I have only ever deposited small amounts of cash for withdrawal in the UK before and the last time was a few years ago. I have a free Monzo account that’s empty at present and never been used for making payments (meals, shops, etc.) or at an ATM abroad. I’m going on holiday in September and intend loading it up to use it then. Can I also withdraw fee-free cash using the Monzo Flex card that I was sent or can I only get cash via the ordinary Monzo account’s card? Are they both charged at 3% if over £250 or is the Monzo Flex charged more? This limit would probably suffice as we’re only away for 7 days. Thanks.
Can’t do it, you can take money out via your normal card subject to allowances etc.
Generally speaking, it’s not advisable to withdraw cash from a credit card, as it can incur high fees
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You mean add funds to your bank account, from your other bank account.
You can’t withdraw funds from a cash point with Flex, only your monzo bank card.
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Cash withdrawals from a credit card show on credit reports? Since when? And how do they show up/where? Never heard that before.
I have withdrawn cash from a credit card once or twice, never remember seeing anything off on my credit reports.
It is crazy, I think a Barclaycard offered free cash withdrawals, but Martin Lewis and credit reference agencies view it as negative and can be seen as bad money management, as well as majority of the time expensive (interest being charged from day 1, plus %).
Really? I didn’t actually know that. Not that I ever get cash out but definitely wouldn’t do that now
Anecdote, but in Greece it’s now law to have to accept payments by card I believe. Everywhere, even the little side stores, had a card machine when we went to Corfu. They’ve been pretty hardline about it too.
Spain on the other hand..
I made a purchase with my Barclaycard last year which they classified as a cash withdrawal for some reason. One or more of the CRAs lowered my score because I’d made a cash withdrawal on a credit card in the past 3 months. Barclaycard didn’t charge anything extra for the transaction, though.
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They show as an “Insight” in ClearScore.
- Keep your credit use low
- No accounts in arrears
- No recent hard searches
- No credit card cash withdrawals
- Stay on the electoral roll
- Keep paying on time
- No debt collector searches
- Keep unsecured loans low
- No defaults or repossessions
- No recent legal action
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I’ve never really understood why you shouldn’t be able to/be penalised for withdrawing from a credit card.
It’s not really different to withdrawing from an overdraft.
Seems a silly quirk.
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Overdraft usage is also reported, so I suppose banks would argue that they do record this - in a way.
The point is that good management of credit cards is not seen as inherently bad (it’s actually seen as good as it proves you are responsible) whereas using an overdraft, at all, counts as poor money management - so it is seen negatively by lenders whether you are overdrawn due to cash withdrawals or other transactions and therefore there is “no difference” from a credit risk analysis perspective.
Withdrawing cash from a credit card, though, is always seen as a bad sign - so it is recorded separately to flag this up.
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And it generally tanks your credit rating as well, for quite some time.
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I am assuming - with zero evidence - that a variety of banks and credit reference agencies - profiled people who withdrew money on credit cards - and discovered they were mostly ‘sub prime’. So, working backwards from there by their logic, all people getting cash advances from Credit Cards must be wastrels.
There was - as I recall - a credit card from Santander (Zero?) that didn’t charge you for cash withdrawals directly but did treat it as a cash advance internally so you paid interest from the minute you withdrew cash. Sometimes this would already have accrued by the evening or next day when you ‘paid it back’.
This inevitably led to the question as to whether or not it tanked your credit rating and there was no definite answer as I recall. I don’t think cards like this exist anymore - unless you know different.
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Huh, did not know this.
I have never until this moment thought of making a GDPR request for all my info from a CRA or a bank… now I am really wanting to do it!
I believe Barclaycard still have some cards which behave like this, although they are intended for travelling (like Santander Zero) so I don’t know if they behave the same way in the UK - is it only abroad where this is possible?
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I know, but what actually happens if you do the same in the UK?
Is it chargeable?
I went through some stupid years when I was younger and withdrawing from a credit card was often a better option than a payday loan etc, however with most credit cards I paid a 3-5% cash withdrawal fee (so £500 out the wall and you’re immediately charged £515-525. Then you immediately accrue interest daily, some of the cards have a much higher rate of interest for cash withdrawal balances than purchase balances.
So this is why it’s a bad thing when lenders see it on your credit file, because it means you are an absolute loose canon with your money and either you’re in desperate straights financially or you have no idea what you’re doing financially 
whereas an overdraft… Hey, lots of people use them in lieu of an emergency fund and most often they are not in financial distress or paying huge amounts of interest on them. There may of course be people with large overdraft balances they are permanently stuck in and I’m sure the algorithms will flag them up alongside the credit card cash withdrawers when credit scoring someone.
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Thanks for all your concerned replies. My question was only ever an attempt to clarify what the circumstances are around cash withdrawals on a Flex card, simply because Monzo’s website and help pages are as clear as mud (to me) on this subject. You’ll be relieved to hear that I have absolutely no intention of withdrawing any money using it. I have an excellent credit rating and absolutely no intention of jeopardising that. I always pay all my cards off in full each month and have never had the need of an arranged overdraft, much less an unarranged one. My credit utilisation is actually quite low, which according to my various weekly/ monthly credit reports can be almost as bad as using too much credit! As was originally planned, I shall just load some money in to the Monzo current account so that I get the best rate for the majority of my spending (restaurants and shopping) and use my prepaid card for withdrawing a limited amount of cash fee-free (albeit at a slightly lower rate of exchange). Thanks again.
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Generally speaking ATM withdrawal on credit card is more expensive for the ATM operator thus often credit cards incur higher fee from the ATM operator even if your bank does not charge you.
At the moment the best cards to use to withdraw cash abroad are debit cards from Monzo, Starling, Revolut, Wise, First direct, Nationwide FlexPlus. As those are likely to be accepted without fees neither by the foreign ATM nor by the issuing bank.
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It says you can’t flex cash withdrawal, but I took that to mean you couldn’t opt to pay that back over 3 months. I was trying to clarify whether or not a cash withdrawal could be done at all.
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