks about the translation (it says it will charge s$5 for the translation only) and put it here to see if it mentions a general s$5 fee (but I read it pretty carefully and wouldnât gave accepted the fee had I known it was coming).
Recommend we update the ATM fees part of the guide to reflect that some ATMs are charging an access fee. I will find out if more charge this fee and also find out if I just misunderstood the message or if it was actually unclear by going through on another DBS machine. Iâll also withdraw on a different machine as UOB at Bukkit Timah where I tried was faulty.
I had the same issue as @adamdunkley when I withdrew from a POSB ATM. There was no indication that I was to be charged the S$5 fee, and in the end the Monzo app showed me that the total amount withdrawn was S$5 more than the actual amount I selected to withdraw.
Off to Singapore and Malaysia in a few months and was wondering if anyone has been recently and had any issues using Monzo?
Undecided whether to go solely Monzo or take another card aswell
Taxi and restaurants didnât 100% accept. I found that you had better chance of success by asking them to do contactless transactions for example in cabs. Monzo customer services advised to enable mag stripe.
Iâm in Singapore now, as we speak, and the only âproblemâ Iâve had, was trying to pay for a riverboat cruise and Monzo saw it as a dodgy transaction & froze my card, so I paid with another one. Turned the magstrip on & not had a problem since
I sorted it straight away, just went to the âUnfreezeâ button. Oddly enough, we (me & other half) were in a queue this morning & the man in front pulled out his Monzo card! Talk about a talking point! He said that some of the big banks here had charged him to withdraw cash, but we bought some with us so not had that problem. If the cashier gives us a wierd look, we just say weâre paying with âMasterâ and theyâre right as rain. Some places even give discounts for paying by MasterCard
MasterCard can now be used directly as a travel card on the Singapore MRT trains, so just now I used my Monzo to travel without even needing to buy a ticket! Amazing! There is a $0.50 admin fee but I think I can live with that!
ATMs: UOB currently has no charge for Monzo. As of this month, OCBC now charge $5 per transaction. Not sure about POSB but I understand they charge also.
Just left Singapore this morning. Most places accept Monzo fine and you can travel on the MRT without a problem (did not try buses). Got a tourist pass for the first few days but in hindsight, could have gone straight for the Monzo. Waiting to see if there was an admin fee.
Got charged $5 on a DBS ATM as well. No mention of a charge at all and declined their conversionâŚ
Only places you will want and need cash are the Hawker centres. Those are a must-go but donât think any of the proper ones accepted cards (foodrepublic does but according to a local those are up-scale already). As a tourist youâll pay more but still the cheapest and a tasty food option.
One ATM wanted to charge me $8 for a withdrawal. It might have been POSB but I panicked when I saw the number In fairness, it did ask for confirmation before going ahead. I declined.
Then I used a UOB machine which didnât charge a fee.
Contactless payments are ubiquitous for larger stores and public transport (tap in without buying a ticket in advance). Youâll see a lot of NETS terminals at smaller places. Though they look like a contactless terminals they actually need a pre-paid card.
In fairness, it did ask for confirmation before going ahead. I declined.