I am utterly fuming, I requested a one time increase of my ATM limit. This was to enable me to purchase some second hand doors, where by using cash I would get a significant discount.
I did the video as requested by Monzo and gave the reasons (I am not being coerced or intimidated into giving money) and am annoyed to be turned down.
Turned down to get my own money from a bank that I do not have the ability to go into a branch…
Tried phoning but after going through the automated service was told that I had to use Chat… tried chat, still waiting for someone to engage…
I have been a loyal Monzo customer. I hold my savings with them and have never had any issues so this was a disappointment not to get help when requested
Thankfully I also have an account with Chase Bank who bent over backwards to help me and had sorted the ATM increase within 10 minutes…. Guess who I will now be primarily be banking with?
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Anarchist
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Agree with this, but if someone pays cash as per this thread, I’m not sure how the bank can be held responsible - all they did was allow someone to withdraw cash. I would be fuming too if I wanted to withdraw cash and they didn’t let me (although I have no idea how often or even if they increase ATM limits).
It is total over-reach by the Government and/or banks to refuse people access to their funds. Might as well ban gambling whilst they are at it.
I can completely understand the frustration, that’s a poor experience really.
We did have someone here complain recently that they were allowed to take their money out (because they thought Monzo should have known they were vulnerable), so there’s always going to be too sided to things, but generally it’s pretty important to be able to access your own money.
I think all limit increases for any bank require a reason. Those limits are there partly to protect the bank from being used for money laundering, and so when they approve larger amounts they’ll always ask what it’s for as part of their AML checks.
If you want to put it under the mattress though you can always tell them that.
I guess the easiest thing to do in this case is just transfer to an account with a bank that has a branch nearby and tell them you’re buying a car if they ask. I’ve never had issues taking out a few grand for that, but Nationwide didn’t ask last time
I asked for a one off ATM limit increase of £1200. Monzo actually does have the facility to do that. They ask you for a security video, reason for request and ask for proof. I did this and was then told no. However I believe this was a check done by AI rather than a customer service agent. This was due to speed of the reply and the fact that I couldn’t get through in the online chat for almost two hours.
Cash was needed as it was for a purchase with a company going out of business (internal doors) and a discount was being offered for cash. It was not from social media, eBay, marketplace etc
I obviously do have an account with another bank (Chase) who also have daily ATM limits. They very much did due diligence and also did checks including checks that I was not being coerced and authorised the temporary limit.
I appreciate that in this world of scams etc that the bank may be wary but I provided all the evidence to access MY money.
Sometimes these one off things happen and yes it’s not an issue until it happens to you!
One problem with this approach, although it’s possible, is that opening a new account, transferring money into it and then instantly trying to withdraw it all as cash is almost guaranteed to raise some red flags somewhere. There are advantages to doing this with your main account.
Also I general if the solution to problems is ‘use another account’ the that’s not very good for Monzo.
Yes sure agree and everyone should probably have at least two bank accounts anyway. It’s still a bad look for Monzo though, and personally I’d still be pretty upset if I was told I wasn’t able to withdraw the cash I needed from my main bank account. So I can see why it’s frustrating.
Is this what you told Monzo when you made the request?
I mean there’s a very high chance that this is some sort of tax evasion tactic. There’s also the risk around the company going out of business and you not getting the service you paid for.
If this is what you told Monzo presumably you’ve fallen into a level of risk that they’re not prepared to accept so they declined your request.
Whether they (and Chase) acted correctly or not is up for debate, and you won’t get an answer from Monzo on why this happened, but I think this is the most likely reason.
