I restrained myself from pointing this out. Didn’t want to damage my reputation any further on here 
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apologies , inferred , implied … yep grammer not me best skill 
lol anyway as Dan has said enjoy your hols @bwd
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It’s not really “terrible” because I pay off the withdrawal as soon as I’ve made it, so I never get charged interest.
And even in the days when I didn’t know how to do that, I’d get charged a few pence every trip. So let’s not exaggerate.
The terrible part is the risk of people not realising, and getting huge fees, which is what legacy banks prey on. If you pay it off immediately, you might as well use a debit card, as long as it’s a free one like Starling.
can get a curve card its free and you get £500 fee free allowance a month link it to your monzo plus monzos £200 that’s £700 fee free withdrawal a month
Curve has some crazy hidden charges though…read the rules very carefully.
really I’ve never been charged from them and I’ve been using curve for 2 solid years now
From their site:
"For Curve Blue (free) customers, you can spend of £500 per month with no currency conversion fees. Any cumulative spend over £500 per month, will incur a 2% fee.
For Curve Black customers, you have unlimited free currency conversion (subject to fair use of £15,000 a year, beyond which we may charge 2% of the amount of the transaction as currency conversion fees).
From Fridays at 23:59 to Sundays 23:59, the UK foreign exchange markets are closed. During this time, we take the rate from Friday and charge an additional 0.5% for all transactions made in GBP, EUR and USD and 1.5% for all other supported currencies."
So basically, you can only use it abroad with no markup up to £500 a month (unlimited on Monzo/Starling), and you’ll be charged a fee to cover their forex risk at weekends!
This has caused a massive decrease in use of my Monzo and single-handedly prevented me from going full-Monzo.
I travel for 2-6 months per year (not always in a row) and it makes a significant difference for me. I also have to realise I’m not typical here.
Unfortunately it’s a losing argument so there’s genuinely nothing you can do but use Starling/Clarity instead while travelling.
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or you can tell Curve your Monzo card is a ‘euro’* card and curve will pass the euro transactions without a fee or limits. Monzo will also see this as a purchase and is within curve’s T&Cs.
- or any other currency
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Nice!
well I said that before you can spend up to £500 for free and combine with the monzo that’s £700 free a month as long as you don’t go over that amount then it’s free
Are you sure the £500 is cash? Also theres still the weekend commission…
I’d recommend Monese (£) if you’d like an alternative to Starling, and if you’d like a pre–paid option.
The free plan allows £200 ATM/month and 2% thereafter (cheaper than Monzo’s 3%)
£5/month plan allows £800 ATM/month, 2% thereafter.
£15/month plan allows unlimited ATM/month.
Obviously more expensive than Starling, but that bank has hinted that its fair usage is for holidaymakers, rather than perpetual travellers, and to get a new card shipped to you abroad may cost you £60.
Just an alternative. I use both a Starling and Monese.
Use Dozens no fees at all for ATM withdrawals same as Monzo was as prepaid, using it as a spare when off to US if I need to take extra cash out
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I imagine most people would get just carry several spares or, in the worst case, ask a trusted friend to do that for them, but how does that compare to the main competitors? I know most legacy banks won’t countenance sending a card out to many countries that do’t have advanced postal systems.
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My suggestion was to take Monese as a spare.
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Santander Zero Credit card. Before someone comments its 0 fee on cash withdrawals home and abroad.
But yeh I use starling tbh I’m in China 30% of the year and its best way to get cash in to china without limits.
Starling is looking like the best bet at the moment, with unlimited free withdrawals that exactly what I’m looking for, ordered my card and it should be here this week. Just wondering how the replacement process would work whilst I’m away? Not that I’m planning on losing it, but just in case
I’ll also be taking my Monzo and Santander in case I lose the others.
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I always travel with two Monzo, Halifax Clarity, Starling, Caxton or similar and usually one other zero fee card.