Also, I seem to recall some posts s long time ago from someone who liked Monzo so much that they wanted to donate. If the fee was set at slightly higher than break even, people who wanted to could donate to Monzo.
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Hi, The reason I wonât be transferring to Monzo as my primary account is probably old fashioned but Iâve had excellent service from this traditional bank for many years and their phone service is one of the best. Without being unkind Monzo and a number of other challenger banks are trying to increase their market share but who knows which ones will still be around 5 years from now? So Monzoâs prepaid card was a useful protected add-on which I have used at home and abroad without worry knowing my main account was isolated and safe. I know itâs much easier now to move but Iâm not one for jumping ship every year so unless Monzoâs account gives significant incentives to move why would I?
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Are you referring to your bank here?
Iâm surprised there are so many people on Monzo (who obviously have the app, and therefore a smart phone), but seem to remark that itâs tricky to transfer money from an older legacy account, to their Monzo account (via bank transfer).
I can only speak for Nationwide and First Direct (although Iâm sure most of the mainstream ones are the same), but Iâd hazard a guess that I can top up quicker via bank transfer in the app, than I can by debit card.
Perhaps there are banking apps which are simply impossible to use (Iâm sure there are some real stinkers!)
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Santanderâs is awkward. Definitely quicker to use Debit Card top up (I donât, in order to help reduce Monzoâs costs).
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But it would be weird to be using an awkward banking app and at the same time state that youâd definitely want to stay with your bank, wouldnât it?
Thatâs what I thought, anyway.
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Really? I thought with the addition of touch ID doing a transfer could be accomplished in like 4 taps. I have used absolutely horrible banking apps that need a token to do anything beyond checking your balance 
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Touch ID has helped.
Itâs not really the number of taps which is the problem; I havenât counted them. Itâs the amount of time between taps, compared with Debit Card top up.
- Open the app
- Wait for Touch ID
- Touch
- Wait for accounts to load
- Choose âPayâ
- Choose account to pay from
- Open Payees screen
- Scroll to bottom
- Scroll again
- Wait for screen to stop bouncing
- Choose my Monzo account
- Input amount
- Choose send
- Choose confirm
It usually takes longer to do all that than it takes for the money to arrive!
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And also depending on which legacy bank you have you may need to wait for the flipping chicken.
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Barclays do this: Even if you only have one account, you still have to select it to make a payment.
Youâre in the account, tap âmake a paymentâ then you have to select the account again!
Why???
Lazy UI. Grrrrrr.
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You should turn it off for all users.
Having a consistent interface is important going forward. Startups sometimes make the mistake of keeping too much legacy stuff thinking users will run away but itâs not true and causes issues in the future. Most users will go full Monzo or at the very least setup a standing order.
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I donât actually care for the âtopâupâ function as I was always a bank transfer guy, but differently to the controversial foreign ATM fee change, Monzo made a promise that those who upgraded from preâpay could use their accounts in exactly the same way. I see no reason why the cost of topâups werenât known before the upgrade, so it seems unethical to renege on that promise three months after preâpay ended.
Folk used the âbait and switchâ argument in regards to the ATM discussion, unfairly in my opinion, but this would definitely feel like that, so Iâm glad it wonât change for upgraders.
But that said, people, why do you need topâup? It has not been available on any bank account until two years ago, how is it so indispensable now? Do a bank transfer and just call it âpaying inâ.
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Most people didnât have instant notifications on their bank account until two years ago and I find those pretty indispensable now.
NB: I realise that instant notifications are a different situation because it doesnât cost Monzo loads to do them - theyâre just an example of something we didnât have two years ago that people find indispensable now.
Personally, I donât see how removing card top-ups entirely is more beneficial than keeping them and either charging users for the cost of their use or Monzo making a slight profit on each top-up so long as any fees are transparent, like in international transfers, and customers are reminded that they can perform a bank transfer for free when they go to use a top-up.
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For whatâs itâs worth, I disagree.
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I donât think notifications and topâups are comparable. The former is a genuine, useful innovation for a bank account. The latter is just another way of doing something youâve always been able to do for free, which costs more.
Anyone who insists on using topâups, and paying for it, when the existing method has existed for years, and is no more onerous than a couple of taps, needs their common sense reset. I mean, soon itâll even be cheaper to write yourself a cheque and scan it into Monzo than it will be to topâup.
I feel sorry for Monzo a little bit. In the rush to assure people that nothing bad would happen when they converted from preâpay, theyâve ended up with a moral liability which costs them the difference between profitability and loss, and which noâone really needs anyway.
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I agree with this - as a company you canât keep reneging on promises without losing all credibility, so you need to assess the future implications of your commitments before you make them.
I would expect monzo to have reasonable models of their users, else how do you know you will be profitable?
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People pay to do things quicker and easier, when they could take a little longer to get them for free, all the time (eg: taking a train instead of a coach).
Like I mentioned in my previous post, what about people who donât have/canât access their mobile or internet banking?
This will only be true in the 1st quarter of 2019 at the earliest, would take much longer than card top-ups and isnât useful to people who donât carry check books around all the time.
I completely understand the view that it seems silly for people to pay to use card top-ups, but I can see cases where it would be necessary. Monzoâs mission statement is âMonzo makes money work for everyoneâ.
Iâm also confused as to why people want to remove card top-ups completely and object to having card + fee top-ups. As far as I can tell (please tell me if Iâm wrong), keeping card top-ups with a fee in the app requires negligible developer time spent on maintenance and would cost Monzoâs nothing (or maybe net them a profit).
Basically, I canât figure out a reason why completely removing card top-ups is the better option.
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I do actually wonder how many banks donât have some form of internet/mobile banking?
I think this comes back to the rules of debit/credit card charges (which I mentioned on this thread a while back).
Basically, youâre not allowed to charge for debit card transactions⌠BUT you can add an âAdmin or Booking freeâ as long as they also apply to other forms of payment.
So arguably, Monzo would have to add feeâs onto all forms of âtopping upâ for everyone (if iâve understood the rules correctly).
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If this is the case, Iâd rather Monzo removed card top-ups and kept monzo.me free (I think monzo.me is the only other form of âtopping upâ currently available on Monzo), otherwise I see no reason not to keep card top-ups.
Hopefully someone working for Monzo can fill us in on what these rules mean for card top-ups and monzo.me.
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So a topâup would save you, what, ten seconds?
How do you complete a topâup from the Monzo app if you donât have access to your phone?
Of course Iâm not arguing writing and scanning yourself a cheque as a viable alternative to topâups, but was merely pointing out the ludicrousness of charging for one method whilst the other âoutdatedâ method is free.
In my original post I agree Monzo shouldnât remove the topâup function for those who already have it. What I donât understand is those arguing so vehemently to keep something which costs money when a free (and admit it, just as simple to do) alternative already exists.
Without wishing to be offensive, but to labour the point, anyone who continued to insist on doing anything which costs them money, when the same could be achieved for free for no extra effort (couple of taps, really) is, in my humble opinion, a moron. Monzo, yeah, give people the choice. But for people to argue they want that kind of choice⌠nah I donât buy it.
but awj dean is saying keep top ups but charge a fee arenât they ???
"keeping card top-ups with a fee in the app requires negligible developer time "
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