Personally I got my Monzo card as a spending card I could top up on a weekly basis. That way I can keep direct debits in my old account and have a much better overview of my spending. It’s far superior to my other current accounts already and as soon as I can have direct debits come out of a pot I will switch completely.
Great exchange rates when abroad are just an awesome plus to a great account.
Just my two Cents…
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Thanks for clarifying!
I guess Pay@Pump fuel stations would be one way to break the £20 buffer with an offline transaction 
Anyone know if livecash / solo accounts still exist? I had one when I was 13. It worked exactly like a prepaid where you can’t go overdrawn and it only supported online transactions.
Otherwise you could just go for a prepaif card such as CashPlus. I think some have an initial fee for getting the card, but after that point you should be good to go. Not sure on what the overseas ATM fee’s are like.
This might be of interest:
tl;dr - Nimbl, Osper, GoHenry are all options
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Yeah, pretty much this, plus the existing card and app with instant notifications. That it was prepaid was a drawback, I moved to a current account as soon as I could months ago. Fine if it’s not exciting for you, but there’s no way to predict what it is that interested other people.
That’s your opinion. It’s a pretty cynical way to go through the world, but 
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Well, technically you were already breaking the terms of the prepaid account, so it’s not surprising the current account won’t cater for this. Though to be honest, when was the last time someone checked the name on your card, or even looked at it? I’ve used my wife’s bank card before (and her name is an unambiguously female one, and I don’t look feminine).
Do you have any proof of this? I have several current accounts (not all with the same bank), and have never had a single issue opening another one. I’ve also never heard of this being an issue. I think that’s a pretty big (and likely incorrect) assumption.
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It’s not true. I now have six current accounts with six different banks. I’m in the process of applying for savings accounts from two other separate banks and am applying for current accounts in two more separate banks. Often people assume things, based on some logic they come up with but its all worth squat if you don’t ever test it 
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Not sure if it was related but my credit score went up when my Monzo account was created!
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I can only tell you my experience. I was attracted to Monzo by MSE telling me about the zero fees overseas use. As that is now restricted and my main bank is closing its local branch I am shopping around.
I hold coop debit and credit cards. Monzo and Starling debit cards. I have just applied for current accounts with HSBC and B. I have also applied for Barclaycard Travel Platinum and Halifax Clarity. All except the Barclaycard were successful. The Halifax application being after the Barclays refusal.
I am probably going to settle for HSBC as my main account with Halifax clarity as my emergency card. I will use B for our joint cashless spending. That will be replaced with Starling if they eventually set up joint accounts.
Most of the people saying they’re not going to migrate are the MSE lot that jumped on board because Martin Lewis realised you could save a few quid with a relatively small feature. We all found that feature useful but it’s now been removed because it was over-used (or abused, whatever you want to call it). They were essentially looking for something totally different to what was actually advertised – a smart bank for your smartphone.
Let’s just let them go and stop trying to work out what it is that they’re looking for. I doubt we’d be able to get our free FX cash withdrawals back, but it can’t hurt to hope!
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Perhaps I’m one of those people. I never abused the card but I found it useful for using it online or abroad in places where I didn’t feel comfortable giving my CC or DC and for keeping track of “going out” monthly spending. A few months ago you decided to change the way abroad cash fees work and I though that was a way of adjusting for abuse as you call it.
Since I don’t have any immediate plans to switch and “bank with Monzo”, can someone perhaps explain what will differentiate Monzo than any other established bank ?
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I’d ask for a show of hands for who didn’t read about Monzo before signing up, but I think it’s quite clear.
lol
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To be fair signing up for things without fully understanding them is pretty common. When I first heard about monzo it was sold to me as a ‘new bank’ and was pretty disappointed it appeared to be just a prepay card 
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You’d see my hand up 
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Someone demonstrated the app to me and I thought ‘Great! A prepaid card with cool app and useful features.’
In three days I had a card, free foreign ATM withdrawals, and instant notifications. And that was all I wanted.
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And that’s still available on the current account!
With the exception of free at the moment withdrawals, which changed independently of the current account, because it was unsustainable.
Whilst other Challengers like Starling still offer free foreign ATM withdrawals, their user base is relatively small - when they reach 500K users, I doubt they will be able to maintain free withdrawals either.
A card, instant notifications, a real-time balance, and no accidental overdraft still exists!
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I know! I’ve got one. I was doubtful at first, but it’s working fine for me.
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This is what I have with Monzo. My card is anonymous - the first couple of hundred sign ups to the current account preview received a nameless MasterCard (ironically I would personally prefer one with my name on it for car hire etc.) I also have mobile app, instant notifications and the Mastercard rate when abroad!
Monzo have stated previously that they would like to introduce an option of having a nameless card again in future:
To be honest, it doesn’t really go into detail about anything with clear figures, it’s all just examples. “Wouldn’t it be great?” - yes it would but the devil is in the detail. I can put money NOW in an ISA at the end of the month and I can get it back whenever I want.
Look, I’m not against this and I genuinely want a better way of banking, and who knows, maybe Monzo will be it, but for now I just don’t see it.
Like many people here, and stop suggesting that we’re all a bunch of idiots that didn’t knew where this was going and didn’t read before singing up, what got me hooked was what I said previously: ability to load without fees, use it without concern of card fraud and a cool app.
I wish you all the best and I hope you make it.
For what it’s worth, I’ll be leaving. I always knew Monzo wanted to be a full featured bank, but didn’t realise that meant also closing the pre-paid card. The app has been asking me to upgrade for a while, but didn’t mention my account would be closed in two months if I didn’t (and still doesnt). The app tells me I need to go through a credit check to upgrade and I need to give you a copy of my passport and video? Don’t remember doing that when initially signing up and don’t want to now.
Was interesting to see use of the world ‘cult’ upthread to describe some of the defence of the company here (even if not by staff members) - that’s exactly how it looks to me, and I’ll be sticking with my existing current account because I don’t see how Monzo is any better than that.
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Not intending that, only trying to share an overview which might help answer your question:
I agree, there’s not a lot of specifics, but that’s the direction their aiming for - to simplify this process with partners rather than constantly trying to upsell you their own products