Why *haven't* you gone full Monzo?

I can’t help but feel that there’s no way that is even legal.

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I work for a bank and until a few years back, salary had to be paid into an account within that banking group.

Rules did change but don’t know why. I know salary can now be paid to any UK bank account as mine goes to Starling :smile:

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Unfortunately it is legal, a lot of banks have it as terms of employment. If they fired an employee for not opening a bank with them or closing then that wouldn’t look good, but I’m sure you’ll face disciplinary procedures which isn’t going to help.

Amicus trade union have tried to make it illegal for them to do so for RBS staff in their contract but that didn’t happen as far as I’m aware.

No employer should be allowed to stipulate current account regardless of sector. I haven’t seen this outside of banks as it would be nuts, I don’t see how they still think it’s acceptable.

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I am not full Monzo because:

  • I prefer a separation of accounts for all my bills. I have a different bank account for all my own personal standing orders and direct debits. A Monzo Joint account for shared ‘household’ direct debits/SOs.
  • There is no advantage to me shifting my salary into Monzo as I am a contractor and not paid by BACS (this WAS a big deal for a while, but is no longer the case), and I’m paid at varying times (mostly weekly).

Right now, all my regular, predictable outgoings are from my ‘other’ Bank Account. I have a Marcus Savings account, a Plum ‘trickle saving’ account, and I use Monzo for all my other spending (anything that isn’t fixed, groceries, nights out, clothes, etc etc).

This works for me.

I don’t think of Monzo as an ‘optional extra’ (why on earth would anyone have a bank account for that reason?) and I use Pots heavily as a way to better manage my ‘spending’ money. Most of my transient savings (holidays, Christmas, etc) are in Monzo.

It’s 2019. I do not believe that, given the choices we have as consumers, the idea that any one single bank is the be all and end all for people is a very outdated one. Also consider that, anecdotal across this forum, for those who HAVE gone full Monzo, anytime they have an issue the advice that is always given is to have a second bank account as a backup.

So, maybe we can stop suggesting that being full Monzo is a laudable thing (and while we are at it, remove that tick box in the Monzo checklist, which I will never complete, and shouldn’t have to!).

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I now have multiple bank accounts to get different perks of each.
However my nationwide account offers me access to a 5% saving account which monzo doesnt.
My starling account offers me the easy access to deposit cash for free at any post office.

I don’t think I will ever only have 1 bank now, unless Monzo do harvest all of the best assets.

Which realistically, neither Monzo nor any other bank will get the best of all.

For many reasons, have more than one account, bearing in mind you can do Faster Payments between them if one has a problem with a card etc.

I have never agreed with the one egg in one basket idea. The Envelope system is much better to handle your finance. Best tool for the job kind of thinking…

But I am at least 50-60% Monzo:

  • Monzo personal account for day by day spending and personal bills
  • Monzo joint account for household spending and bills
  • Another account for salary and keeping my savings in it. If in the future I might need a mortgage so I will use this account. If I commit to borrow money for 20 years and will do this with a bank that has been active for more that 40 years.
  • I use other services for Investments, Wealth Management and Budgeting.

Hope all our feedback will give the Monzo Team some valuable insights. Best of luck

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Depends what you mean by “full Monzo”. Wife and I have personal accounts, joint account for groceries and petrol, and our business account with Monzo. We’d move all joint spending to Monzo if j/a overdrafts were offered. As I’ve said on many other threads we haven’t used our legacy bank j/a overdraft in years but I’m not willing to risk a bounced mortgage or car payment if I do happen to need it one month. So we’re not “full Monzo” for current account banking as we keep those things with our legacy j/a.

However, even if that were the case I’m unlikely to give up 3 credit cards across 3 payment networks* all with substantial credit limits, a charge card with great benefits, or savings notice accounts with better rates than Monzo. (*never rely completely on one issuer or one network)

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  1. Because their Customer Services have not been particularly impressive
  2. Because I am not 100% convinced they can survive in the long term
  3. Because my personal experience is that the card rejects random transactions for no reason whatsoever, at a rate that concerns me.

Are you sure that’s not because of the new EU rules that were just introduced?

If your card declines at all, I’d contact Monzo.

It’s a bit of an anomaly - it declines more regularly than other cards.

I only just (new salary being paid tomorrow) went full Monzo! I did the manual switch as I didn’t want my high street bank left empty however I moved all my direct debits over.

I want all my spending/ direct debits coming out of one bank to get one transparent picture each month. I’m really holding out hope that Monzo Plus comes back better (as I would be interested) and in regards to cash/ cheque deposits - that’s why I left my old account open.

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No, I’m fully aware of SCA, and this has been with Chip and Pin rather than contactless. As TTJJ states, “it declines more regularly than other cards”

Also, Monzo Plus held no attraction to me - none of the things they were marketing I needed.

I’m Full Monzo. The only other accounts I have are related to ISA/savings in the UK and a Candian checking/savings account.

I get that posting a cheque is less convenient than scanning it, however, the only time I wanted to use image clearing with my old bank account (before I CASS’d it), the cheque was for too much money :stuck_out_tongue: I don’t find it a huge issue to be honest :slight_smile:

I’m 99% full monzo, if monzo offered a regular saver account, I would close my first direct account. I don’t mind if monzo only reports to one cra, I have credit cards and different bills so every cra is covered.

We have Savings Pots, if that’s what you mean? :slight_smile:

I already have savings pots, I mean this

https://www1.firstdirect.com/savings-and-investments/savings/regular-saver-account/

Wouldn’t this just be the same as setting up a regular payment into a savings pot? :slight_smile:

Nope, the interest rate is higher, mine is 5% yearly, up to £300/month.

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Looks like it’s just changed recently from 5% so you can longer get that ~£100.

Interest example : if you save £300 every month for 12 months and qualify for the 2.75% AER/Gross p.a. interest rate , you’ll earn approximately £53.63 interest (gross).

Still £53.63 is better than chucking in £300 a month to Monzo and getting ~£19 with 1.15%