Sorry I was BSing... ;-)

Is any of that legal/possible?, or ..... (genuine question), lol, thanx.

They didn't actually ask me for any ID in the end, so I've been happily using my card :smile:

Latest update details:

You might have heard on the grapevine that you can now use Android Pay on Monzo.me. It’s pretty cool. But we didn’t want to stop there. Oh no. So we built Android Pay top up in the app, so you can now top up in a couple of taps. Tap. Tap. Just like that.

But we didn’t stop there. Oh no. So we built background refresh, so that your feed is always up to date and you don’t need to wait for transactions to appear when you open the app. Tap. There. Just like that.

And we stopped there. For now.

Anyone want a Golden Ticket? I have one available. Pm your email and I'll send it.
And please...ask nicely!

I don't have a passport or driving licence so I don't know how they'd expect me to ID myself. I'm certainly not paying £72.50 to get a passport just so I can get this card.

​ did they ask for scanned copy?

That'll be because, now they're a bank, they have to comply with Money Laundering Regulations. They're asking for ID. No biggy.

mI applied over the weekend using mse link money gone out today got a message before saying they need more details before they can issue card (photo of passport and bit about what I do for living :grin: etc) told them I won't be sending anything asked for refund

Bolloxeaux.

To quote from the horse's mouth, rather than just making stuff up:



A 'client money' account is the same as solicitors and accounts use - all funds held in it are acknowledged as NOT being part of the company's assets and thus are "ring-fenced" (i.e. PROTECTED) against creditors should the company become insolvent.

Link: monzo.com/eth…cs/

I think Revolut et al use Barclays to ring fence funds. Offers a measure of protection I guess?

I understand it is now a real bank.

No they are not the accounts are gone if they go down

The Revolut app now has an "activate account" option which creates a sort code and account number for you. Looks like they are becoming a bank as well.

FYI, Monzo does have a banking licence, but the prepaid card under discussion here is not a banking product, so your money is still not guaranteed in the same way that up to £85k (I think?) is covered in banks.

100% correct. Monzo finally received their full banking license at the start of this month.

Revolut is not a 'bank' and doesn't have any back up facility if they go down your money is gone as well so be careful how much money you trust them monzo has a licence as far as I know

I spent the money in a couple of weeks using the card, sorry didn't explain it properly (you sound like the Mrs. lol)

Huh? If you haven't used it since the initial topup, where's all your money gone?

Well, hold your horses. If you have invested in their second crowdfund - then that is soon-ish, about summer they say. Everyone else - after that.

> Which means you’ll soon be getting:
> - an account number and sort-code

Well, hold your horses. If you have invested in their second crowdfund - then that is soon-ish, about summer they say. Everyone else - after that.

I've been using Monzo and got my girlfriend to get one, for instant transfer of funds it's so easy, you can instantly see any transactions you make unlike other banks, the app is good and they are developing it more. I haven't used it abroad but I need to try it, obviously it's a VISA debit card so can be used pretty much anywhere.

Has the facility to scan receipts as well so if you do business transactions with it then you can seperate them. Some nice features and the exchange rate follows the Mastercard FX rate when abroad.

I have a couple of 'Golden Tickets' going spare. If anyone wants them give me a shout. Not sure if it's any different to the MSE link though. I've been a Monzo member for a year on the 14th April, not actually used it after I topped up my initial £100 and have £2.69 left on it. Good to see how much it's grown a year on and now be granted a proper banking license. Will stick with it for sure.

Ordered one this morning, straight to the front of the queue via the MSE link. How very un-British! :smile:



They're still stating the current account to be launched later this year will be "free", which would be wise, just in time to snatch all the N&P customers like me...

No it's not as mentioned several times before join the queue then use this link from money saving expert MSE Monzo

Enter your email and you will then be bumped right to the front.

You're lucky to have got the Revolut card, (I have it too) but now they charge for it. I have a Bunq card too but they are charging for it.

