Does Monzo eventually plan to release a credit card as well as a debit card?
Monzo have said they have no plans in the future to offer a credit card at the moment 
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I’ve always used my debit card for car rental and hotels in the past? Even those who say they want a credit card are happy with debit, although I assume you need enough money in there for them to reserve the insurance excess or buffers for emptying the minibar or whatever, I guess that’s where the difference is?
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Credit card transactions have protection that debit cards don’t. See below…
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Hi Luke, just to let you know - I’ve moved your post here to keep all of the discussion about Monzo providing credit cards in one place. I hope that’s ok!
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However, from experience this protection is meh - maybe I just didn’t push hard enough but Capital One (my CC provider) didn’t seem interested at all in charging back a erroneous Virgin Media payment.
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I have had big debates with rental companies in particular. Some will 100% not accept debit cards, even with me offering a £5k deposit. Drives me mad given credit card hold is only a few hundred pounds but apparently that is policy. This is the only reason I still have a credit card.
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‘Chargeback’ is different. It is at the will of the credit card provider.
Section 75 protection, however, is not “meh” it’s legally mandated so there won’t be any question, if you qualify to be able to trigger it, you will receive it. That protection is enshrined in law.
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Not any more, Amex have stopped allowing 3rd party issuers after the cap on interchange fees.
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If you pay it off each month it is just like using a debit card, no crazy interest at all.
I get hundreds of pounds back on my cash back card and many airmiles on my BA card. Double these up with a 241 voucher and that’s an international business class ticket for two worth up to 10k.
I wouldn’t call that a waste of time!
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I keep saying this, so apologies for sounding like a broken record…
But I have no idea why anyone who can get a credit card/amex (appreciate some people can’t), which offers cash back/rewards, wouldn’t use it for as much as they can.
I’ve just had a holiday to Europe for a family of 4, which I paid using amex points (plus £115 in taxes).
The only downside is you then don’t get all of the relevant insights and analytics from Monzo - But the £1,000’s of pounds you can save is worth it!
If Monzo had better payee management - which, ultimately is all you’d need if you used a credit card for all day to day spending… and yes, I know it’s coming soon so I’m very excited for it, I’d seriously consider making it my main account for everything else.
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I think it all depends on your income levels to be honest , if you have sufficient income to service your credit card “debt” its probably a good way of accruing benefits, if you don’t have the income to service the potential available debt I think they are a terrible idea - all to often people get the impression that because they don’t have to cover the cost of the purchase immediately its free money and will carry on spending way beyond their budgets / means
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Sorry, that’s a valid point and I should have clarified…
I never use a credit card as a way to spread payments (or borrow more than I have) - If I can’t afford it, I can’t afford it. Or if it is a large purchase and they offer interest free… It would be rude not to take them up on that offer.
So yeah, you need to be disciplined when it comes to spending - But I find that if you treat it as a debit card, it will be OK.
So if you are spending money anyway… why not spend it on a credit card, and then pay it off straight away?
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I don’t think it’s income level that matters, more self discipline. All I’m suggesting is moving your normal spend onto a credit card - no debt needed.
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yes I agree , if you have self discipline and a regular unfaltering , guaranteed income they are a useful tool
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One thing I really like about using emma to track my spending is that I can treat credit card purchases as occurring in the month they happen rather than the following month when they get paid for. That way I can see if my spending meets my income in real time.
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How much do you spend on your card a year? If you really can make £10k from spending what £40k? on your card then well good on ya, that is a mad return. In practice I find I could get up to 500 back but the hassle of switching cards and managing reward points becomes too onerous. I can easily save that in fx by using Monzo for travelling and monitoring my spending.
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I’ll leave Dave to answer that specific question - But for me, I don’t use my amex any differently than I would use my Monzo card.
I keep on top of what I spend, I budget, I know what comes in and what goes out.
So… getting something back for spending what I’d spend anyway… Why wouldn’t you?
Note - I also use Monzo or Starling for foreign spend.
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I put pretty much all my spending through either the Amex Costco card (1-3% cashback) or the Amex BA Premium card.
On the latter, once you hit £10k spend, you get a voucher, valid for two years, that effectively doubles the value of your airmiles. On £10k of spend you get between 15k and 30k airmiles depending on where you spend it. Add in various promotions (see headforpoints.com for options) that add airmiles and travel on BA generating miles, and I generally hit enough for a business class ticket to Asia. The voucher turns this into 2 tickets.
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Pure hassle. Life admin. Multiple cards. Hidden charges. Ideally I would have one card end of story. Good first world problem.
I’m sceptical as to what credit card companies are doing to give free cash back. They are probably hoping people don’t pay balances and pay high interest with the offer of rewards making people sign up. I am similar to you in paying balance back in full and budget so not an issue for me. Effectively the worse off are subsidising this.
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