Yeah. I’m going to use the debit card top-up facility later today, to retrieve the funds left in my previous bank account - but I’ll probably never use the facility again.
My salary was successfully paid into my Monzo current account yesterday. I’ve today changed over all my Standing Orders & Direct Debits… Well, all except for TV Licensing. 
Monzo is now my main bank. 
I like most other people here didn’t realise DD topups cost Monzo money, the only reason i prefer it over a bank transfer is for the convenience of not having to log into my legacy bank to top up Monzo.
I’m a big fan of Monzo, but i don’t think it’s fully at the point where i feel comfortable paying my full salary into it, granted it still is my daily card, the only thing it doesn’t service me for at the moment is direct debits.
Next salary i was planning on bank transferring most of my salary minus Direct Debit payments and a few hundred to cover unexpected withdrawls.
Just to go back to the point on charging, i don’t want Monzo to turn into a micro transaction bank, where to get certain features that you would expect it’s going to cost x amount. I know it’s nothing like it but look at the current fiasco with EA and all the negative press they’re receiving.
As others have mentioned the Monzo current account pays no interest, i don’t mind that if i can avail of features that make things more convenient for me.
In terms of transparency, i know you give the figures of how much it costs per head for each person, but how much does/will Monzo make per head based on interest earned from holding customers money?
Banks don’t make money from holding your money, that costs them money. They make money by lending your money out for things like mortgages and investing it in various funds. Monzo aren’t planning to do this (other for overdrafts, where the demand is unknown)
Something that I never realised until I worked at a bank, is that the Bank of England base rate is how much we get from just having your money in our Bank of England holding account. As we mention in our transparency hub around 90% of deposits will be held there.
In the UK, the average Current Account balance is ~£2000, so over the course of the year we’d make £9 per customer. Of course, this is only the case if customers use Monzo as their primary current account. If people tend to use it as a daily spending account, we’d quickly be looking at pennies per year.
And this doesn’t account for any of the costs involved in making this happen 
Hope this helps!
I was introduced to Monzo through MSE. I wanted travel cash. Now that it is a bank I can see a certain advantage in tracking expenditure whilst using contacless payments. I can also see how some people who split bills would enjoy the other features.
However and it is a big however, without joint accounts, CASS and statements it is not going to be my only or even main current account.
The debit card top ups only need to exist whilst it is not someone’s main account. Once the first payment has been made, using my banks app is more straightforward than a debit card as the debit card top up is now asking for further authentication.
To answer the question the charge should be levied on debit card users to the amount it costs.
Marvellous. That’s just the sort of thing I realised I didn’t actually know but may have been able to guess at…
I’ve always used Debit Card popup (usually via Apple Pay) but never thought about the cost. I haven’t moved my salary over yet mainly as I have far too many Direct Debits on my main current account. I think as soon as CASS is sorted then I’ll move over wholescale. I imagine many people are in the same boat. Once I have it as my main account this will be a legacy issue.
Ashley
As Top Up and Monzo.me presumably incur same or similar costs to Monzo there is no logic in them being treated differently. They should both be priced accordingly, be that free or at cost. Also if Top Ups start being charged people will start using Monzo.me to Top Up!
@anon44204028 The feature might as well go in the bin if they charge for it, in my opinion. No one would use it.
Why does it cost anyway, I thought Monzo built their own payments processor?
The only worry is the same debacle as the ATM fees vote, instead of a % to cover costs of Top Ups an inflated % will be charged to subsidize a free allowance. Hope that mistake is not made twice
I fully agree.
If I go to top up £200 I would be more than happy for a message something like
"there will be a £2.35* fee to cover this.
However you can transfer ‘insert amount here’ for Free by sending a Bacs payment to ‘insert account details here’ from any other bank
Note: monzo don’t make any money from this transaction fee it is to purely cover our costs
Would you like to proceed Y/N"
I imagine most people would be happy to pay the fee if it’s an emergency top up, and if not they have the choice.
