Slowness or failures using Monzo on contactless readers

I’m on my third card now and at least the current one and last one have been either very slow in being read at contactless readers or are not read at all (I’m not talking here about the known issue with some retailers not accepting payment, ie Superdrug).

The issue at readers is particularly noticeable when the card is used for transport. It regularly takes 3-4 attempts for the card to be read without error. As a red light flashes on the gate reader on failed attempts, this suggests that it is being read, but some issue is occurring. I have stopped using my Monzo at all on busses in London as there seems now way for it to work there.

I have also noticed that it is taking much longer (and not just my current card, but my last one too) at shops too at contactless readers.

Is this soemthing others have noticed? I know some friends have mentioned similar experiences, but keen to know if this is a wider issue.

I haven’t noticed anything different from my other contactless cards in terms of speed.

Used contactless in Superdrug yesterday btw

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Can I ask are you using your card in a wallet or with anything else that might have Contactless/NFC? There could be interference if yes. I have also seen cards being rejected because it was bent, like it had been in someone’s back pocket and was sat on for a while. No visual damage I’m guessing?

No, just by itself. So it’s definitely not clashing with anything.

Good to know it works there now

It used to be rejected via contactless on the prepaid card at Superdrug (only chip and pin) but after switching to the current account this has been resolved. I haven’t noticed any difference in speed on transport (it’s always slow on buses whether I use Monzo contactless or the stagecoach bus card, you have to hold it for a few seconds and wait for the light to turn green) and everywhere takes payment quickly with contactless :raised_hands:t3:

My other bank cards work immediately on busses and other transport and are kept in the exact same way as my Monzo card, hence my question. Glad to see it may be an isolated thing, but keen to know if others have had this, or if I just have had 2 defective cards in a row.

That’s really odd if you’re getting this with both cards, might be worth reaching out to someone you know with a Monzo card and see it used “in the wild” in person and if it’s any different? Idk if there’s an explanation for this

I’ve done some fairly unscientific RF performance testing on various cards I have and I’ve found Monzo performs very well… Odd

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No issues here either, have used my card on London buses and the underground.

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I’m glad to see there are a few for which it’s working, so more interested now to see if others have had the same problem. That way we can tell if it’s just my bad luck or not.

So I may have had issues. I definitely feel like contactless gets rejected more often than any cards I have had with legacy banks but I assumed that Monzo just requires you to enter your pin more frequently?

Never had any issues on several Monzo cards (beta prepaid, 1st generation CA and Coral Core CA). Does the issue happen with all terminals or only a certain model?

I’ve never had a contactless transaction rejected by anyone including Monzo and it’s my main method of payment these days so I’m not sure it’s that simple.

Tfl/national rail particularly, but also at certain shops.

It’s not necessarily about payment rejection. It’s as I said, that in particular circumstances it takes several efforts for it to work where other cards do. I also have heard similar from other people I know who have had this problem on transport in particular. As I keep saying, I’m really more interested to hear from people who have had similar issues rather than from those who don’t have them. As you can imagine, it’s more helpful for me to understand if this is specific to my card or a wider thing.

I wasn’t replying to you but the post two above mine.

While I understand people may like to have certain reply rules on a thread they created, I’ve yet to find a place on the internet where that can be arranged!

Equally, if you only get people with like problems replying, it’s going to look like a massively common problem since the self selecting nature of the replies will be somewhat unbalanced.

The inverse is just as true and actually what the thread is looking like at the moment.

I’m not trying to arrange anything. I’m specifically trying to identify if a problem exists.

Thanks for your contribution, but perhaps I overestimated the ability of this forum to act as a means of checking with other users whether a problem I’ve had is isolated or not. That would be more helpful to me and ideally to anyone in the future or even now who has the same issue.

I guess we can assume that no other users who have read your post have experienced your problem. Which suggests that it is rare.

So, to answer your original question; it appears not to be a wider issue (so far, anyway).

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It doesn’t suggest it’s rare - it may well be - but that’s not soemthing you can reasonably judge from a small sample of people motivated to comment positively about Monzo. If anything it just suggests those that have problems may be less engaged in the Monzo community.