Monzo have a very large queue to open accounts at the moment, so unless you can convince the rest of your family to use the link they send you that's the only way to get up the queue.

What's a golden ticket? Does that get me the card sooner instead of waiting behind the 12 odd thousand people ahead of me? X)


Had a Google and looks like it is! If you have one going then would love to have it! Thank you!

All good,found the MSE link. Card topped up and now on its way

Been using Monzo for a while and it's fantastic. Can't fault it. Really quick and easy to top up with Apple Pay - you could even lend it to your teenage son or daughter with some credit on it if they were going out for a special occasion - knowing that it can instantly be blocked or frozen and that they won't run up a whopping bill. Alternatively use it exclusively on a night out and track exactly where you spent your money.

I have a golden ticket if anyone wants one, though it sounds like MSE are basically making the golden ticket idea a bit pointless!

​Just tried Revolut. Bloody awful refused everywhere we went in Spain, failed to get cash from atms and get home to discover that every attempt to withdraw cash has been debited from our account. After 5 days of runarounds from bots and service agents been told it will be 45 days MINIMUM before they can return the cash. Card will be shredded and account closed the minute it has been.

Why is revolut better for foreign exchange? I was originally going to try them ages ago but their ID verification system just did not work. I've been happy with monzo ever since.

I have used this card in all over Europe and it's fantastic. Never failed and withdrew cash without hassles. Exchange rate was very competitive.

signed up anyway X)

You get a physical prepaid MasterCard which works just like any other debit card. I think you can't have multiple cards for same account. They are launching current accounts soon. You should be able to open joint accounts then.

can you set up joint accounts? this would be ideal for my families shopping account. as others have said, it takes a few days for our bank account o update with transaction details? never heard of this company but looks like its genuine. im assuming you dont get a physical debit card and things are done off the app?

how does compare to the revolut card?

this


and double this

been using monzo for around half a year now and it's really what banking should be, knowing exactly how much you have and where you have spent it, not waiting for pending transactions all in one slick app, think it's going to be some time until they roll out current account based on the blog they recently posted.

Been using this for almost a year now. Absolutely flawless, love it

'wholesale MasterCard® exchange rate'
That doesn't sound as competitive as the Revolut FX rates, they are always very close to the XE rate.

Like most startups, they probably aren't making money yet.

Merchants are charged a small amount on all debit card transactions; some goes to MasterCard and some goes to the card issuer. Probably only enough to cover expenses though, if that.

I believe they plan to offer overdrafts in the future, which they will make money from. Also now they have their banking license they are going to offer current accounts. Monese charges £4.99/month for theirs, so I imagine it will be around the same price point.

Just ordered this yday after spending a week looking into the options for my holiday. Have a couple reasons why I went with Monzo, but bare in mind I haven't used any of these, only have the facts and figures published by the companies and reviewers to go by;

Vs Halifax Clarity; As I'm in my early 20s, even though I have a perfect credit score (so far), I just don't have enough history, so I keep getting knocked back by Halifax. I've moved a couple times in the last few years (because who doesn't whilst at uni and after graduating...) and haven't been in stable employment for many years (of course), and maybe it's other things that they don't like, but I've applied and they won't give me a card, with Monzo it's virtually guaranteed you'll get one. Also, Halifax charge interest on cash withdrawals, Monzo has no fees or interest. The ability for freeze and unfreeze the card in a tap sounds amazing to me, means I can block it when I'm not on holiday, I'll probably even block it whenever I'm in my hotel room and unblock when I go out.

Vs exchange bureaus; significantly better rates, top up as and when you want, spend left over cash back at home without losing on changing back. These are (hopefully) going to be a thing of the past for me.

