Advantages of Holding a Traditional "Mainstream" Bank Over Mobile Current Account Providers

Takmon

Heng_Leng wrote: »

Unlike your nebulous definition, a main bank account is generally the one that the majority of income is deposited into.

Other accounts that funds are subsequently trickled down to wouldn't be.

Says who? Show me where any bank uses this definition of main bank account because i have never seen it.

Heng_Leng wrote: »

Conflating an occasional outage with a mickey mouse operation?

Well you need to be more specific on how you define a "mickey mouse operation". Like i said i have never had a transaction declined incorrectly and i've been using Monzo for a long time from when they were a prepaid card called "Mondo".
People who i have recommend have never had any issues using them here or abroad.

I have accounts with more than 10 banks and their app is one of the easiest to use and better than most high street banks.

The main negative is the lack of them paying interest or offering any rewards for Direct Debits which is why i don't use them for more.

System

Takmon wrote: »

Says who? Show me where any bank uses this definition of main bank account because i have never seen it.



Well you need to be more specific on how you define a "mickey mouse operation". Like i said i have never had a transaction declined incorrectly and i've been using Monzo for a long time from when they were a prepaid card called "Mondo".
People who i have recommend have never had any issues using them here or abroad.

I have accounts with more than 10 banks and their app is one of the easiest to use and better than most high street banks.

The main negative is the lack of them paying interest or offering any rewards for Direct Debits which is why i don't use them for more.

Here comes the science bit, concentrate:

Banks define the main current account as the account which salary/ wages or pension is deposited into. Monzo themselves qualify this as £1000 pcm.

As for Mondo/Monzo's wider issues - if you use the search function, it will reveal all.

jonnygee2

I'm aware of this - however the Home Office are exceptionally picky and it's not worth the potential loss of a £1k non-refundable application fee to piddle around with a bank they may well not recognise issuing statements they don't recognise. (Trust me, anyone who's dealt with our wonderful visa system will know what I'm talking about.)

My partner and I have successfully applied for a partner visa and also a mortgage using Monzo bank statements. Monzo sent stamped statements in the post very quickly both times, for free.

jonnygee2

Here comes the science bit, concentrate:

Banks define the main current account as the account which salary/ wages or pension is deposited into. Monzo themselves qualify this as £1000 pcm.

As for Mondo/Monzo's wider issues - if you use the search function, it will reveal all.

Search any bank in the forum and you will find a load of problems people have had with it. Because its a forum about banking problems.

d123

jonnygee2 wrote: »

My partner and I have successfully applied for a partner visa and also a mortgage using Monzo bank statements. Monzo sent stamped statements in the post very quickly both times, for free.

Just an FYI if anyone needs to do similar in the future, document copies and printed copies of online statements are now acceptable, the Home Office guidance changed wef 5 November 2018.

A number of new Immigration Rules are due to come into force in early November, as we covered here.

The Home Office’s decision to accept copy documents in immigration applications, instead of requiring originals, is welcome news.

Anyone who has submitted an immigration application to the Home Office in recent years will be well aware of the requirement to submit original documents and the difficulties this can present.

The Statement of Changes in the Immigration Rules (HC 1534) contains numerous clauses which remove or substitute the word ‘original’ in reference to the mandatory documents required for an immigration application.

Where the word ‘original’ has been substituted, this has primarily been amended to ‘may be originals or copies’. This therefore means that an individual is no longer required to obtain or submit original documents in support of an application for leave to remain or enter the UK.

The option to submit copy documents in immigration applications filed from 5 November 2018 in place of originals is good news to applicants who are likely to experience difficulties in obtaining original documents. For example, it can be difficult to obtain a document with original wet signatures if those who need to sign it are in different countries. It is also often time-consuming to obtain original bank statements now that many people bank online. These difficulties can lead to a delay in filing the application or, in certain cases, a refusal of an application where an original document was not filed. This will also remove the risk of a precious original document being lost or misplaced during the application process.

https://www.carterthomas.co.uk/2018/10/18/copy-documents-in-immigration-applications/

peachyprice

JuicyJesus wrote: »

Finally, this is more personal for me, but as someone who has to give bank statements and such to the Home Office to keep their partner in the country there is no goddamn way I'd trust Monzo or Starling's statements to be accepted.

A Monzo staatement is exactly the same as any other bank's statement that you export from the app as a pdf, there's no reason whatsoever that they wouldn't be accepted.

