That will make it expansive with wide variety of options
can we get monthly bill payment alert feature?
I’d definitely underline the importance of No ATM fees and early direct deposit. I am a big fan of new fintechs coming in but living in NYC, it’s going to be hard to stomach fees when I bank with Chase and a fee-less ATM is just minutes from almost anywhere in the city.
The incumbent banks are wising up on User Interface and just having a good app really isn’t sufficient to draw in a large number of customers. I also think that community events would be big.
Said with the best of intent. I would love to see Monzo succeed in the US! I think to do it has to splash in a big way, rather than tinkering around the edges of the existing system.
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Strongly agree with you 
. Early direct deposit is going to be the major swing factor to make the customers use Monzo as their primary bank account . Otherwise, it is going to be another “give-it-a-try” account. It is really important for any challenger banks to get as many customers as possible to make the switch and start using them as the primary account. Take my case, I have different bank accounts. But I am currently using only 2 banks for the most of the transactions.
In the US I also know that it can be very hard to know which ATMs will charge and which will not - an easy way to find free ATMs nearby would be useful.
And finally, the US is still rather archaic when it comes to certain payments I.e. rent. a chequebook (I guess a check book in this instance) would be necessary
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All ATMs charge a fee for non-members. There are some US banks which offer ATM fee refund either by refunding all ATM fees or keeping a certain monthly limit. We know that a couple of banks refund all ATM fees charged globally Today we can pay at stores with our mobile phone easily. It results in less and less ATM withdrawals. It will take some more time before we see cashless society in US. Until then, most of us require paper checks for paying rent and some utility fees.
I’m not sure Monzo have much of an appetite for continuing the Cheque trend (it is very much dying (albeit a slow death) in the UK) and Monzo have decided to halt some “modernisation” the larger banks are implementing around the Cheque industry.
It could be plausible, that due to the infrastructure and banking culture of America that overdrafts will subsidise “fee-free” ATM withdrawals but again this is something that is largely different to UK banking culture.
It will be interesting to see where they pitch things with the US offering.
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Or perhaps the much larger interchange fees in the US with subsidise the ATM withdrawals.
I have a feeling that Monzo US users will use cash a lot less than users of other banks when they figure out that Monzo’s budgeting features work better when the exact transactions are visible.
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For sure, I think there will have to be some subsidisation somewhere otherwise it just won’t look attractive enough.
Again sure, there is that possibility, the problem is, if the culture is engrained and entrenched in cash, no matter how good a budget/ ease/ instant notification is within an app, if the merchant wants cash or cash is preferred, cash will still rule the roost.
@IslanderNY seems to paint a fairly “cash is king” point of view. Even when I took a two week trip out there, it was far easier to use cash as opposed to card. Contrast that with a trip I took to one of the Italian Lakes, it was far easier to use card.
Hopefully Monzo can start to make a change in the US banking culture - but it is going to be a big ask.
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You will be more surprised to know a secret that most of the restaurants are ready to offer a discount when you pay the check by cash 
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Checks are very much required in the USA. There are many places and companies you can ONLY pay by cheque. My sister cannot pay her electricity any other way. For her water if she pays by any other method than cheque they will charge her a $25 fee. For a while if you paid by debit card Verizon (US Phone company) would do the same. There is no infrastructure for faster payments in the USA. Many tradesmen will also only accept cheque.
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I second this. This is very much a mandate. This would mean that Monzo customers would have no access to ATMs whatsoever without fee. My bank will refund ATM fees worldwide. Plus they do not charge any fees. This is an online only bank. I do not see why I would bank with Monzo fee if I can bank fee free. I also get interest too!
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Queries!
How much is an ATM fee?
Secondly, how do these companies justify charging a fee for anything other then a cheque?
If that happened in the UK we’d burn the place down…
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The fee works both ways usually.
There is a fee by the account holders bank for using a non bank ATM, usually 2-6 USD
Then there is a fee by the ATM owned by the alternate bank also 2-6 USD.
If you want to us cashpoints for free, you have to use cashpoints owned by your bank.
i.e Chase card in a Chase ATM
Checks are 100% free. My bank even sends me books of them for free. If I pay someone online half the time it just mails them a check.
I’m not saying that there isn’t a use case, but from Monzo’s track record they seem fairly adverse to cheques and their use. It seems slightly out of the picture for a mobile bank to champion cheques.
The US culture may change that though.
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I read this the other day. Gave me some insight as to why. Seems interchange is paltry in the US.
I’m scratching my head as to what Monzo will do? It seems like the US and UK accounts will me massively different.
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I just don’t see how someone could survive with a Monzo account if they cannot pay for their electricity because it does not support checks. I guess one could withdraw cash, but then he or she would have to pay a $5 fee to withdraw the cash.
How would I pay the plumber if he only takes checks?
How would I pay my child’s lunch bill? How would I renew my passport? All check only.
How will I buy my house?
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No I completely agree and understand - just for us Brits it seems a bit bizarre and very 1900s - surely it’s down to the person paying and not the person receiving the payment to choose how they want to pay? (Within reason of course).
As I say I think Monzo will have thought about this and maybe make taking cash out easier than it is currently in the US or they may succumb and produce cheque books for the US market - it just seems strange to me!
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True, but we do not have any electronic payment infrastructure in the USA for person to person payments. Mobile CC readers ala Square are relatively new. The electronic payment methods we do have, i.e. ACH are essentially electronic cheques and take 3 days to clear. So I am not sure other than CC what methods of payment there would be.
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All of these things mentioned here we wouldn’t dream of paying with a cheque nowadays in the UK!
I think we just need to get our head around the US system.
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