Vs Revolut; I applied for this first, as the exchange rates are better, but their app was buggy and I couldn't top up £10 to pay the £5 card fee, and when I asked customer services for help, they were basically useless (think "have you tried turning it off and on again."). Thinking about it now though, as I plan on using this is a travelling card and not at home, that £5 would have had to be included in the exchange rate, and as the mastercard and interbank rates are usually only different by fractions of a penny, overall I'd be better off with Monzo. Monzo do offer better withdrawal limits as long as you verify your account (by taking a selfie and sending a pic of your passport/license, something that Revolut also asked me for)

Now remember I haven't gotten any of these cards yet, waiting for my Monzo card now, but the reviews seem pretty good, and since they got their full banking license last week, that's looking really good to me personally. I just hope they don't go for a bait and switch, slowly adding tiny fees until they cost almost as much as every other bank does, because it sounds almost perfect at the moment so I'm wondering what the catch will be.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the security is definitely worrying on android. On iOS you can set the app to need a registered fingerprint to unlock, on Android they don't have any pins or passwords. This, to me, is REALLY odd that a bank does not have this feature, I have heard that iOS has a better app overall, although their Android app was catching up, but if I were designing the app, adding basic security would be my first priority. Yes I get you can lock the app with other apps, but that's a bit of a joke to me personally. Sure, it's still locked behind your phone's lockscreen but still it's such a basic feature to add and should definitely be in there. I've seen on the forums something along the lines of "Monzo don't add layers of locks and passwords to make it easier" blah blah blah. BS, this is just typical fanboy-ism defending anything they [do not] do. Also be aware that people are complaining about being banned from the forums for criticising the company/card and there is a huge amount of circle jerking on their forums, so take whatever you read on there with a pinch of salt.

You might've had a response already but if you sign up via the MSE (Money Saving Expert) link you go to the top of the queue. I did this on Monday and got my card the following morning!

My son is in OZ on a work in holiday

You've explained why standard cards are so dysfunctional. Who hasn't phoned their card company to try to decipher from their statement where and to who some payment was made, only to say, doh, now I remember!

What fees are involved? Just trying to work out how these guys make money?

You can use the fingerprint scanner.

New £5.00 notes won't shred:p

Revolt? I've travelled with 2 friends visiting 4 countries, I was using Monzo which never failed. Both friends had the so called better Revolt which failed to work countless times!!

I signed up last July and have ended up putting all my day-to-day transactions through them. Their service is leaps and bounds better than any of my legacy banks or credit card providers. The main benefits to me are:

- Instant notifications on your spending. Really useful when you have an expensive weekend, you don't have to wait until Monday/Tuesday to see the damage!
- Budgeting tools. You can categorise all your payments and set budgets for each category so it's a useful way of tracking your spending without having to export your bank transactions manually to a spreadsheet.
- Zero FX charges. Just remember if you're withdrawing cash abroad to do it in the local currency (don't get the cash machine or duty free to do the GBP conversion for you as a you get a much worse rate).
- You can freeze your card if you lose it. If I'd had that ability a few years ago when I got tricked at a cashpoint the fraudsters would never have been able to withdraw money before I cancelled the card.
- Great support. Every conversation I've ever had with support is stored in the app.

Is it available in Algeria ?

there are golden tickets, i have sent to my friends for them to jump the queue

There isn't a "golden ticket" as far as I remember. You just have to wait. I did reach the top of the queue after i signed up, but I didn't open an account as I got everything they offer at Metro bank who are FSCS protected as well.

I have used Monzo in the UK without problems so far - works just like a normal debit card (contactless also).

I haven't used it abroad yet but plan on doing so. However I also have a Revolut card, Supercard, FairFX card and Halifax Clarity card as well - I wouldn't rely on just one card. It is a case of "horses for courses" and making sure I always have a backup in case one doesn't work, is lost or is blocked.

The advantage of the Monzo card is, as others have pointed out, no fee and a £1000 ATM monthly withdrawl limit (but beware that you might have to pay a fee at some ATM's - this is for any card not just Monzo; however on the Monzo community there is a discussion on which ATM's charge/don't charge depending on which country you use it in).

For those of you concerned that the App doesn't have PIN protection, then just install an App Locker (like App Lock for Android).

