Will Monzo continue with accounts for people living in EU?

Will Monzo continue with accounts for UK citizens living in EU after 31/12/2020?

thank you

Likely not, T&C’s state you must reside in the UK to hold an account

yeah, that’s what I thought. Would be sad to leave Monzo.

Why you need Monzo if you live abroad?

Bills/subscriptions that still need to be paid at home that won’t take payment from a card/account from the current country of residence, want to keep some of your savings in your home currency, don’t want to spend time and effort re-opening accounts if/when you return, those are three possible reasons off the top of my head.

This is my situation - I’ll be moving abroad in a few weeks time and without a Brexit deal that retains passporting rights I won’t technically be allowed to keep my Monzo, Starling or Barclays accounts.

I’ve just opened a Santander account which should be able to keep providing service to EU based customers.

I’d be sad to leave Monzo, but I’ve got several direct debits here which I need to keep running, and if hopefully one day they’ll get an EU license too!

I suppose you could probably get around it if you have an address you trust mail being sent to - I’ll probably switch correspondence addresses to my brother’s address while I get the logistics of everything sorted.

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On the bright side, Santander have just started to offer some very basic budgeting features to their app.

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If you retain a UK care of address on your Monzo account, your account won’t be closed.

I am in very similar one!
Don’t think we can get away with address to keep an account, as banks want you to declare residency now.
So will have to swap too, and correspondence I will manage.

Did you consider HSBC?

I did but I’ve had real issues with HSBC in the past, and they typically want to put you onto a full expat package.

Unfortunately they can no longer cater to EU residents, so unless you retain both then they can’t legally serve you.

I think you miss the point of a care of address.

Unless UK banks are not allowed to cater for EU citizens resident in the UK, then if you use a UK care of addresss Monzo will never know as your address is still in the UK.

My bank accounts were for years at my mum’s address and not my personal address. Care of addresses are a simple way to direct correspondence. You obviously need permission for the house owner for it.

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What is Monzo’s response to this? I want to keep Monzo because I am planning to come back to the UK sooner or later (but with me you never know, could be next month).

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A pound to a penny, their response is “You need to be a U.K. resident”

If you want a response from Monzo, you’d be best served by asking them directly, either in app or by email.

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Yeah they’re full stop not allowed, and if they ask about tax residency then you’re screwed!

I asked Starling and they said it’s a no-go.

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Is this something that’s changed? Haven’t you always had to be a UK resident, regardless of EU changes?

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I think that people living in IOM and Channel Islands were able to get an account at one time (or maybe that was in the pre paid days).

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If you’re living abroad and have a Monzo account then you’re breaking the T&C’s to be fair so shouldn’t really be relying on them, this is from the help article.

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The glaring hole I see in that is that they offer US accounts to UK account holders who have moved to the US, without requiring them to give up their UK account in the process of setting up US accounts and declaring US residency.

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I didn’t know they did that. Is it a deliberate policy decision, or an oversight, I wonder.