Some sites in Europe require 3D Secure or they wonât proceed with the transaction, thats where the desire for Monzo to support 3D Secure comes from.
Its less of an issue that US Banks donât support it as their customers wonât experience any issues unless trying to purchase from a European site that requires it.
It becomes an issue the same, we live in a global economy. Thereâs some noise, yes, but not enough to make most banks implement it in the US (though some have).
Meanwhile, Iâd say if you asked the average person on the street - anywhere in the world - theyâd say they donât want it! It can be done well, but it often isnât, and thatâs the issue.
I donât like 3D secure but some sites need it (tried to book flights last time and it wouldnât register at all, but also unsure it was because they didnât realise it was MasterCard Debit). A lot of e-commerce sites in Singapore use it too and I hate it. I think you need it for bitcoin too.
We donât live in the US though. Not everything has a direct comparison to their market. You have to remember, that Monzo, in itâs current state, is a product aimed at people living in the United Kingdom.
I too travel to the US multiple times a year for business, and the two countries are polar opposites on certain things, banking and finance being one of them.
Bitcoin isnât really related to it at all, one major Bitcoin exchange service requires it, yes - but there are others.
As for sites not working - remember, just because a site has 3-D Secure implemented (most do, but there are major exceptions like Amazon) doesnât mean it wonât work with cards that donât have it. Iâve only personally encountered the latter once (trying to buy Belgian train tickets online years ago). Iâve heard of the Coinbase one, as well.
Do these sites in Singapore refuse cards that donât have 3-D Secure?
I disagree, British banking is more like America than most markets - something I imagine Monzo, too, has seen. Even the core product - Mastercard Debit - is common, whereas many other countries prefer Maestro.
Also, e-commerce doesnât really follow national borders at all, so the basic experience is virtually identical.
I think theyâre ramping up feature rollouts early this year after everyone is moved over to CA, so I canât wait for more feature posts and previews! Such posts tend to be more positive anyway and I like seeing more staff interaction on here.
I agree, legacy banks have decades or hundreds(?) of years of experience ahead of Monzo and have the infrastructure, staff, resources, etc. and there is less to do to close the gap if they actually stopped being complacent about their app/ service. Plus with those I think you get a lot of customers who just stay with a bank because itâs too much trouble to switch- but with Monzo itâs a lot easier to simply just stop using/ leave.
Or even other fintech banks like N26 and Starling, they have a few years ahead on Monzo with developing their product so there is some catch up to do. Iâm keeping an eye out for the blog post that was promised re: sneak peeks. Iâm optimistic. I didnât like the restlessness towards the end of 2017 either, I think 2018 is definitely going to be spent delivering a more solid product and ticking off requests people have.
I have had my Monzo card refused twice because of 3D secure on Singapore shopping apps/sites I think. I thought it was an error with my address but after asking in app chat it was because of 3D secure. With other Singapore cards, sometimes you canât make payment until you input a OTP sent to your phone, and you canât do bank transfers if you donât use a OTP/ bank token. Itâs so inconvenient.
On the Monzo site they mentioned possibly expanding to Asia via Singapore, and I think the banking industry here could do with more shaking up. They only recently started having a new service that works a little like monzo.me (pay someone if you know their identity number/ phone number/ QR code), which is so much easier compared to needing to bring your bank token around everywhere/ wait till youâre home to do it. Iâve seen a few articles predicting that Singapore banks risk having their revenue taken by foreign banks if they donât improve their services.
Well, we will have to agree to dis-agree. For a start, we donât pay to get money from a cash machine (all be it with a few private ATMs that charge), fee free banking is the norm here, where as people in the US expect to.
The debit card isnât Monzoâs core product. Their core product is a Current Account, that like most UK banks, has a debit card associated with it, that allows you to utilise your account.
Reading through previous threads on this forum, the MasterCard debit card is just a result of MasterCard being more receptive, and easier (and cheaper) to work with thank VISA. I donât think it has anything to do with the US market.
Definitely, one of my concerns, personally, is Monzoâs move to the US. I see this as having pros and cons:
Pros:
Cons:
Thatâs unfortunate, and it really bothers me when sites do this. Iâve rarely had an issue, but it sounds like sites in Singapore are pickier.
As for the one-time code, Danske Bank in Northern Ireland has started this nonsense. Every single 3-D Secure transaction needs approved by SMS. Itâs absurd, what if youâre on holiday or just donât have good signal at home? SMS isnât even that secure.
Definitely, though it would have the same basic pros/cons I note above for US expansion. In this case, unlike forcing the development of cheque imaging, it sounds like it would force the development of 3-D Secure 
Definitely, but Iâm also not saying theyâre identical. Just more similar than most countries, and I imagine Monzo sees this too and itâs part of why the US will be their next market.
The US has fee-free alliances and smaller networks, much like LINK, so Iâd say thatâs actually a similarity. The difference is that in the US out-of-network cards get charged a fee (though this is mostly because there really is only one fee-free network here and since almost all banks participate, thereâs not much reason to add what would basically be a tourist tax - if any major banks leave, Iâd expect to see non-LINK charges).
Core product was terrible wording on my part, wasnât it? I meant âprimary method of accessing fundsâ.
I wasnât referring to Mastercard vs Visa, though the popularity of Visa Debit is another thing the US and UK have in common. In both countries, almost all debit cards are Visa Debit (never V PAY). I was referring to them using Mastercard Debit vs Maestro (and Visa Debit vs V PAY).