Previously the Revolut card worked well for me abroad but it is less useful now since they reduced the free ATM withdrawl limit to £200. It does have the advantage of being able to lock in Euro or US$ rates into your wallet.

The advantage of Monzo and revolut is that, assuming you have data or wifi, you get almost instant notification on your phone of the transaction and exchange rate.

I also have FairFX US$, Euro and Anywhere cards - these used to be the best options before Monzo and Revolut as they gave a better rate than other prepaid FX cards (but not as good as the bank interchange rate used by Revolut/Monzo/Clarity); they are still useful to load up if you get a good exchange rate and are good for paying for goods/services (as are Monzo, Revolut, etc) but charge for ATM withdrawls (as do Supercard which charge a higher rate for withdrawls). I now rarely if ever use the Supercard.

If making large purchases or renting cars (which require a block on a significant amount of money for security deposit), I never use a pre-paid card; always a credit card and usually the Halifax Clairty.

It doesnt look like it has FSCS protection yet, so make sure you don't have too much money in the account just in case anything goes wrong.

If you go via teh MoneySavingExpert link to Monzo you get a free golden ticket

​I recommend this app:

play.google.com/sto…ity

http://www.hotukdeals.com/freebies/monzo-digital-bank-no-fees-abroad-instant-notifications-google-play-store-2662078?p=30548804

Also just saying ..

Anybody got a golden ticket I could use? I signed up yesterday but am stuck in the queue.

you put £100 in. as soon as you get it, you can take the £100 out. for free... just saying...

no pin on app thats bit dodge

thats a big plus over revolut which I use a lot when abroad

I am currently heading abroad for 6 months and the £200 is a pain but manageable
with £1000 there would be no concerns and Id use it far more. I leave monday though so too late for this year to get a card before i go

So do you just install the app and wait for them giving you an account number or do you have to be pro-active and do stuff through the app first? I'm guessing they won't know you've got the app so need to initiate the process.

I haven't used a prepaid travel card, because I never found one that had decent rates when exchanging my AUD for , so I may be very wrong:

1. Doesn't a prepaid travel card require you to choose 1 currency? Can you use the same card for a trip from Hungary to Croatia, for example?
2. How do you top up the card once you're abroad? Is it possible, or do you have to estimate what you're going to spend before you go?
3. If you have money left over on the card, what does it cost you to transfer it back to your home currency? Won't you lose money in exchanging the leftover back? Monzo is always in GBP, so you don't have to worry about having anything left over.
4. Don't prepaid cards charge you a fee for ATM withdrawals?

I'm an Australian on working visa in the UK. I have been traveling Europe (and Asia) for the past 18 months, spending ~1-2 months in each country I visit. I got accounts with Monese, Monzo, and Revolut. I ended up dropping Revolut, and now that Monzo has got their license, I'll get a current account with them and drop Monese.

I usually get paid in to my Australian account in AUD. I transfer the money to my Monese checking account via Currencyfair, and then transfer that to my Monzo account for spending. I do this because my Australian cards charge high % fees on international spend, and a set fee on ATM withdrawals. Currencyfair offers a great rate to exchange my AUD in to GBP, and then Monzo has similarly great rates when using my card anywhere in the world (no fees for transactions or withdrawals, and mid-market rates for exchange).

I don't know how much I've saved in fees with this setup, but it must have been hundreds of pounds by now.

Also – the Monzo app is better than both Revolut and Monese. I am not quite sure of the differences between Revolut and Monzo, but the app is the primary reason I dropped Revolut. Monese seems to have a delay between spending and notifications in the app, whereas Monzo instantly notifies me when I spend money. Right now I'm in Budapest, and when I spend anything with my cards in forint, I often get the notification on my phone saying how much it cost me in pounds before the waiter even hands back the card machine.

If they banks can, then why don't they? HSBC recently updated their Internet Banking and it's a bit crap to be honest. First Direct have awesome customer service but their internet banking site is terrible.

