Once Monzo start allowing users to create current accounts with actual account numbers and sort codes etc. Will they start charging for things like withdrawal fees? Or will there be monthly fees? At the moment it’s all free because of the prepaid debit cards so I’m unsure what Monzo is gonna do
As far as I’m aware all the fees will stay exactly as they are. They won’t charge for any ATMs or foreign transactions.
I don’t have a source for this but I’m not expecting any fees either, Monzo have been pretty clear that they don’t want to charge fees for any service that isn’t optional -
As far as I’m aware, the switch from a prepaid card to the debit cards shouldn’t impact what Monzo pays (& therefore, would potentially have to make the user pay), in any way.
What about fee ATM’s? Monzo is currently free at my local fee paying ATM. I doubt they would like to keep subsidising my lazy cash withdrawals!
Wait, how is this?
You mean I can go to a fee-charging ATM and withdraw money for free?!
@j06 @Chapuys was not talking about the fact that the card issuer may charge a fee but about ATM where the machine operator charge for withdrawals.
Different banks handle these differently, most if there is a £1.75 or £1.99 charge will show a £10 cash withdrawal as say £11.75 or £11.99 but he said such charge is not appearing when using Monzo.
So is Monzo absorbing these charges?
Long term that could be an issue with an increasing proportion of UK machines now charging (versus at the end of the Nineties when nearly all ATMs in the UK were free to use)
That’s surprising to me, only because I’ve noticed the opposite in Edinburgh. An increasing number of corner shop and non-bank ATMs are now free, whereas they all used to charge a fee. There are now loads of fee-free Card Machine and Bank Note machines around the place. I assumed that the third-party machines were moving to free, so they can collect the ATM fees paid to them by the banks.
I based it on Jan 2017 industry data rather than my personal experience. The situation regarding ATMs varies a lot from region to region. In my locality for example we have lost a cash machine from a post office and one from a local Spar shop, but in another town they have a new Metro bank machine and a local RBS have removed an RBS machine only to replace it with a non-RBS machine!
In addition to changes in the numbers and location of ATMs, often reflecting bank and post office closures, there has been a change in the ratio of bank owned and operated ATMs versus independent networks. It is these independent networks who are most likely to charge card holders a fee to withdraw cash.
Additionally there are threats from the Link network of more charges arising from growing costs.
More than one in seven free-to-use ATMs across the UK could start charging if the continuing row about the Link network cannot be resolved, an industry lobby group has warned.
After a crucial meeting of the more than 30 members of the Link ATM network failed to reach an agreement over a new charging system, the ATM Industry Association said 8,000 ATMs were at risk of starting to charge for withdrawals.
According to ATMIA, the cities most at risk of losing free ATMs are London, Belfast, Glasgow, Birmingham, Sheffield and Cardiff. Other areas that could be hit hard include Devon, Hampshire, west Wales, Northern Ireland, Northumberland and Aberdeenshire.
Is this perhaps because both cards are MasterCard, without link (the ATM network) ?
Thanks, @anon44204028, that is very interesting, and concerning. Do you think MasterCard’s recent purchase of VocaLINK has complicated matters and made agreement harder? I sincerely hope we don’t slide into a system where we have to pay to get convenient access to our .
I am not too sure what will happen with the MC take over of Vocalink (who run the Faster Payments Scheme etc) as there was discussion of it being looked at for monopoly issues. But if such an aquisition shakes up and modernises or speeds up payments in the UK it could be a good thing.
The real issue with the Link network at present is downsizing big banks branch networks and the attempted sell off of Co-operative Bank and the new Williams and Glyns, and take over of banks like TSB by foreign banks. There may be less bank owned machines and more contracted use of private ATMs, and foreign owners may have different thoughts on card and machine charges
I have a non-bank newsagent ATM across the road and has always charged a fee on my other debit cards so only use it when I really need cash. With Monzo it doesn’t seem to charge me even though it does prompt me as usual.
My personal thoughts are that I believe all prepaid cards charge a fee to withdraw but I believe Monzo absorbs this for now (hence the message people get at most ATMs) in order to get people using the cards ready to change them to ‘cheaper’ debit cards in the future (i.e. short term loss for long term gain). That is why there is probably an annual ATM withdrawal limit (to limit their ATM costs). Again, my view is that Monzo can’t yet tell the difference between fee-paying or non-fee paying because it always charges Monzo a fee so they absorb it. However, this is just my thoughts and it would take others testing this idea out to confirm it.
Am I correct in thinking that I won’t see the £1.75 charge on the cash I took out in Bournemouth yesterday? Machine said it charged but on the app I only saw £20 cash appear. If that’s the case - wow! Thanks Monzo! Although can’t imagine it’ll continue with the current account…or will it?
It would be good to get confirmation - are Monzo withdraws free even on fee-charging machines?
I went to a fee cash machine (£1.75) and did not get the charge. Another machine that charged a fee I got charged.
It’s strange, would be good to know why this is.
It depends on the machine. If the operator shows the fee separately then Monzo swallow it. If they don’t, then you’re out of luck.