I orignally came across Monzo in the Starling discussion boards and am fortunate in being able to see both Starling & Monzo side by side and compare the best and worst features of both.
I got my card yesterday and started to transfer money in and also have asked to use CASS to moved my Barclays account to Monzo.
Compared to the usual efforts of the high street banks; as most Monzo/Starling users will know both of them are streets ahead in terms of being transparent, in terms of an app that allows the user to self-service and all of the great stuff like being able to see what you have spent where.
Some of the features I have personally found confusing compared to Starling.
Overdraft
I understand the 50p per day up to £15.50; however I am not sure what constitutes being overdrawn. Let me explain. At Starling if I am £500 overdrawn but have £500 in my goals then technically my balance is £0 so I am not overdrawn and there are no charges.
I think there is a slight difference in Monzo as it appears that the money in my Pots is still shown as my balance although I can’t spend it directly? so in my example above £500 overdrawn with £500 in a pot; am I actually overdrawn and hence charge 50p or still in credit?
Pots (Goals)
In Starling when you transfer money into your goal it vanishes literally; it does not show as your balance and you have to view a completely seperate page. Although as mentioned above it is still considered part of the balance.
Spending Notifications
I bought breakfast in McDonalds today and on my Starling card the alert usually pops up even before the receipt has run out of the machine. Indeed in Matalan the other day the alert came to my watch before the till receipt came out. The alert from McDonalds didn’t arrive so I checked the app; and the transaction showed correctly (rounded up by my pot), as I walked into my office 3 minutes away the notification popped up.
Is there someway to get it faster, I have the notification set to Urgent
Rounding up
Ok, so this was probably my misunderstanding, although I don’t feel the explanation in the app is super clear. I spent £4.09 at McDonalds and it rounding it to £5, and put 91p in my pot. This was not what I expected, it would be great is you could set some limit either nearest £1, 50p, or 10p.
All in all enjoying exploring what Monzo offers; and can see why people want to switch to you