I’ve used Monzo for nearly a year now and have loved it. Being able to track my spending instantly and easily has been a huge plus point for me.
But I will be moving to America in August and would love to be able to keep using Monzo as I am. However I understand that there’s a limit on using the Monzo card abroad before fees start being added, which makes it a bit less appealing. I would also look to link it to my American bank account, is that possible?
Does Monzo have any plans to fully move and integrate into the American banking system in the near future? I’ve read a couple of articles saying they want to, but I’ve not seen any real time frames.
If this isn’t likely to happen any time soon, does anyone know of any Monzo equivalents in America that work in the same way?
Card payments are free, fees only apply to cash withdrawals after the 200£/month free allowance.
According to Monzo’s ToS it’s only for UK residents; so I guess if you still keep an apartment here you’re fine (what qualifies as a “resident” exactly? Am I no longer a resident if I go out of the UK for one day for a holiday? Do I qualify if I have an address here and only come for a few days a year? Is it about tax residency? Etc).
The biggest issue IMO would be to get money into your account; Monzo only supports UK Faster Payments, so getting funds in there would require a proxy like Transferwise and they have fees.
If you want a modern account that works in the US you could try the TransferWise Borderless account.
We don’t charge any fees for using your card abroad. You can withdraw up to £200 cash from an ATM in any given 30 day period for free - any cash withdrawals above that amount will be subject to a 3% fee. I suppose it depends where you are, but I spend a lot of time in the US and I almost never find myself needing to withdraw cash, and when I have done, it hasn’t been enough to surpass that buffer. I spent 6 weeks in California over December and January and probably withdrew cash once for a street market stall. Other than that I just used my card.
As far as linking it to your US bank account, I’m not exactly sure what you mean by that but you can use a service such as TransferWise to make international transfers in/out of your Monzo account, and this will soon be possible natively in the app.
For launching natively in the US - yes, we are definitely doing this, but we aren’t able to confirm a timeline just yet I’m afraid. But with any luck, we’ll at least be able to provide some updates on our plans for this over the next few months
Is it? I never found that in their terms. Although this is often postulated to be the case, I cannot find any clause regarding residency conditions in their Terms.
Well - that’s a simplification. You do need to be a UK resident to sign up in the first place! But if you move abroad, we don’t require account closure.
Hi Simon
Thank you very much for those replies, those were the answers I was looking for!
That’s great to know about the fees regarding withdrawals. I have a Bank of America account so I would probably just use that for withdrawing cash and would like to continue using Monzo as I do now - Out in shops, bars, restaurants etc. Would that be acceptable to do? To do this on a long term basis while abroad? For reference I’ll be living in Boston so I’d like to think most places would be card friendly, even better if contactless (a technology that is slowly making its way there with apple pay etc I suppose).
Sorry I was a bit unclear about linking accounts. Yes as I’ll be living and working over there, my pay cheque will go in to my Bank of America account so that would be the primary account I’d use to top up my Monzo account. Ah so there are plans to integrate international bank transfers into the app? That would be great! Though another question, when I’m living there will transactions continue to show in pounds (£) or is there an option to change this to dollars ($)? Could get a bit confusing constantly changing between the 2!
That’s great you’re looking to launch natively in the US! There’s definitely a market for it (US banking is a nightmare) so I’ll look forward to reading more about that in the near future.
Change to “Monzo is only for UK residents, or former residents, or those resident in Crown Dependencies who had a prepaid card and upgraded it to a current account”
There is no such functionality in the app at present…otherwise some of us would change the display currency during holidays and business trips abroad. Personally I think it is a good idea.
Yep - international transfers will be natively possible within the Monzo app soon - that’s something we’re working on now! Should be within the next few months
Our native currency will remain GBP, but each transaction you make will show in both GBP and USD so it shouldn’t be too confusing!
The FAQ is correct. You do need to be a UK resident to get a Monzo card. If you aren’t a UK resident, you can’t currently get a card. However if you are a UK resident who has a card and moves abroad, you can keep it - but that’s not the question posed by the FAQ
Anarchist
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You should also be aware that you will be being paid in USD but effectively spending in GBP. So every time you buy a coffee, it’ll be a different price due to exchange rate fluctuations.