I do worry that having too many limits such as foreign ATM withdrawals and card top ups.
A) makes it too confusing for the consumer
B) gets closer and closer to introducing a ‘premium’ model like revolut did…
Edit: also I think you guys are missing a trick on the top up page. At the moment you have bank transfer and debit card both in blue boxes both the same size.
What you really should do is make the bank transfer stand out (maybe a coral box) and have it bigger than the other two options. Also maybe have a header of ‘primary payment option’
Then have the other two options (debit and android pay) in smaller boxes with a header of ‘alternative payment methods’
It seem small but it may encourage people to opt for bank transfer as it’s the ‘main option’
Yes, but they haven’t rolled it out nationwide and replaced the MasterCard ‘bit’ which is where the charges come from. Anyone receiving a Debit Card Payment pays. Normally that’s the shops etc. but in this case that would be Monzo or us, the customers as we’re the recipient.
I think the payment processor is just the bit that takes the MasterCard data and ties it up with the customer accounts.
I think that’s a very good compromise. Allow basic, reasonable needs to be met free and charge those who abuse the service. That’s my view.
As for the comparison to card payment surcharges, I’m pretty sure moving cash isn’t included (or we’d hear talk of ATM charges being banned). The ban is on surcharging payment for goods and services.
Well, that was disappointing. Having stopped using my new Monzo CA due to lack of balance, I immediately topped up via Apple Pay and then fell upon this thread.
So, in an attempt to be supportive of Monzo, I bit the bitter pill, jumped through the hoops on my legacy internet banking portal to set Monzo CA as a payee, and made a small transfer; Monzo and legacy responded immediately. Ok, so far so good… (maybe the ‘can’t see the issue’ brigade have a point).
I then used my legacy mobile app, and made another transfer using the now existing payee; that was reflected immediately in legacy land, but Monzo took over 20 minutes to show the credit. Not much help while waiting to pay at a checkout. Original Monzo was great for that - ‘everything happens immediately’ was a key USP (as were travel benefits).
So, my options appear to be: run Monzo into a financial abyss for as long as I can, via ApplePay top ups, and then pay for the privilidge of paying into my non-interest paying Monzo CA, or alternatively, forego the pretty UX and just use my ugly legacy bank with no lag, and earn interest; I’ll still have lots of ‘pots’ via associated savings accounts paying high interest; ApplePay, IBAN and all those standard banking tools that legacy have built up over time. Not unexpectedly, Monzo is nowhere close to having a full enough offering I can consider to replace my main banking solutions. Welcome to one size not fitting all.
Erm… The more hurdles you introduce, the fewer benefits you have beyond being pretty - Legacy is allowing my money to work for me, while more and more I’m having to consider making my money work for Monzo.
Growing pains eh…
Unfortunately, Faster Payments can take up to two hours, this is the same with all UK banks.
We process incoming Faster Payments as soon as they arrive with us but some banks can take time to send payments out to the payment scheme network, even if they appear on your statement as being debited immediately.
The same is true of sending money back the other way, we may send a payment out to the scheme network immediately and receive a response but it can take a while to work its way through systems and for the credit to appear properly on the other side. 
In general though, I would not recommend trying to move money around when you’re already at the checkout. I’ve seen far too many people get into awkward situations trying to do this. Now that we’re connected to the payment networks, you can always send back any money you don’t use or keep it safely in your account, now covered by the FSCS. 
Appreciate what you’re saying about faster payments. My point is simply that top ups by transfer is nothing like the same experience as debit.
just to clarify to those who have not read the whole thread, it was not me that said that but…
Yes, my apologies for not clarifying properly. I didn’t intend that paragraph as a quote of anyone.
I would be happy with this.
While I continue to get 5% interest for my money being paid into a Nationwide account that will remain my main account, and Monzo always as my daily spender.
Any method that means I don’t have to leave the Monzo app if I need more than a regular small standing order is ok by me.