I'm not sure about Halifax but your post office MasterCard charges to withdraw from banks abroad and takes ages to update . Pre paid cards are not always easy to top up while away .. I use mine for holidays and find it very useful and know that my expenses are covered and you get a great rate .

That's very helpful, thanks :smile:

​If you have the time, would you mind detailing any more of the merits of each? I currently have a Revolut card, am thinking of ordering Monzo instead and using that as my main card

I've actually never heard of Monzo so was delighted to read up about it. Honestly though, and please someone convince me if you think I'm wide of the mark, I don't really feel compelled to sign up.

I get that it's cool that your balance updates instantly, that it can integrate with your daily transactions and give insights into your spending, as well as the free use abroad thing. But when it comes to banking, the established institutions are just way too far ahead. There is nothing groundbreaking about what Monzo are doing; the banks could set about doing this stuff fairly quickly if Monzo got anywhere near a decent amount of traction.

I suspect that, in time, the banks will update their apps to do this sort of thing. As for use abroad, what's wrong with me using a Post Office or Halifax credit card where I haven't had fees for years anyway? Failing that, just get a prepaid travelcard, which loads of companies do.

I just feel a bit underwhelmed by a company who is a 'new kind of bank'.

Revolut only allows you to withdraw £200 from cash points abroad per month after this you pay a charge . Monzo it's £1000 . I have both cards . There are merits to both

Can't rate Monzo highly enough - amazing app when you purchase something you get an instant notification no waiting or pending like a normal bank. It works great abroad just top up in pounds and spend as normal abroad no transferring of cash like a Weswap card and the withdrawal limits are higher than with revolut!

For anyone wanting a card asap sign up join the queue then enter your email here and your be bumped right to the front!

MSE Monzo link

Not sure how this is any different/better than Revolut?

Excellent, I'll give it a try now.

You can scan in your notes at home as long as you promise to shred them afterwards.

Used this in Australia in January, was a life saver! Just topped up £50 at a time in case I did lose the card (although you can freeze it from the app instantly) just used it contactless and had no problems, bloody brilliant!

Well I am guessing you can't pay cash into it then... ?

It's much easier to do a transaction chargeback with Monzo too. Plus it comes with a bunch of helpful in-app budgeting tools (though that assumes you're using it for all of your expenses).

Excellent card. Ive forgotten my pin om a number of occasions due to generally using it for small contactless purchases and they sort it out over the online message service in a matter of minutes (securely)

You top up instantly and it also gives you the address of where you've used your card so you know if any fraudulent transactions have happened. Not tried it abroad yet though. Also I always have problems using it in Morrison's using contactless......but it does work if you input your pin

if using abroad, I understand that there are no fees. But what is the wholesale mastercard exchange rate? is it better than others? is this a plus? does it matches the national exchange rate quoted by the bank of the country where you are travelling?
can this account set-up direct debits to pull money from another account?

I have one. It works perfectly. I had to top up £100 but I have been using for small daily expenses and it works fine.

Really happy with it.

Monzo is a bank of the future. We all have Monzo cards in my household. They recently moved into my building. So far, it's been flawless for me. I use my card mainly for travel and can literally top up few seconds before using the card.

It has become a real bank in the last week or so. See here: monzo.com/blo…ce/

Yeah i'm aware of that - that's why I put it in quotes.

Hey, could you expand on this? I'm not sure what's not ready about it.
Other than a credit facility and standard banking stuff (DD, standing orders...) what other features would you be looking for?

I am so into this kind of thing, but I don't think Monzo is ready yet. All the features I'm interested can be found elsewhere. For foreign transactions, Revolut trumps this. I hope they get some good features and bring out a credit card in the future though.

The actual purpose of this is your beta testing the app for when it becomes a real bank.

It's not a fee. It's just an initial top up. You can withdraw the money as soon you get the card

Heat added. Good for using abroad. Any other reason to consider this?

It's the £100 "entry fee" that ultimately put me off. I ended up opening a second account with Metro bank instead and it didn't cost me anything up front.