Takmon

Heng_Leng wrote: »

Here comes the science bit, concentrate:

Banks define the main current account as the account which salary/ wages or pension is deposited into. Monzo themselves qualify this as £1000 pcm.

Like i said you need to provide proof of that.. Just saying it in a condescending way doesn't make you right :rotfl:

Show me a link to banks terms and conditions where it specifies what a "main" bank account is. I've looked before when doing switching offers and they may say you need to switch your "main" account but don't actually define it.

Heng_Leng wrote: »

As for Mondo/Monzo's wider issues - if you use the search function, it will reveal all.

All banks have issues and if anything there are less posts about issues with Monzo because less people use them....

MisterMotivated

Other than the fact that they have an app (which every bank does nowadays), what are the benefits of being with a mobile-based bank like Monzo or Starling over over being with a branch-based one like Natwest?

I don't really see anything they offer that a) mainstream banks don't or b) I would find particularly useful. They offer "up to 1.55%" interest, though this appears to be a fixed term rate rather than instant access, and you need to wait until the next day to get your money out. Surely in the age of immediate access to anything and everything, this is a poor show.

Monzo's website says I could get notification of a payment before I get the receipt, but I'll still get a receipt so don't see that as much of a benefit. Yes, there may come a day when paper receipts are a thing of the past, but then there will be a day when people can easily create fake Monzo receipts to prove they paid for all the stuff they are trying to shoplift from Tesco.

I am not some sort of luddite, but haven't seen anything that really sells me on the app-only banks.

Takmon

MisterMotivated wrote: »

Other than the fact that they have an app (which every bank does nowadays), what are the benefits of being with a mobile-based bank like Monzo or Starling over over being with a branch-based one like Natwest?

I don't really see anything they offer that a) mainstream banks don't or b) I would find particularly useful. They offer "up to 1.55%" interest, though this appears to be a fixed term rate rather than instant access, and you need to wait until the next day to get your money out. Surely in the age of immediate access to anything and everything, this is a poor show.

Like i have said i would never recommend that anyone just has one bank account and they should always have multiple accounts. The biggest benefit to Monzo and Starling are the almost perfect exchange rates and fee free cash withdrawals when used abroad.

MisterMotivated wrote: »

Monzo's website says I could get notification of a payment before I get the receipt, but I'll still get a receipt so don't see that as much of a benefit. Yes, there may come a day when paper receipts are a thing of the past, but then there will be a day when people can easily create fake Monzo receipts to prove they paid for all the stuff they are trying to shoplift from Tesco.

I am not some sort of luddite, but haven't seen anything that really sells me on the app-only banks.

Your just talking about shop transactions, don't forget most people shop online as well. If your buying something online in a foreign currency an instant notification saying how much they have spent in £'s is pretty useful.

But getting instant notifications should be the standard anyway because it also instantly updates your balance which is good for people on a tight budget and people can react quicker to any fraudulent transactions on their account.

MisterMotivated

Takmon wrote: »

Like i have said i would never recommend that anyone just has one bank account and they should always have multiple accounts. The biggest benefit to Monzo and Starling are the almost perfect exchange rates and fee free cash withdrawals when used abroad.

You're just talking about shop transactions, don't forget most people shop online as well. If you're buying something online in a foreign currency an instant notification saying how much they have spent in £'s is pretty useful.

But getting instant notifications should be the standard anyway because it also instantly updates your balance which is good for people on a tight budget and people can react quicker to any fraudulent transactions on their account.

My current accounts number in double figures; I never made any mention of only having one account, app-based or otherwise, so I don't know why you feel that's relevant.

Your other points above all relate solely to benefits when spending abroad/in foreign currencies, which I don't do every week, so on that basis, I stand by my decision to stick with the mainstream banks and ignore Monzo/Starling et al for now. I haven't bothered to compare their exchange rates against other sources so will have to take your word for it that they're better than anywhere else

I can't say I've timed it for my online purchases, but my Halifax and Barclaycard accounts (and probably the others) give a list of pending transactions with available balance by the time I get home if out shopping (probably long before then, but I don't feel the need to instantly check on the app that I've actually spent the money), so I refer you back to point a) in my previous post. As most of my spending is done on a credit card, the app-based banks' budgeting/spending breakdowns seem more-or-less redundant.



Yes, instant notifications would help react quickly to unauthorised transactions. I expect this will eventually be rolled out as an option for all traditional banks' apps, so that on its own won't persuade me to open yet another account