In both the US and the UK, Mastercard Debit is a distant second place to Visa Debit, though.
@evangelskies - what network is most common in Singapore?
Visa probably, Iâve had four Visa cards and one Mastercard one (credit). Donât think Iâve seen a Mastercard Debit yet.
Virgin Money use MasterCard Debit 
I donât think they have a branch in Singapore, Iâve never seen it.
Thanks, I wonder if the 3-D Secure problem would be an issue with a Visa card that didnât support 3-D Secure. Is there any online music store or similar that is in Singapore and requires 3-D Secure I could use to test, I have a Visa card Iâm 99% sure doesnât support 3-DS?
Do DBS and Citibank not do them? Thought they would probably consider MasterCard over Visa?
Not sure I follow the the logic that thereâs no real requirement for 3D secure code because itâs not really of interest to consumers in the US.
Letâs see, are those then same US consumers that use magstripe and magstripe contactless while pretty much the rest of the world has ditched the technology for EMV? If we were to apply the same logic we would conclude that MagStripe must be the way of the future, er, except no, that is not true.
What about the frankly bizarre way payments are processed in the US, leaving you with pending and confirmed payments on your accounts, and the fact that there you pretty much pay for banking? More evidence of archaic ways of doing things, and more evidence the that US consumer isnât always the appropriate comparison.
My point simply is different market, and I see no link with what the US consumer wants and what I want when using my card. Thereâs already plenty of evidence that I have things very different (thank goodness).
That said: 3D securecode is 100% about making you the consumer liable as its way less easy to argue that your card has been stolen and was used unauthorised online. On the face of it I can see why this may be a good thing, though frankly I see it as a cynical mechanism for financial institutions to protect their profits. 3D securecode looks like itâs giving you more control but is actually a way for institutions to push back in the event something goes wrong. Just my opinion!
Itâs being used more and more online here, and as someone who does 99% of things online, itâs become a necessary evil.
Unlike in-person use, online use is more global. Besides, Iâve heard plenty of people from virtually every country complain about 3-D Secure
Certainly, Iâd like to see a good implementation of 3-D Secure. I just think a bank can succeed without it. It isnât nearly as important, in my opinion, as something like Apple Pay to winning customers. Ideally, weâll be able to have our cake and eat it too getting all the features in 2018 
Only with the biggest banks, tons of banks in the US have free accounts.
In my experience, it really isnât necessary. Lots of shops will use it if available, very few will reject a card if it isnât available. Donât get me wrong, Iâm not trying to say itâs not a useful feature to add! Simply that banks can and do succeed without offering it, and there are other features that would see far more daily use still missing. When you canât have everything, priorities need to be made. I hope 2018 brings many, many features to Monzo!
I think we must shop in different places online @GalaxyMergirl. Also, I could not find a single free ATM when in the US.
E-commerce, while global has different levels of penetration in different markets. Even with my Monzo card, itâs hard for me as a European to order from US retailers, to the point I barely bother. The reason is not because my card isnât accepted, itâs because of tax regulations, differences in my consumer rights, and the palaver of dealing with faulty merchandise from a retailer on the other side of the world. So here, we immediately see distinct markets develop. E-commerce is not really a free unfettered, borderless market.
Higher use of e-commerce = higher levels of fraud and more institutional demand for products such as SecureCode. It is reasonable to expect there to be more demand for SecureCode in different markets, depending on legislation and consumer rights. And here in Europe SecureCode seems to be increasingly the answer.
I think we must be! Iâve had plenty of places attempt (and fail) 3-D Secure, including with Monzo, but none ever refused a card for that. Thatâs one problem with every acceptance issue comparison - our different shopping habits make the scale of issues very different at times.
As for free ATMs in the states, most are only free if the card has the same participating fee-free network (e.g. MoneyPass network ATMs take MoneyPass network cards for free, Allpoint ATMs and cards, Co-Op ATMs and cards, etc). Similar to the idea behind LINK, except British ATMs donât bother charging for non-LINK cards⊠yet. I bet if a major British bank pulls out of LINK, they soon will!
Itâs also worth noting that, like the UK, the US is a country where you really virtually never need cash. I probably spend under ÂŁ50 cash in an average year, and when I lived in the US, I spent under $50 cash.
Very true, I end up spending a lot in USD, but most of it isnât from the US, itâs from China (AliExpressâ native pricing is usually USD, if you pick GBP prices include a markup and are higher).
3-D Secure is widely implemented, but in my online shopping habits, here in the UK, from both domestic and foreign sites, practically never required. If it fails due to lack of support, it fails. The transaction still approves and goes through.
Maybe we need a list of sites that actually mandate 3-D Secure so we can start nicely writing to them and asking them to reconsider?
I get asking a retailer to update their BIN so they can accept Monzo. I think asking institutions to rethink their fraud solution might be a harder sell.
Nevertheless, the idea made me smile (in a good way) and Iâm pleased not everyone is as cynical as I am. I would immediately write off the idea of asking institutions/retailers not to use securecode. Itâs a bit David and Goliath tbh, but without the happy ending where the little guy wins.
Iâm not saying they shouldnât use it. Simply that they shouldnât decline if a card doesnât support it
Part of the issue lays with the card networks. Compare it to EMV (chip). There the least secure party is liable. A shop isnât liable for magstripe cloning fraud if the card used didnât have a chip. Only if it had a chip but their system didnât support chip.
With 3-D Secure the shop is liable for fraud unless 3-D Secure succeeds. It should be a least secure party system the way chip is.