Monzo virtual cards 27 February at 10:26PM in Budgeting & bank accounts 9 replies 292 views

notquiteskint

I quite like the idea of virtual cards offered by the monzo plus account, but the £5 account fee is really putting me off, am thinking of opening an account with monzo
can anyone offer any feedback about the bank in general?
cheers

i currently bank with santander and halifax

gary1312

I have a Monzo account because of the feature where you get paid regular salary payments a day early. If you get your salary paid in and pay one direct debit a month out, you get unlimited ATM withdrawals and two free card replacements a year - if not, then you're paying a fiver if you lose your card and  only get £250 (IIRC) free cash withdrawals a month.

Not a bad account but there's nothing there I'd pay a fiver a month for..

Rob5342

I'm with Monzo and I think they are great, everything a bank should be iny opinion and their app makes some of the high street banks look prehistoric. Starling is good too, there is not much between them but Starling probably had the edge as you can pay cheques in via the app (once in a blue moon for me but I get the odd refund from a miscalculated account closure) Starling also had nicer branding with a nicely designed card instead of the gaudy orange one that Monzo has.

As much as I like it I wouldn't pay £5 a month for it. As an alternative could you get a current account you use solely for online use, and freeze the card in the app whenever you aren't using it?

danny13579

Starling offer virtual cards for free.

flaneurs_lobster

If it's just the virtual card functionality that you want then how about Revolut?

I only use it for the few occasions when I'm using Google Pay or one-off online payments. 

WillPS

Don't pay for Virtual Cards. Revolut (not yet a licensed bank) and Starling allow this for free.

jimroy

WillPS said:

Don't pay for Virtual Cards. Revolut (not yet a licensed bank) and Starling allow this for free.

Yeah. That’s what put me off using them long term. 

Starling are good.

gd55

I have a Monzo account and like it. The pot system is great for budgeting.
I paid the £5/month for Monzo Plus to get virtual cards for a while but they were just a faff having to select the right one in Google pay depending on whether I was at the supermarket till or the petrol station.

brucefan_2

I opened a Monzo account some 4 years back when my daughter persuaded me to sign up, so we would both get a £5 freebie, since which point I have dabbled with it on and off.

Recently paying it a bit more attention, I have now decided to make this my main 'hub' for managing my daily finances etc.,

I find the app very easy to use and the functionality puts the traditional High Street Banks to shame. The in-app 'tools' are pretty impressive

What is even more impressive is that there is a vibrant 'community' forum, where, at various points, Monzo staff members from different departments engage with forum members quite openly, often seeking opinions etc., on products and what future functionality customers would welcome, what works, what doesn't work etc., I've  not seen the like with any other financial institution and for this alone, I think Monzo is to be commended.

I do pay £5 a month for the 'Plus' package because it gives me that little bit of extra functionality, which suits my purposes and my needs.

I could get pretty much the same functionality across several other providers without the cost but the advantage to me of having what I want/need in one place for ease of use is worth the cost.

I have never used YNAB but looked at it several times; wasn't keen on the cost. I would expect that for many users, the 'Plus' package would give them enough  YNAB-like functionality at a lesser cost.

[Deleted User]

notquiteskint said:

I quite like the idea of virtual cards offered by the monzo plus account, but the £5 account fee is really putting me off, am thinking of opening an account with monzo
can anyone offer any feedback about the bank in general?
cheers

i currently bank with santander and halifax

Monzo is definitely nothing to write home about.