Monzo.. Your opinion?

langtonhighway

I've found both Starling and Monzo brilliant and am now thinking of switching Starling to be my main account, away from the co-op

Ballard

I use Monzo and Starling solely for overseas use and have had one problem with Monzo that they didn’t manage to sort. I tried to withdraw from ATMs in Colombia and found Monzo to be rather hit and miss as to whether it went through. I contacted them and tried their response (allowing magnetic stripe use) but that wasn’t any help. I stuck with Starling for the rest of the trip who were not a problem.

This probably isn’t relevant to your requirements but thought that I’d post it anyway.

Chino

colsten wrote: »

What are your safety concerns

Can't speak for the OP, but how about the vague manner in which Yolt describes its security controls and its refusal to name the "data partner" it uses?
https://www.yolt.com/security

stripeyfox

Been using Monzo for nearly a year now for day to day spending. Find it brilliant to be honest. People bang on about getting no interest etc but for the amount of money I have in the bank, even a "generous" interest rate isn't going to make me rich any time soon so....

I still have my salary paid into to HSBC and all my regular bills, mortgage etc come out from that. What is left over I transfer to Monzo

What I like:
Instant notifications when I spend and live balance - so when I spend £70 in Aldi on a Friday after work and £25.00 on a take away for example. Monzo deducts these instantly and updates my balance. With HSBC these transactions might finally show on Tuesday or Wednesday the following week, by wihch time I've forgotten them. I know I can make a manual calculation, but the instant balance in Monzo tells me "i've spent it" straight away

Round Ups - these go into my coin jar

IFTTT interaction - lots of things here - I use "save the date" - which runs each morning and adds the pence for the date - eg today 09+01+20 = 30p to my coin jar. I also use IFTTT to add my Monzo transactions to my Google calender

Adding Categories to Transactions - can mark them as "Groceries" or "Fuel". It's not quite bulletproof as you can split them but it's a reasonable approximation of what you're spedning your money on

Savings Pots - can create a pot for anything and add money to it, either as you want, or as a scheduled transcation. You can "lock" them too until a given date (you can unlock them if you need to)

All in all very happy. Do have some concerns about customer service response times which are reported as being very slow at times, but then again, I've not needed to contact them and I can't even remember the last time I contacted HSBC either! In theory any fraudulent activity on your account would be detected very quickly as you'd get a notiifcation on your phone if your card is used - and you can "freeze" the card from the app.

There is also a "basic" web access to your account in the event of losing your phone and not being able to load the app

colsten

langtonhighway wrote: »

I've found both Starling and Monzo brilliant and am now thinking of switching Starling to be my main account, away from the co-op

Why not keep the Coop alongside a new Starling, at least for as long as the Coop pays you the £4 reward a month? All you need is 1 DD, paying every week.

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colsten

Chino wrote: »

Can't speak for the OP, but how about the vague manner in which Yolt describes its security controls and its refusal to name the "data partner" it uses?

A quick google will tell you who it is - - but why would you want to know what is used under the covers? If so, what are Monzo using under the covers?

eastantrim4

I like Monzo. I seem to be similar to others in that the Halifax is used as the main bank for salaries to be paid in and bills to be paid. I then use the Monzo account for spending money. Not sure I'd want to use it as my main account though.

Don80

I have a Monzo account, but only really for spending money overseas if I need to transfer additional money from my Bank of Scotland account. I don't really see that much difference, aside from overseas charges. I love the Bank of Scotland's future payments - you can enter a future date in the next month, and it will tell you what they expect to come out in direct debits and standing orders. Really helpful for knowing what you have left for the month. The app also sends weekly balance updates, and notifications of standing orders and direct debits due to be paid in the next 7 days. Monzo tell you about every transaction in real time, which I can see could be useful if the transaction was fraudulent - but otherwise I personally find it annoying.

I have 3 accounts - two (one Bank of Scotland, and one TSB) used for bills, and my main Bank of Scotland account which is for spending money. I like that Bank of Scotland pay interest and have the opportunity for cash back - I've earned more on that than I would in interest, which Monzo don't pay.

* I assume the app would be the same for Lloyds as they are in the same banking group and Halifax as it's a Bank of Scotland trading name.

colsten

Don80 wrote: »

I like that Bank of Scotland pay interest and have the opportunity for cash back - I've earned more on that than I would in interest, which Monzo don't pay.

You're likely to get better cashback from Quidco and TopCashback. Admittedly, it's a bit more labour intensive than just using your BoS card. You have a full selection of retailers at Quidco/TCB, whilst in BoS, they decide which retailers could be of interest to you, based on your payment history.

jonnygee2

I like Monzo. It's my main account and has been for a while. The customer service has always been good for me and of all the banks I find the app to be by far the best. Starling isn't bad either (not as good for me but preferred by some). No harm in giving them a go, I'd say.