Monzo's 3% charge for over £200 of withdrawals every 30 days

[gt94sss2]

Just to point out that a change in the law means that Monzo have been forced to remove their 3% fee if withdrawing over £200 within the EU/EEA

Cash withdrawals in the European Economic Area (EEA) are now free!

Good news, cash withdrawals in the European Economic Area (EEA) are now free! Due to a change in EU regulation on cross-border payments we’ve removed ATM fees and limits for countries in the European Economic Area (EEA). This means in all EU countries (and a few more) your cash withdrawals are now free! Withdrawals in non-EEA countries haven’t changed – you can still take up to £200 out for free in a 30-day window, then there’s a 3% fee on top of that to cover our costs. You …

[Ivan1954]

@jph

That’s the case for dozens of options. It doesn’t make it reasonable or recommended.

I definitely wouldn’t recommend it, I was just making a general comparison.
Although at least now with them dropping the charges in the EU, it is a little better offering.

[Justin]

I use Monzo abroad for general spending, and try to avoid cash wherever possible. However, in many countries, this simply isn’t possible.

Traditionally I’ve used the Halifax Clarity card for cash withdrawals, which I then immediately top up with the same amount. To avoid hassle, I even used to pre-load it. However, Halifax now tries to stop you from putting money onto your credit card until transactions have cleared, which means you’d still be paying a couple of days’ interest (though this is negligible). The Halifax Clarity card is still very handy for travellers, and I’d recommend it to anyone who spends time abroad.

Since Monzo introduces their cap, I’ve tended to use Starling to withdraw cash. And occasionally Revolut if it’s just a small amount.

[j06 (Jamie)]

@Justin

Halifax now tries to stop you from putting money onto your credit card until transactions have cleared, which means you’d still be paying a couple of days’ interest

That’s crafty, and I’d argue unfair. Still, Clarity was invented in a time before Starling’s unlimited free cash withdrawals, so whilst it was once a leading product, it’s less so now. I’m not sure why anyone would take a Clarity card these days when there’s a better product on the market. Monzo is slightly different – if you want to use Monzo in the UK, it’s probably fine for most international destinations too.

[gt94sss2]

@Justin

Traditionally I’ve used the Halifax Clarity card for cash withdrawals, which I then immediately top up with the same amount. To avoid hassle, I even used to pre-load it. However, Halifax now tries to stop you from putting money onto your credit card until transactions have cleared

I do the same and it’s still easy to do so now - just make payments to the credit card via faster payment.

[Justin]

@gt94sss2

I do the same and it’s still easy to do so now - just make payments to the credit card via faster payment.

Yes, I agree. However, if you try to make that payment to your Clarity card from a Halifax account, they don’t let you pay more than the credit card’s current balance. As you say, though, it’s fairly easy to find a way around that by paying from a non-Halifax account.

[jph]

@Justin

However, Halifax now tries to stop you from putting money onto your credit card until transactions have cleared

They do? I know you’re not supposed to but how could they ever actually do this?! It seems impossible to enforce.

[Justin]

@jph

I know you’re not supposed to but how could they ever actually do this?! It seems impossible to enforce.

They prevent you from paying money into your credit card account from your Halifax current account until the credit card transactions have cleared. Here’s what happens if I try:

Of course, you can still pay from a non-Halifax account.

[TTJJ]

@ccoouuss

Im pretty sure it doesn’t get added to your credit file as I pay it off the same evening, I have just checked mine and it shows green for every month, and no mention of credit advance.

I’m not certain you’re looking in the right place as Halifax certainly do report this. Which CRA are you using to access your report? In any month where withdrawals are made it will be visible on your report to other lenders and should be to you as well. Whether it has a negative effect or not who knows…

The issue with the CRA online is that you can’t see raw data for every month only the most recent reporting period though this data is available to lenders.

[TTJJ]

@Justin

They prevent you from paying money into your credit card account from your Halifax current account until the credit card transactions have cleared

Same happens for HSBC, and if I try paying from another bank account the Faster Payment is rejected immediately if I’m already in credit or try to pay too much. Their incoming payment system must work very quickly to determine whether a payment can be accepted or not.

[jph]

@Justin

you can still pay from a non-Halifax account.

So it is impossible to enforce…

[jph]

@j06

If @jph means spare Monzo cards, that isn’t a ‘thing’.

Yes it is. Why deny something you clearly don’t know about?

@Anouj

If you go travelling for over a month, good luck going through and finding every single ATM transaction and working it out. And to the person saying I’m complaining about paying, I’m not. The problem is you pay far more than if was just a simple limit than a rolling limit. And Monzo is supposed to be about being better than other banks with complicated and unfair fee structures

Yeah, nobody has invented ctrl-F or regex. Oh wait.

[Abi1 (Abedin)]

Hello I am Abi i have the same problem with this charger 3% I was last month in Kosovo and they charged me 3% this is not good for me because in Kosovo most of the time you have to pay with cash , this is not helpful because Monzo introduces this 3% in country out the Europe, this 3 % should be for Europe because in Europe I use card all the time you don’t need cash , hopefully this will change

[Peter_G]

If you want a no fees card, I hear that Starling is in this season.

[Abi1 (Abedin)]

Thanks Peter_G , I will try that but I hope Monzo will do something about this

[j06 (Jamie)]

Monzo won’t. It costs a bank money for you to withdraw cash at a foreign ATM and Monzo has built its business model so that it only subsidises the first £200.

Why do you feel it should be free?

[Abi1 (Abedin)]

It was before free why can’t be same

[Ordog]

By before do you mean in beta? It was probably a few hundred customers then, now it’s a few million. I imagine there is a big cost difference to be able to provide this and it just isn’t worth it?

[Ivan1954]

Monzo are no different to the majority of FinTechs in this respect.

There are very few which offer unlimited free ATM withdrawals.