Continuing the discussion from here -
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I wonder if this will soon become ‘Outside of the UK’ when we leave the EU. I’d be happy to pay a reasonable fe anywhere outside of the UK for ATM withdrawals.
I’m sure these ATM withdrawal limits are in place currently to try and keep these costs down.
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While that may be the case, with competitors like Starling providing free ATM withdrawals in the EU Monzo would be shooting themselves in the foot if they charge for European withdrawals. Further afield to more exotic destinations why not charge a small amount but on our doorstep where most people holiday it could be a counterproductive move
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Alternatively just a small fee for all ATM withdrawals be they in UK or outside!?
Even after we leave?
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I wonder if they could just do a daily/weekly pass for non-EU withdrawals? Let’s say you’re going on a trip for a week, it’s better for you to buy a one-time pass (priced to cover average ATM usage) for a week than get charged for each withdrawal.
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This is slightly disappointing, although understandable. My main use of my Monzo card at the moment is to avoid foreign ATM fees (including outside the EU) and is one of the big attractions for me. There are competitors which still have zero fees for foreign (non EU) ATMs, so looks like I may have to carry another card with me in future too for this purpose…
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It all depends on how savvy you are ultimately. More, smaller withdrawals will cost more than less frequent, larger withdrawals.
The other choice is taking currency with you and getting it changed up, depending on the rates and fees it may work out cheaper.
Yes. Why not? The ATM useage charges are a problem where people go back packing on a world tour to far off places, charges in Europe are much lower, compare say 50p in some EU countries and £5 in certain Asian banks.
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Maybe this could be a service tied into TransferWise/CurrencyFair/Midpoint or similar, who would then handle the actual exchange. For larger markets (e.g. Euro, Dollar) Monzo could also set up their own local accounts to allow for more efficient transfers to be bundled up into large consolidated settlements, which would allow for any received payments in those currencies to offset the outflow.
In the future this is a realm where blockchain-based international exchange would work well - as well as local exchange. Blockchain-based ‘currencies’ are best thought of as as replacement for EMV/SEPA/IBAN/etc systems rather than as actual end-use currencies in their own right - but the volatility risk there is still high with current implementations like Bitcoin.
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This is a shame, if charges are on the cards. I’ve been selling 
Monzo to friends and family on fee-free international use. Do these statistics take into account the fact there is no profit being generated from overdrafts yet, and might overdrafts cross-subsidise foreign withdrawals?
If it is truly a small minority, maybe a fair use policy might work? Using data to work out the average amount spent abroad per week, then allowing ‘average’ users free withdrawals under this amount, and charging heavy users?
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I doubt overdrafts would cross subsidise fee free ATM withdrawals outside Europe that would potentially wipe out some / all of Monzos early profit potential
- your Idea of average use limit is I think quite fair and totally transparent - if you know what it is - and really the current ‘limit’ is just that - a fair usage figure that Monzo is willing to accept - I could see it being different for different users and in fact is at the moment with the differing levels of verification
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It was just a genuine question. I’m not banking minded, so don’t know if the lower ATM fees in the EU are all tied in to an EU agreement. Something that we are in the process ofcoming out of.
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We’re not going to introduce anything immediately and we want to figure out a fair solution in conjunction with our community (all of you!)
Roughly speaking, a year’s worth of UK ATM withdrawals for an average user might cost Monzo £1. ATM usage within the EU costs another £1 per user. Outside-EU usage costs about £8. And that’s averaged across the entire Monzo userbase of hundreds of thousands of people. In reality, these outside EU ATM costs are driven by a very small fraction of users, some of whom are each costing Monzo £100+ per year in ATM costs alone.
On the other hand, some of our users are very frustrated by the £5,000 annual ATM limit, and want to withdraw even more. So these people should probably be able to withdraw more than that, as long as they bear the costs.
@tristan is going to lead some work over the next few weeks talking with our user-base to figure out a fair strategy that doesn’t impact the vast majority of users, but prevents a small minority causing disproportionate cost that has to be subsidised by everyone else.
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This is a great insight. My take away from that is that UK withdrawals should be free, always. I kind of assume that will be the case when the current account is here?
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Unless Scotland become independent and then it will be treated as overseas 
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Should Scotland become independent then they aren’t classed as United Kingdon. Sorted
Then Great Britain rebrands as Little Britain
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oooooo…contentious 
Nothing to add here that needs to be said.