Monese bank problem

Ro2124 · 29 January 2020 at 7:41AM

Anyone had dealings with Monese bank, initially thought they were quite good, very easy to sign up, but since then it's been downhill all the way, their customer service is appalling, despite having three ways to communicate- email, chat and telephone.
Tried chat, got a brief answer eventually after 3 hours.. And that was it! The guy I was dealing with disappeared and not been online for 3 days. Then I tried to phone,but it just rang and rang for 20 minutes and no answer, they do have a call back option, which I pressed but two days nothing, no call back either.

So now tried email, hopefully getting an answer before Christmas, but I won't hold my breath.

Thing is the matter is a bit urgent I am concerned about an IBAN transfer I made to them which was quite a large amount, according to the sending bank in Czechia transfer was successful, but it's been over a week now and it's still not showing up on the Monese account, which is a bit worrying. IBAN transfer was made from bank in Europe, so should not take over a week I would assume? And it was GBP to GBP so no currency conversion to consider.
But with them not answering, it's difficult to know what's going on, so I got quite a large amount sloshing around the banking system somewhere without a clue where it is.

Well, their holding bank seems to be in Tallin, Estonia where the Monese account is held so I wrote to that bank too, but they said they couldn't give any details. I have to deal with Monese. Which it appears would be similar to trying to contact Mars.

In contrast also been dealing with Transferwise before, they are far more efficient normally answer phones fairly quickly. Wish I had sent the money there now.

kazwookie · 29 January 2020 at 7:48AM

Ro2124 wrote: »

Anyone had dealings with Monese bank, initially thought they were quite good, very easy to sign up, but since then it's been downhill all the way, their customer service is appalling, despite having three ways to communicate- email, chat and telephone.
Tried chat, got an answer eventually after 3 hours.. And that was it! the guy I was dealing with disappeared and not been online for 3 days. Then I tried to phone,but it just rang and rang for 20 minutes and no answer, they do have a call back option, which I pressed but two days nothing, no call back either.
So now tried email, hopefully getting an answer before Christmas, but I won't hold my breath.
Thing is the matter is a bit urgent I am concerned about an IBAN transfer I made to them which was quite a large amount, according to the sending bank in Czechia transfer was successful, but it's been over a week now and it's still not showing up on the Monese account, which is a bit worrying. IBAN transfer was made from bank in Europe, so should not take over a week I would assume?
But with them not answering, it's difficult to know what's going on, so I got quite a large amount sloshing around the banking system somewhere without a clue where it is. Well, their holding bank seems to be in Tallin, Estonia where the Monese account is held so I wrote to that bank too, but they said they couldn't give any details. I have to deal with Monese. Which it appears would be similar to trying to contact Mars.
In contrast also be dealing with transferwise before, they are far more efficient normally answer phones fairly quickly. Wish I had sent the money there now.

Personally I've never heard of them.

A quick google has brought up their web site.

eDicky · 29 January 2020 at 8:32AM

You talk of transferring 'quite a large amount' to your account with Monese, who as far as I know are not a bank but more of a prepaid card account.

I have both GBP and EUR accounts with them, handy for card use and converting at perfect rates, but I would never move more than 500 in or out at a time. To do so might trip an anti-fraud/AML block, sure to be a real headache with such a fintech whose customer base is expanding faster than their customer service ability, as you have discovered.

Any particular reason why you are not using real banks for your largish transfers..?

Ro2124 · 29 January 2020 at 8:58AM

@eDicky

>>To do so might trip an anti-fraud/AML block
[FONT=&quot]Yeah, actually I did consider that, since that seems to be a problem sometimes.
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[FONT=&quot]
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[FONT=&quot]I am not an expert on this money laundering/ fraud stuff, so I don't know what triggers it exactly, the amount or where it originated from. ... although it seems our Russian gangster friends do not seem to have too much trouble sending millions of illegal dosh to London- same old story I guess, one law for the rich and one for everybody else. Well money was sent from from reputable European bank Raiffeisen from an account I had for years, so nothing dodgy or fraudulent about that.
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[FONT=&quot]And like I said I dealt with transferwise before I asked them about the large amount and they said it wouldn't be a problem, so I thought it would be ok with Monese too.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
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[FONT=&quot]Yes, I get your point about not being a proper bank account, although they call themselves Monese Bank and I do have other accounts in Europe in Euros with Santander and N26. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]But with all the ups and downs with Brexit and the pound going up and down like a yo-yo, I thought might be best to keep it in pounds for a while until the situation stabilises and pound rises, which in fact it has a bit.[/FONT]
I would have used normal UK bank but the trouble is, if you're living outside of UK you cannot open a UK bank account! Only other option is offshore, but they want ridiculous amounts of deposits these days. Like 50 grand .etc

