That’s a good point, I wonder whether Monzo gets charged the same fees if a user requests cashback outside the EU? If not, with a bit of nudging, users might be able to avoid racking up such large costs for Monzo…
Like many others I was drawn to the Monzo pre-paid card by the offer of free cash withdrawals while on holiday. If this benefit goes, there is no reason whatsoever to continue using Monzo.
There are other pre-paid cards available for foreign travel, I’ll simply get one of those.
Shame, because it seemed to have potential.
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In the US (using @Willthomas’s example) cashback is very common and retailers are charged a fixed fee for debit card transactions so the retailer doesn’t incur extra costs by offering cashback… indeed their costs are reduced by not having to cash-up and bank deposit as much cash as they would otherwise have to.
Even if Monzo’s costs were a percentage of the total transaction it wouldn’t be nearly as much as costs incurred at ATMs.
Given that retailers usually have lower limits on cashback than you can get at ATMs it can be useful to separate your shopping into 2-3 transactions… 
I’ve heard (travelling in Thailand many years ago) that in countries where retailers are charged a percentage (instead of a fixed fee) of the total debit card transaction, they don’t offer cashback for obvious reasons.
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Has anyone ever stopped and actually asked WHY it costs anything to withdraw money internationally? Is it the cost of operating the network and clearing of the funds? Is it the processing fees (what exactly do they go towards?) or is it just another way to charge a convenience fee while reducing costs elsewhere?
Also, I don’t really understand what block-chain technology has to do with improving this. It’s just a way for multiple systems to agree on a single transaction in a ledger, so it’s used better for clearing, reporting, and persisting of a state on a distributed system. It makes sense for bitcoin because the state of this cryptocurrency needs to be properly accounted (so you don’t make up your own), but if your transaction is point-to-point (between you and your bank) while utilizing other communication means (another ATM) there is no reason for a distributed ledger. No one cares if you took out 100 or 1000 pounds from your bank, and your bank doesn’t need them to agree upon this transaction.
I could be wrong, of course, so could you kindly explain your statement?
I think having a fee above either 1/2% of the transaction or a flat £1 or £2 will lose at lot users. The main selling point of mondo is free withdrawals outside of the Eu- they can’t take that away after advertising it just as an exercise to get more users.
I travel with mondo and a competitor (long term travel so need more than the limits). On the other card I get 2500 a year for free and then a flat 1.5% of each transaction after that- if mondo charge more than this then there isn’t any point to using the card.
Just remember that Monzo isn’t planning to be and has never been advertised as a travel card. It is planning to be your main bank account.
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Monzo have not started promoting a current account so have not decided or began promoting any selling points. Having free withdrawals in the rest of the world was not the main selling point of the current card, the app was.
The current prepaid card was purely a BETA trial of the functionality of the app and planned card and helped them build and test their systems, and regardless of the fact you personally used it as a travel card it was never planned to be a travel card and that niche is not one they are aiming for. They are seeking to be a current account primarily.
You have said you travel long term, so use a travel card. Monzo is not aiming to be used for long term use abroad, but aiming to be used as a regular current account receiving salary and paying bills and a few weeks holiday with a good exchange rate, not months or years of continual useage overseas.
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In my mind it is very simple, you look at all the options and work out what is best for your use. If it’s cheaper to use a different travel card with no fees but rubbish rates, do that. If it works out cheaper for you to continue to use Monzo, do that. Either way, it doesn’t really matter.
But you cannot expect a business to continue losing money to problvide a service just to please folk, because said business won’t last long.
As I have said before, I will happily pay my way with Monzo, because nothing in life is free. Some one is paying for it, even if you never see the charge.
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Agree with what you are saying, but a lot of mondo’ Users are using it as a travel card, and therefore compare against other travel cards, not current accounts.
I agree about paying a fair share, I was putting forward that anymore than 2% of a transaction with cause people to look elsewhere. many company’s use the MasterCard or interbank rates.
Do you have any references to this please?
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but with some users costing Monzo about £500 a year in ATM fees continued free provision outside Europe can not be sustainable
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Only if you instigate above average ATM usage…
Some charge a fee, but many are free.
It is not a matter of the fee ATMs charge a Monzo cardholder but the fee ATMs charge Monzo for the ATM transaction
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It would be good if Monzo could provide some stats about how often it’s used as a travel card but just looking at the Golden Ticket requests, lots of people are saying they’re going on a trip or holiday and that’s why they want a card.
Totally unscientific, just an observation.
On a personal note, I’d be happy to pay the fee for using my card in an ATM in the UK, EU or the ROTW
I have friends in SE Asian countries who get charged just for checking their balance at an ATM.
As you said, nothing is for free and I’d rather Monzo continue being transparent about how they make money. Having discussions like these is, hopefully, making sure they do just that.
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This thread kind of rubs me up the wrong way. If you’re living somewhere abroad long term then why wouldn’t you open a bank account there? Surely it works out cheaper than constantly having to convert GBP to whatever currency.
Monzo is a UK bank account, not a worldwide one.
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i kinda agree to a point. though i guess its all about being savvy with your money too. you cant blame people for wanting to take advantage of savings that could be made.
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I’m all for a fair use policy. All companies that supply a service have one. When a minority ruin it for the rest, it makes sense to put in this kind of policy. I’m still confident it won’t affect the majority of users.
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free FX it undoubtably a great attraction to the card which I think will encourage users to use it more in their daily life once they see how much it gives them insights into their day to day spending on holidays - which is kind off the reason for Monzo - to grow Monzos customer base to 1m ++++ which then gives them openings to bigger and better partnerships - fair usage policy which is controlled by Monzo using free limits is fine for most average user - if you want higher limits the answer is simple - pay for it 
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one hundred percent agree with that notion
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