I just made an outgoing payment to my credit card, and I forgot to enter a payment reference, causing an instant headache.
I feel the UI should really have the payment reference field as required, or at least prompt to indicate that I’m sending the payment without a reference and is this really what I want.
Even better, since the UI has a hidden list of previous references values, if there is just one value, just auto-enter it? Or prompt to re-use it?
It sucks that it happened, but I detest being made to put in a reference. I don’t need them for 99% of my payments, and I end up with TRANSFER on my bank statement, just sets my niggles going.
It should drop down with previous references if you’ve done it before.
It does. A ‘blank’ warning would still be nice though (for me).
I would have no objection to a warning 
+1 for a warning here or prompt to confirm no reference needed
Only do a warning if you’ve previously used a reference, and aren’t this time. If you’ve never used a reference you shouldn’t get a warning at all.
Hmm. That still lets you mess it up on your first go. 
Okay, warn on the first, but not subsequently.
HSBC’s credit card division reject payments without a valid reference
That sounds unnaturally sensible of them…
I’ll be the voice of rejection here; a prompt would add friction, and Monzo are really trying to create a frictionless UX. Before you enter your PIN, you are shown the account numbers, amount, and reference if you entered one.
This is where you have a chance to stop, read over what’s there, then enter your PIN to confirm. I think that’s ample opportunity
One year on, and I’ve just come back to a thread I created because I just again sent a payment to my credit card without the reference number.
COME ON MONZO.
There is no warning that a reference has not been entered. If no reference is entered, nothing is displayed so it’s not clear its been missed.
This is especially dumb where as monzo knows that a reference has been used before.
THIS!
100% This!
Been a while since I sent a payment, and it’s probably not idea for me to fake one in order to see the payment flow. But, the reply prior to your latest post says this (emphasis mine):
Is this not the case? Or if it is, why isn’t it working for you?
The fact that no reference has been set is NOT shown on the confirmation screen as it currently exists.
Ie, consider the difference between showing literally NOTHING, and a message on the confirm screen saying “
Payment Reference Not set” - which is likely to remind you to go back a step?
The flow is actually backwards to way NatWest app works, where reference is set part of the payee, and the options to edit reference numbers is actually limited without editing the payee itself making it harder to make a mistake with reference missing or incorrect.
The point is. Monzo knows that a reference has been set before, they know a reference used before, and that the reference is also a PAN, they know the payee is also a credit card bank. 
I can understand why Monzo don’t say “ Payment Reference Not set”. A message like that would imply that entering a reference is mandatory.
It’s funny you mention Natwest; I don’t bank with them myself, but twice in the past week I’ve helped someone use Natwest Online Banking to transfer money.
I actually found the Natwest way of doing it a little confusing. The first screen for ‘Pay a new person’ asks for ‘Who is being paid’, sort code and account number. My initial assumption was that the reference should be entered in the ‘Who is being paid’ field. Which turned out to be wrong, they wanted the reference entering on the next page with the amount. So the first time around there was a bit of back-and-forth entering and re-entering information to get it right.
Once everything was entered, Natwest did warn to check all details before confirming, at which point I was able to double-check reference, sort code, account number, etc. I wouldn’t have expected Natwest to warn me if the reference was blank (maybe they do, but it wasn’t), rather I expected it was on myself to check I had entered all the right details before confirming.
So, back to Monzo. Is their screen not equivalent to this? Do they ask you to check details before confirming? Can you not see at this point that you’ve failed to enter a reference? If a reference is blank, do they show something akin to “Reference:” or do they leave out reference totally? And, regardless of what they do, if what you see is not 100% what you expect to see, they why are you confirming the payment?
To be clear, I mean none of this as criticism; I check every bank transfer like this multiple times because I’m super parnoid of getting it wrong. There are plenty of occasions I know of where I’ve accidentally transposed digits, I wouldn’t want to do so with a bank transfer. I’m genuinely curious as to where everyone stands on the transfer spectrum, as it were. Would increased checking be useful, or would it be nannying and annoying - or even misleading?
Next time I owe someone money I think I’ll have to pay them back by Monzo bank transfer so I can see the current flow for myself again 
I’m in the “this would be annoying” camp. When the reference matters, then I’m really careful. When it doesn’t, I’d find the friction of a prompt annoying.
That being said, it shouldn’t be difficult for Monzo to make the whole process around paying credit card bills via bank transfer much easier, at least for the larger companies. Detect the account number and sort code is for credit card payments, and ask me to enter the credit card number.
[spoiler]Monzo still isn’t storing payment references!
I was told that this has been fixed but, having sent two payments today, I can confirm that it is NOT fixed.[/spoiler]
^ I stand corrected on the above. The references are there after all.
If you really mean ‘storing’ and not ‘defaulting’ (the topic of this thread) are you saying you don’t get a drop-down list of old references when you tap on the field? That’s been available for as long as I can now remember.
Oh. Erm. I stand corrected!
I didn’t notice that was supposed to be a dropdown box underneath it.