Yeah perhaps I shouldn't have moved that much money into Monese and take a risk and convert into euros, but you can lose a lot these days, some of these Banksters will give you a lousy exchange rate and you could lose a considerable amount.Anyway too late now, the deed is done. I'll have to try and solve it with Monese.

SnowTiger · 29 January 2020 at 9:52AM

The app mentions you should include a personalised reference for international transfers. I guess that means punters don't have their own IBAN and use a collective one.

Providing the account details were correct international transfers should arrive within three 'business days'.

You appear to have been waiting for more than six weeks for your transfer to complete. If I were you I'd make a complaint to Monese.

Their complaints procedure is outlined in their T&Cs. See https://monese.com/terms, section 20.

Ro2124 · 29 January 2020 at 10:11AM

@Snow Tiger
Yeah I was well aware of that and made sure that reference was included in the transfer information. But as eDicky said fraud alert may have been triggered by a certain amount,Banks seem to be very sensitive of late. Unless as I said , you are a Russian gangster with millions, then it's carry on regardless... Laws only apply to us little people!
With hindsight I should have made sure first with Monese if the amount was acceptable, but as I said with their lousy customer service I just got frustrated, so I asked transferwise instead about their limit and they seemed to think it was ok.

>>You appear to have been waiting for more than six weeks for your transfer

mmmh, don't know where you got that idea from, as I said it was sent last week so it's just over a week, not six :-)

Mmmh and complain to Monese that should be a bundle of fun, since they can't even answer ordinary enquiries.
Shame really would have been useful having an online bank especially when travelling a lot which I do, but like I said deed is done, just got to try and solve it.

colsten · 29 January 2020 at 10:14AM

Ro2124 wrote: »

I am concerned about an IBAN transfer I made to them which was quite a large amount, according to the sending bank in Czechia transfer was successful

If Monese are the recipient, they cannot know where your funds are if they haven't arrived with them. You need to ask the sending bank to put a trace on the money.

Ro2124 wrote: »

But with all the ups and downs with Brexit and the pound going up and down like a yo-yo, I thought might be best to keep it in pounds for a while until the situation stabilises and pound rises, which in fact it has a bit.......I would have used normal UK bank but the trouble is, if you're living outside of UK you cannot open a UK bank account!

There may be an issue with you sending Sterling around if you are not a UK resident? It sounds like you are involved in currency trading and it's unclear what the destination of your money is. Were you planning to leave it sitting in Monese, without any FSCS protection, or was/is the money destined to go further to another Sterling account?

SnowTiger · 29 January 2020 at 10:25AM

Ro2124 wrote: »

mmmh, don't know where you got that idea from, as I said it was sent last week so it's just over a week, not six :-)

Ah, I see. You mentioned Christmas. I thought that saga had been ongoing since last Christmas. I guess you meant you're hoping for a reply by next Christmas.

As it's only been a week the hold up is probably money laundering checks.

Ro2124 · 29 January 2020 at 10:26AM

@ Colston No nothing to with currency trading, simply just had an account in Czechia I had a business there some years back, but their charges have been getting a bit expensive, plus they screwed up several things like losing a cheque once and several other screw-ups. Eventually I went to the Czechia Bank Ombudsman, who fortunately was quite efficient, he found in my favour and they were ordered to pay compensation and give me free banking for a year.
But that free period is running out soon, so that's why I decided to move the money. Now of course I hit another buffer with Monese, but thats life, seems nothing is simple these with banking.
.

Ro2124 · 29 January 2020 at 10:38AM

@SnowTiger
Well, yeah looking at it like that, guess you could say it's last Christmas.. different issues been going on and off :-)

But this was kind of a different matter, just a simple IBAN transfer, which should not be rocket science.

>>As it's only been a week the hold up is probably money laundering checks.

Yep, It's possible and sure hope you're right....

DCFC79 · 29 January 2020 at 10:39AM

Using Transferwise may have also put you in the same situation.
Give the chat option another go.

Monese bank problem

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