Unable to withdraw cash from cashpoint when note is not available

Issue: Unable to withdraw cash from cashpoint when the note denomination is not available

Details to reproduce:

Go to a cashpoint with no £10 available
Choose £10 (or multiple of £10)
Expected result:
Cash machine gives me the message ‘Please choose multiples of £20’
Actual Result
Cash machine returns card with no explanation
OS: NA
Device: NA
App Version: NA

Screenshots:

Is that a Monzo issue? I’d expect that the ATM operators have control over the messages which appear on their screens.

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If the ATM didn’t give a useful error how did you know that the denomination wasn’t available? Did you use another card and get the expected result?

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That’s normal and effects everyone regardless of who they bank with.

It’s the ATM operators responsibility to keep the cash machine topped up with cash. Since Monzo don’t operate any they cannot help with this or with the message that is displayed.

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ATMs are not stocked by Monzo.

The ‘expected result’ is presumably not correct in your report, I’m presuming you expected to be able to withdraw £10 (or another odd number).

This is how ATMs work, and have worked for a long time. Was this your first time trying to take cash out of an ATM?

As others have said, this is down to the software running in the cash machine and is nothing to do with Monzo.

Maybe the bank that owns the machine has some minor say in the software implementation but I don’t know enough to have any certainty about that.

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Yes, I had to use another card and was told I needed to choose multiples of £20.

No its not the first time I am using a cash machine, but thanks for asking and ruling that out for anyone else reading this thread and wondering.

My BARCLAYS debit card was able to give me the ‘Expected result’ and inform me that I needed to chose multiples of £20. My Monzo card did not inform me I needed to chose multiple of £20.

Ha sorry not you, someone else on this thread

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So, you got different messages on the screen depending on which card you used?

I’ve used Monzo in a machine and got the ‘Please choose multiples of £20’ message but I guess it’s down to the machine/software in this instance.

Yes this is correct, I got different messages depending on the card I used.

As a new customer to Monzo, my interpretation of this experience is basically Barclays got it right and Monzo didn’t regardless of whether the issue is with the specific cash machine or not.

Also take into account he ‘hassle/life’ factor - 7am rushing to take £10 for school bus fare, Monzo card not working, run back home (luckily not far), get Barclay card, Barclay card works.

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Neither Barclays nor Monzo are involved in the messages displayed on third party cash machines.

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Just out of interest, were they different types of card (i.e. Monzo Mastercard and Barclays Visa)?

Yes. Monzo Mastercard, Barclays Visa debit.

Just a guess, but that could explain the different messaging. Different card types may be treated differently. As others have said it’s very unlikely to be a Monzo issue as they have no control over ATMs.

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It’s possible that this is the difference between accessing a cash machine with the LINK app (which will be on the Barclays card, but not on the Monzo one) versus accessing a cash machine with a Mastercard/Visa app. In the early days of Monzo there were significant messaging issues on ATMs because the Monzo card doesn’t support LINK:

They also often only offered much higher withdrawal amounts by default:

And forced you to get a receipt with your withdrawal:

All this is to say, that it very well might be a ‘Monzo’ issue in that Monzo cards don’t use LINK like the vast majority of bank cards in the UK. And this lack of a suitable message might be a remnant of the way Mastercard/Visa cards were treated by ATMs. Whatever software this one is running must not provide a suitable message for non-LINK cards.

The issue is more likely Not given the option to choose a different amount when note denomination is not available. I can see how problematic this would be, as when your card gets spat out, you have no way of knowing that it would work if you put it in and chose a different amount to withdraw.

I suspect this doesn’t apply to all ATMs. It would help if you could report who operates the ATM you tried to use. I wonder if @bamesjerry might be able to provide insight, as he dealt with the ATM messaging issues previously. Emailing acceptance@monzo.com might also be worthwhile.

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The atm used was a Link machine.

What bank or company runs it (eg Barclays, NoteMachine, etc)? That is likely to be the main factor as that determines the ATM’s software and configuration.

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The EMV kernels for each card type (Visa debit and Mastercard debit) are different pieces of software, so maybe in an error state this particular machine produces a different error ie. none for Mastercard and a specific error for the Visa. Just a thought.

The Barclay’s card won’t be using the Visa EMV app, it will be using the LINK one. I think that’s most likely to be what causes the different reaction from the ATM.

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