Turning off debit card top-ups for new users

If I was with a bank causing me any of them type issues id be switching in an instant! Thats just a personal opinion though !

It’s a difficult one I understand!

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My Mum only had telephone banking (no internet or mobile banking) until I introduced her to Monzo. It only took her two months to almost fully switch (only thing holding her back is the overdraft she’s using in her legacy account), but during that time the only way she could add money to her account was was by card top-up.

Maybe offering free card top-ups to everyone for their first three months, then charging a fee would be the solution for people like her.

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But you stay with a bank that cannot accept cash, has difficult cheque paying in, no cheque book, messy work around for foreign transfers in, no foreign transfers out, and isn’t over keen on you using ATMs anywhere.

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I never use ATMs, I pay for everything by card (even the barbers now takes cards), my money gets transferred in. No real contact with physical cash these days. personally, it suits me :slight_smile: last time I got a cheque was from HMRC, but then this year they bank transferred my tax refund instead.

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lol it will suit some it won’t suit others
I don’t get paid in cash - on the odd occasion e.g. somebody pays me their share for a meal in cash - I put it in my wallet and spend it later
Ive had maybe one cheque in the past couple of years - Freepost Monzo
cant remember last cheque I wrote
don’t have people from abroad paying me money
last time I paid someone from abroad maybe 12 years ago for a holiday apartment
I can use ATMs abroad - I know I have a certain amount free and after that there will be a cost

:slight_smile: :slight_smile:

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Your statement that you would switch banks in an instant that didn’t provide mobile banking for example has to be understood in the context that equally it may not bother the holder of such an account. An example of transfer in from a foreign bank has been given as a valid use of card top ups particularly understandable in view of Monzo’s poor foreign transfer handling.

Every time someone states a reason that they find top ups convenient this is countered by the argument that it doesn’t affect someone else. The answer lies as a business decision for Monzo.

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same applies back, that equally they beholder of the account with no mobile banking, can not expect another bank to hold back on ensuring they are still supported by another bank footing the costs.

Like you say it’s all up to Monzo :slight_smile:

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Hmm, perhaps instead of the ‘£5 referral fee’ Monzo have touted and to encourage new users to ‘try Monzo’ - say “£5 credit after 3 months - reduced by 50p per debit card top up made”. That should get around the restrictions of ‘charges for methods of payments’ and allow people to try Monzo quickly and easily.

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Here’s something that happened to me, and why I value the debit card to up facility.

I was in a queue to pay at the till and checked my Monzo balance to find out was a bit low. No problem, I can use FPS. I went through all of the hoops with the Santander app, but lost connectivity half way through. Seeing one bar of signal I logged on again and tapped my way through all the screens as quick as I could, but when you scroll to the bottom of the payee list, it bounces a bit, and I ended up transferring cash to my PayPal account by mistake.

In the end I managed to FPS the money through a few seconds before I tapped my Hot Coral on the reader.

I would have saved myself a lot of angst if I’d simply topped up with Apple Pay.

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no dispute there are use cases for it . Its a service , charge for the service or use the other free facility to fund the account- its the customers choice , lol but Ive said this before :slight_smile:

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Sure, they could absolutely do that. It’s their bank, after all.

ATM withdrawals are a drain on their coffers. They could charge for them, too. Or replacement cards. Or statements by post. Or whatever.

Monzo will decide what to do based on whatever they think is best for the business, irrespective of what forum members think, I suppose.

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This is what I always advocate (given half a chance). It’s fine for customers to have an opinion but it’s up to the organisation to take a decision based on their own criteria. Customer opinion may be one of those but it shouldn’t have veto rights.

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Until cash deposits happen top up by card is ideal cause it’s instant even bank transfer can take two to three hours depending on where it comes from it’s not always straight away as some like you to believe so in a hurry a top up by debit card is ideal but transfer maybe not straight away so beware there’s a pro and con to everything and without other features you can’t switch of features that can be replaced with other ones

I’ve done a lot with bank transfers but it’s gets me simple things can be missing that many people take for granted like no internet banking or no cash deposits so how do you get round it you can’t easily though I have that many accounts but to pay my pounds in there’s a limited few I can use cash deposits with then it’s top up by debit card normally or I try do transfer in a way but takes ages what I’m doing cause it’s all got their own problems

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I am in that 150k people. I need top up option left open so when my high street bank’s Internet banking is glitchy I can still have money to spend on my Monzo card. I of course use transfer as the main way to get money into Monzo because I understand the burden of costs for you guys. Unfortunately seeing the 2nd October cut off point in the in-app Q&A has triggered thoughts about migrating away from Monzo very soon.

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Out of interest, what does your high street bank provide that Monzo doesn’t? (There are definitely a few things, so this isn’t a rhetorical question - I’m just wondering what feedback you’d give Monzo to help them to help you switch completely! :slightly_smiling_face:)

Speaking for myself, a linked savings account with a decent interest rate.

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Well no other full current account provides this service, so enjoy the move back to your glitchy bank.

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Like @HoldenCarver said. Plus I need printed statement for address proof and visa purposes. Halifax send it for free although who knows when will they cut off that feature. Monzo’s lack of those high street features is okay for young users whose work hardly ever requires a constant ID and address check, not for users who are non UK citizen dealing with more “grown up” matters like visa, work background check, etc.

Could this not be solved by having your salary paid into Monzo, and then transferring out (from the more reliable Monzo app) to any legacy or third party savings account?

This is how I do it - albeit to a third party stocks & shares ISA and keep my legacy for when I need it - eg. Cash deposits

Edit: or you can just use Monzo me for that scenario - not really necessary to move away

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I recently had to prove my address with a printed bank statement for buying a flat and my printed Monzo statement was accepted with no issues

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