I think one way Monzo could make more money is by offering their own international transfers and keep the 0.4-0.5% FX for themselves, same as Starling does. Why are they offloading all international transactions to Transferwise?
Full disclosure:My Transferwise account was deactivated because of a foreign deposit I sent to my Monzo account through Transferwise, so now I can’t even use Monzo for any foreign transactions.
Monzo isn’t going to make money from taking micropayments here and there, in my opinion. It needs a comprehensive strategy in place, in which foreign transactions likely have any place.
Starling is succeeding because it’s a bank acting like a bank, for better or worse.
How might it be for worse?
I don’t know, let’s say some people find acting as a ‘bank’ to be against what they expected when joining Monzo; I Intended to be inclusive. Personally, I want a ‘bank’ to be a bank, first and foremost.
Isn’t Monzo trying to be our main bank? They can’t have a debit card mentality forever.
It may be what Monzo wants, but for many the current offering is not conducive for this. Hopefully future offerings will attract profitable customers.
I’m in the same boat… looking at leaving Monzo as i just don’t trust my income and only source of money being in Monzo anymore. Trying out Starling, Revolut etc over the next few months. Does anyone have a suggestion which alternative or even traditional bank is best?
Have you considered Natwest for a current account?
Starling is the obvious alternative - stable, plenty of features with its own euro account and business options. Importantly it has FCSC protection.
Revolut - very different proposition. Less protection but popular across borders with multi-currency wallet capability and a bunch of other interesting features.
For a primary current account?
Starling all day long.
I just recently moved all my banking from monzo as well
Having just been through this process (less because I didn’t trust monzo, more because Plus V3 felt like monzo really didn’t/dont have a clear vision for the future - the features were all a little ‘meh’) I can suggest a few options.
My immediate replacement for Monzo is Starling. It’s the only other FSCS bank that I’m aware of that has more or less things that were important in monzo to me, namely;
It has a much nicer UI in my opinion, the payee screen is much more pleasing and for me is the best alternative option for a challenger bank.
I also have Natwest for savings - The UI is pretty good, you can;
I had originally switched Monzo to Barclays as I’d heard good things but for me the lack of instant notifications (in trial though) and purchases showing as the day they processesed not the day they occured was too much. It was the closest I have seen to a challenger bank though including;
I think more or less all the features of Monzo with maybe bills pots as an exception are available in other bank account apps, so you wont do too bad. Good Luck!
So much negativity towards Monzo recently. They have defiantly had a hard time but I think they are one of the best options on the market and very well placed going forward.
Like many of us on here, I have accounts with Monzo, Revolut, Starling, Transferwise and traditional banks. Our main account, salary and cash savings are with Monzo.
No concerns with Monzo and happy with the direction plus is going. I wish product development moved faster and communication was better, but they are still our preferred bank by a large margin.
I’d cross revolut off that list. There may be many good reasons to use them but, if you’re worried about trusting monzo with your money, it makes no sense to move your money to an account that lacks FSCS protection. Your money is safer with monzo than it is with revolut (though I accept that your money is probably perfectly safe with both providers).
I think if people are really considering alternatives I’d look at Virgin Money. Been playing with it for a while and it feels like a good balance between fintech and traditional bricks and mortar banking.
I’d always heard (so nothing verified) that a certain amount of branch access used to be required for Virgin accounts which always put me off trying them.
For the new virgin current account I did the whole process in app. It’s still Clydesdale on the back end but you wouldn’t know that from the UI
As a plus customer I get through all the time on the phone… I am a grown man & hate chat. & now chats disappeared I feel vindicated for always opting to call.
Off topic, I know, what on earth is there to call a bank about? I never understand this but it must be important with all the threads about it. Other than when we bought a house and needed to transfer money, I haven’t needed to talk to my bank in 30 years.
Sounds like you’ve just been lucky. Being a Plus customer has nothing to do with it.
Some people just like to talk with another human over the telephone when they need help. It can be a reassuring thing. It tends to be the preferred method for most if they want to get something dealt with hastily too.
I think this is particularly true for older folks. My grandmother for instance wouldn’t buy your service or product, unless she can could call you up and be answered by a human in under 5 minutes. She loathed automated call systems.
But Monzo is a digital online bank designed arround self service not a phone banking service like that provided by other banks that Monzo gets compared to regularly