Monzo - Should I take the plunge?

sjp93

So I've been using Monzo for a month or so now, I love everything about it, from getting alerts when money comes and goes instantly, ability to freeze, budgeting without the need of spreadsheets and of course the pots. However I'm a little bit hesitant with the amount of negative reviews saying they freeze/close your account with your money locked down. That wouldn't be the end of the world at the moment whilst using it as a pre-paid card, however if I take the leap and move the majority of things over to this account, this would obviously be terrible.

I was just wondering what people think of Monzo, what you guys use it for, etc.? Thanks.

eskbanker

sjp93 wrote: »

I'm a little bit hesitant with the amount of negative reviews saying they freeze/close your account with your money locked down. That wouldn't be the end of the world at the moment whilst using it as a pre-paid card, however if I take the leap and move the majority of things over to this account, this would obviously be terrible.

It's often recommended on here to maintain at least two current accounts with different banks for this purpose, so you can mitigate any perceived risk with Monzo by keeping another account going elsewhere too....

Takmon

Personally i use Monzo as my general spending account. My wages get paid into a high street bank account then standing orders are setup to transfer money to different savings accounts and to another account that i use only for bills to get cashback (Santander 123 Lite). I then have a weekly amount that is paid into Monzo that i use for food and other expenditure.

I would never use Monzo for direct debits or amount of savings simply because it offers no interest or cashback. Plus as the poster above says never have just one current account.
But Monzo (also Starling) are best for general expenditure so that's why i use them.

sjp93

Thank you - I currently have a number of esavers and current accounts and I'm trying to streamline it a little bit - but I agree with the lack of interest, I'm swaying towards leaving them where they are. I think using it the way you are, is the way I should go - thank you.

jonnygee2

However I'm a little bit hesitant with the amount of negative reviews saying they freeze/close your account with your money locked down.

This only really happens to people who commit financial crimes, or in rare cases are falsely suspected of financial crimes. It can happen at any bank, search through the history of the board you will find several examples a week, all from different banks.. Such people often start loads of reviews / threads / forum posts everywhere, they are all 'innocent', they can pretty much all be ignored.

System

I'm not quite sure what the fuss is with Monzo.
It's not even that great for overseas usage as it has free £200 ATM limit.

sjp93

With the management of transactions that Monzo has, I rarely use an ATM now

d123

Heng_Leng wrote: »

I'm not quite sure what the fuss is with Monzo.
It's not even that great for overseas usage as it has free £200 ATM limit.

Agreed.

People seem to be sucked in by the hype they generate when for the average user in the real world Starling offers a far superior service from a similar style of mobile account.

SlovakianGuy

d123 wrote: »

People seem to be sucked in by the hype they generate when for the average user in the real world Starling offers a far superior service from a similar style of mobile account.

Definitely not "far superior".
I had both and both have some pros and cons compared to each other.

They may be, however, far superior to big dinosaur banks. Except one major drawback - they are app only. When your phone dies, you can be just sitting in front of a computer with internet connection, but you can do nothing with your money. I find this "app only trend" really dumb.

jonnygee2

I'm not quite sure what the fuss is with Monzo.
It's not even that great for overseas usage as it has free £200 ATM limit.

Compared to what?

Most legacy banks are ridiculous. They charge you for missing a direct debit or standing order (ludicrous, it costs them nothing!). Their customer support is poor, their websites and apps often terrible, and they have overly fussy security systems that make accessing your own money painfully difficult (while really not improving security at all, and sometimes making it worse).

If you mean compared to Starling or N26, then I agree with you more. But legacy banks, honestly I think unless they massively up their game they'll (very) slowly fade out of the picture when people realise you don't have to deal with their rubbish to have a bank account.

d123

SlovakianGuy wrote: »

Definitely not "far superior".
I had both and both have some pros and cons compared to each other.

They may be, however, far superior to big dinosaur banks. Except one major drawback - they are app only. When your phone dies, you can be just sitting in front of a computer with internet connection, but you can do nothing with your money. I find this "app only trend" really dumb.

You can have Starling on 10 devices iirc. (Monzo only on 2, and only 1 can be Android and 1 iOS).

Starling has virtually unlimited free deposits at the Post Office, Monzo makes you pay to stand in the corner shop to deposit money and has ridiculously small deposit limits.

Starling has free usage overseas (subject to £300 a day ATM limit), Monzo has a stupidly low £200 a month ATM limit before charging for the service.

Starling pays interest on credit balance, Monzo doesn’t.

Starling has a much cheaper overdraft charge (about half, for a £200 OD).

Starling now offers customers a Euro account.

Starling runs on its own banking platform (which other banks pay to use).

Starling is the only mobile/challenger bank that is a direct member of Faster Payments scheme (and the only bank running with real time access)

Starling is the UK partner for the new Mastercard Send payments system.

Yes, Starling is a superior banking institution compared to Monzo.