Sending cheques FROM Monzo

Feedback & Ideas
1

I know Monzo doesn’t offer cheque book’s similar to other big banks - but there are still some requirements whereby a cheque is needed. Whilst I am aware this won’t change, I am trying to gauge interest from the community/ monzo about a (potentially paid for) service, whereby if I needed to send a physical cheque, monzo could send this for me?.. I start this off in-app, providing postal details and custom reference numbers perhaps, and monzo ‘print’ and send this, debiting from my account as required. I would personally be more than happy to pay £1 /cheque similar to the PayPoint paying in service currently offered.

Thoughts? Is this something that physically monzo could offer? Would other people pay £1 /cheque? Could this be wrapped into monzo Premium, perhaps? (currently a ‘Plus’ customer)

Background;
I’ve just experienced a big issue with the DVLA trying to get them some money over to them for license plate retention after a vehicle theft. This was further impacted by Covid and eventually had to find a family member who would send a cheque for me. I’ve also previously experienced issues with HMRC and similar.

2

You can do most DVLA and HMRC things online now and pay with your card / bank transfer. Something worth looking into and it also saves you messing around with all that paperwork etc and it’s instant too :slight_smile:

I’m fairly certain that I didn’t have to pay a fee when I did online too. But it was a long while ago so I could be mistaken.

Edit: Found the link for you:

Taken from here:

3

Thanks - unfortunately there’s a wide array of circumstances in which the DVLA will only accept cheque and the online service won’t complete, i.e. putting a plate on retention and/ or if your vehicle has been stolen.

I only added this background note for context, and thanks kindly for your response and research/ link provided - but let’s try and keep the conversation on monzo/ sending cheques/ exploring new functionality.

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4

Can you elaborate please? I’ve not come across one yet.

It is on topic. If you want to convince people to vote for your idea then you need to explain its use case and the advantages of it. Because as it stands the examples you’ve given don’t require cheques, so it would be a waste to develop this when there are much more efficient ways to pay already in existence.

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5

I would imagine the need to send cheques is far far less than the need to pay them in, for most non-business people.

Monzo don’t care the latter, they certainly aren’t going to care about the former.

£1 certainly wouldn’t cover the time taken for someone to do it.

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6

Postal orders. They’re as good as cheques, for a price.

(note: don’t try to pay for a postal order with a monzo card, ‘computer says no’. Cash only… so get the cash before queueing for 30 minutes…).

7

I don’t think I’ve written a cheque in the last 15 years or more, so it would be if no use to me, paid or wrapped up into Plus.

I haven’t come across any. Do you have a list?

8

It’s a number plate. We don’t have license plates, that’s an American thing.

As for a service that send cheques for you, it’s a fairly edge case requirement for most people. You solved it by having a family member write a cheque for you.

Are postal orders still a thing? People who couldn’t write cheques used to use postal orders. I dare say they’ve possibly been discontinued now? Anyone know?

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9

They haven’t.

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10

I send my postal orders by carrier pigeon.

11

I always chuckle at you correcting vehicle law related things. I don’t know why, you just seem to have a sense when someone has said something wrong and pop up to correct them :rofl:

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12

I think it would be a useful service.

There are still plenty of use cases for cheques - I’ve used 5-10 cheques this year to pay for (primary) school related expenses and I’ve ordered a turkey from a farm that is cash or cheque only.

Give @johnhur a break. Really doesn’t matter about the specific example, the thread is for the idea - which is a good one for some of us, even if it isn’t universal and is unlikely to be adopted by Monzo!

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13

It’s certainly an interesting idea. Especially now I know from @Anarchist that Postal Orders are still a thing and having seen how expensive they are. :astonished:

I don’t think any of the fintech banks do cheques.

I’m undecided as to whether it’s an idea that has legs, though? For occasional cheque requirements getting a family member to help makes sense. For slightly more regular use, I’d be inclined to get a traditional bank account for the purpose. You won’t be paying commission on them either.

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14

Not a bad idea. Effectively a bankers draft. If you also give them the payee to print it would prevent potential fraud if it went misssing. And if you have to give them the amount to also print on the cheque, monzo can debit your account at the point it’s issued to possibly assuage any credit risk type concerns.

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15

I think this is right.

The closest is Starling, as they have joined the ICS cheque clearing scheme to allow paying-in cheques via their app. This means they already have the necessary membership to issue cheques if they want, although they don’t (yet?) do so.

It would also fit more with Starling’s general customer demographic, so if any fintech ever issues cheques I would expect it from them first.

Having said that, a hot coral paper chequebook, or even a Starling teal/purple one would look really good!

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16

Fairly certain you can just write/draw your own cheque on anything, provided it meets the minimum requirements/information necessary. Whether the retailer will attempt to cash it, is a different matter.

17

Legally, yes - practically speaking; bearing in mind the recipient who would be within their rights to refuse the cheque and the procedures of other banks who would be unlikely to cash it, perhaps no?!

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