Monzo have lost my eldest son to legacy banking as he is getting a bank card now, he is 12, 13 shortly. Once he is with a bank stats prove changing bank is not likely.
He had wanted me to get him a card but upset/cross when I said it was not possible
Hi all, as Monzo is a âbank for everyoneâ when will under 18âs be abke to open an account. My 15 yr old son has debit card he uses when he flies alone to other countries and after giving him my Golden Ticket it transpires he canât have a Monzo account. Monzo is the perfect solution for a teenager to bank with as they can manage their spending real time and the bank of mum and dad can help instantly when needed! Be interested to hear of any developments or your thoughts. Have a great day. Graham
Not sure where you get idea that Monzo is the bank for everyone though?
Its a bank for those over 18, with android smartphone or iPhone, with photo id, which make monzo one of the UK banks with the strongest limitations Iâm aware of.
Additionally itâs not for those wanting joint accounts, international transactions [edit: I mean International bank transfers], and various other standard banking features, so in my opinion monzo is very far away from being a bank for everyoneâŚ
https://monzo.com/
Click this URL and read the main headlineâŚ
âMonzo, the bank for everyoneâ
Graham
and resident in the UK
Yes, I find that borderline misleading advertising, and am half minded to report them to the asa.
Also, you just posted your phone number publicly (email signature?). You may want to remove thisâŚ
Removed - many thanks.
I think itâd a bit disingenuous to say Monzo doesnât support international transactions. It doesnât support international wire transfers, which Iâd guess very few people ever do. Itâs GREAT for international Mastercard transactions which Iâd guess far more people use (no fees, better compatibility than most banks).
I agree that an under 18 account would be great!
I donât understand why Monzo canât offer account to U18âs?
When I got my first current account (with Barclays), it was pretty much exactly the same as a normal current account - I could use direct debits, SEPA payments, and it had a normal Visa Debit card⌠I know, because the account kept going negative because of foreign and delayed transactions. I got this account when I was 12, my Mum just had to agree to it.
My Nationwide FlexOne (which I opened at 17, on my own with no input from my Mum) even came with a contactless card (unlike Barclays - they wouldnât let me have one until I turned 18).
Are there some sort of hidden regulations regarding accounts for U18âs, or does Monzo just not want to provide them? Surely theyâd be the same, just without the overdraft facilities?
The vast majority of legacy banks allow current accounts for those 11+, with full direct debit support. Itâs very peculiar that Monzo donât.
Liam
Disengeneous? No. For me a âtransactionâ is a bank transfer,not a card payment. Maybe I shouldâve used a different word (on 2nd thought: I shouldâve done so), and obviously we may have different ideas about the importance of international bank transfers, but there is nothing disengeneous about my comment, purely wrong choice of words.
Fair enough. To me a transaction is any transfer of money internationally. Iâd be willing to bet that in number of transactions (possibly not total amount transferred), card transactions positively dwarf wire transfers. So for the vast majority of people, Monzo is amazing for international transactions.
I donât discount that for those who need wire transfers theyâre probably very important, but are they not becoming less so with much cheaper services like TransferWise?
Not having the numbers, I also assume that your statement is likely correct, at least for the consumer market.
Its also true that alternatives exist, but my point is that there are two aspects which make the idea of monzo being a âbank for everyoneâ quite ridiculous to advertise:
Even if the 1st point was to be addressed, and monzo suddenly became available for everyone (or at least for every UK resident), they would still not be a bank for everyone, with such a limited set of features.
Or, to put it the other way around: do I think that Monzo made the right call in releasing current accounts without these features? Probably. They needed an MVP to get going. But: do I think that these features are absolutely essential before they can call themselves a bank for everyone? Absolutely, as otherwise they are only a bank for those who donât need these very common features.
I think they can call themselves whatever they want, itâs all just marketing, and I think itâs working even if itâs wrong.
The market for a simple account for people with modern phones and passports is there and Iâm glad Monzo exists; itâs solving my problems perfectly. For everything else, competition is more than welcome (Starling?) 
Well, in a way you are right of course, in that they can sort of call themselves whatever they want (although in the UK even that isnât unlimited: The Advertising Code of Conduct says that they mustnât be misleading, and Iâd argue that the statement âbank for everyoneâ is pretty misleading for Monzo in its current form).
But I may also still take offence at that and call out their BS 
A transaction is any movement of money on the account regardless of the mechanics behind that movement, surely.
Fine. I edited both the original comment as well as the comment you quoted to indicate that I understood and repent. What more can I do?
I donât understand this. Iâm not criticising you; Iâm just contributing to the conversation.
Probably shouldâve added a or similar behind my commentâŚ
Well, for one, youâre making the assumption that Monzo would be peopleâs only bank. I highly doubt that is likely. The only thing really stopping Monzo being for almost everyone is the 18+ limit, which is common to a lot of banking products. And I agree, itâs something that needs to change. Monzo would make a great teen account. But they need to do it right - no ban on foreign transactions like Metro has on teen accounts, for example.
As for the other stuff, it might mean it canât be an only account for everyone, but not that it canât be an account for everyone (except the ID thing, which I dare say only affects a minuscule number of people).
Well, not wanting to argue endlessly about this, but according to one study a full 15% of 16-75 year olds donât own or have access to a smart phone at all, so thatâs a second large limitation to âeveryoneâ, isnât it?