Chaps,
Currently looking at banking for my new business and reviewing the online options and Monzo looks a reasonable option. Also considering Starling and Metro.
Any experiences would be greatly appreciated
Many thanks
Pitch
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Chaps,
Currently looking at banking for my new business and reviewing the online options and Monzo looks a reasonable option. Also considering Starling and Metro.
Any experiences would be greatly appreciated
Many thanks
Pitch
Have Monzo and Starling for 2 different co’s
Both apps are very good, I’d say support is a little better with Starling should you ever need it
Both very good though, I’ve had no issues with either
Been a Monzo customer from the get-go, as Martin Lewis got my interest on his thoughts on them. For clarity I also have a First Direct account (been with them from the get-go).
Had no issues with Monzo - easy set up, love the app and the instant notifications and easy comms. Get daily spot rate for foreign transactions when travelling & saved us nearly £400 against the tourist rate on our round the world trip). Good benefits available include decent travel insurance and mobile phone insurance. I do not have/use them for business but over the last few years they have been very good.
I have monzo and have done for several years - primarily got it for holidays but since retirement I’ve used the savings side - 4.1% which isn’t too shabby
The apps pretty good too
Natwest closed my business account during lockdown (long and very anger inducing story!). Given the circumstances with Covid and face masks and general difficulties in doing anything face-to-face I had a NIGHTMARE opening a new account. I tried all the big high street brands and it was usually weeks/months before I could even get an appointment to see a business manager. I was very close to just opening a Post Office account to use.
On the recommendation of a friend I tried the Monzo app. Applied online, sent a 30 second video (hello, yes its me, I am who I say I am on the forms etc etc) and the card was on my doormat THE NEXT DAY!
Service has been flawless with them. My only experience with customer services was an issue in Manchester where a faulty ATM didn't dispense any cash but still deducted funds. I sent them a panicked/angry message on their chat function and within a couple of hours I'd had detailed responses telling me what action they would take and (very VERY impressively) they even credited me with the funds that had been taken, saying they may need to take them back if they found the machine wasn't faulty (i.e. if I was trying it on!). Took seven weeks for an investigation to be completed but all went as expected and that was the end of that.
They also have a decent rate saving account (I think its 4.8%) which I use for my rainy day/tax pot. Click of a button to add/withdraw from it with no penalty.
I use them for both my main current account and my business account and have done for three years now. Absolutely no qualms in recommending them.
Have been using Starling for a few months and very impressed. The app experience is smooth and everything works very well. Easy to set up a joint account too, which was the main attraction.
Have had Starling Sterling and Euro account for my business for a couple of years and have been very happy.
Out of the two I think the Monzo app has a slight edge though if you ever want to bank a cheque currently only the Starling app can process them, other than that you pays your money and takes your choice.
Ahhh just one additional thing that has occurred to me after reading the last post from Number2 is the inability to bank cash!
You can transfer happily between accounts but actually paying in physical money is rubbish - they allow £1000 every SIX MONTHS. For that reason I would always recommend keeping a high street bank as a standby. I have access to a Barclays account so on the rare occasions I have to pay some money in I can feed it through that, bit of a pain in the ar5e though.
We are in Europe often so have 2 cards - Monzo and Chase.
While Monzo is good it has its limitations and issues
You can only withdraw £250 in cash per month or the equivalent in currency
The limit for Chase is £1,500 per month
For that reason we are using our Chase cards to get local currency cash.
Monzo has also had issues when trying to pay occasionally- more recently to top up my foreign phone sim. It declined twice so my Chase card came to the rescue. I also had it declined in a French petrol station.
I don’t know about the benefits of the 2 cards but I’m certainly glad I’ve got the Chase card and would recommend it to anyone.
They cost nothing to set up so why not get both and try them.
My accounts are with Starling. Excellent bank and voted best British bank over the years.
Terrible bank which I would avoid.
When my account was fraudulently accessed and money (a few hundred pound) taken from the account they were very unhelpful.
They eventually decided to reject the claim after keeping me waiting for weeks without any reason or justification.
I closed the account.
Are you referring to Starling? I had an issue with them that dragged on for a couple of days which is why I added Monzo and Chase, never put all your eggs in one basket, we also have accounts in other places.Quote:
Originally Posted by boring_sandwich
No not Starling it was Monzo I had the issue with.Quote:
Originally Posted by number2
I have also been using Chase and have found them very good both in the UK and abroad.
Been using Starling for 2-3 years now and genuinely over the moon with their customer service and support. The APP is very good and never had any issues. Cannot speak for MOnzo but hear good things from friends and colleagues who use them.
I doubt that either option will prove a bad choice.
Paul
Many thanks chaps for taking the time to reply.
Mrs P is going through the set up and if she is happy she will drop some money into the account, effectively a loan to the business.
We may try others though.
Pitch
A couple of my kids keep recommending that I get a Monzo account, how are you guys finding it ? would you feel ok putting a reasonable size lump of cash in it, safe ?
I’ve a few £ in there just gone to the Monzo plus - £5 a month but interest is 4.6% AER as opposed to 4.1Quote:
Originally Posted by TheTigerUK
All is working great for me, app is great and working well with XeroQuote:
Originally Posted by TheTigerUK
Pitch
Used mine in Tenerife last week for meal out and the bus etc 117 to the £ no fees
Upto £85k is safeQuote:
Originally Posted by TheTigerUK
4.6% on PremiumQuote:
Originally Posted by lewie
See post #18Quote:
Originally Posted by 100thmonkey
Its bloody good as an alternative as requiredQuote:
Originally Posted by lewie
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Been using Monzo for personal use only as my main current accout since 2017, never had a negative experience with it. Travel, replacement cards, making large purchases, all smooth as you'd expect.
My only criticism (which may not be unique to them) is the app sometimes requires killing off and reopening on iOS before you get an actual updated balance. Same with the widget.
Thanks, just seemed a bit scary to me and I suppose i'm being old fashioned as I don't think there are any bricks and mortar branches but then again there are not many branches of any banks these days and I havent been into my own bank in a few years which I have been with for 60 years :)
As above John your covered up to £85kQuote:
Originally Posted by TheTigerUK
Read my post *12 below.
They were great until I had an issue.
Just interested - what did the ombundsman rule?Quote:
Originally Posted by boring_sandwich
My son tells a similar tale, except that it was Monzo that closed the account and accused my son of scamming them!Quote:
Originally Posted by boring_sandwich
Avoid
I've been with them about 5 years and they've been great,the app and forum are great too.
For me Starling is amazing. As others have said the service is second to non.
I just keep thinking Paul what would happen if Monzo just turned off the APP ? what happens then ? at least with the TSB if any major problem I can still at this moment in time go and visit the physical building/bank.Quote:
Originally Posted by lewie
Am I just being a old codger ? :)
If TSB closed there branches?Quote:
Originally Posted by TheTigerUK
I’m having some fun with Monzo at the moment. I’ve banked with them for a few years and have a Premium account, Flex, a loan, and an Investment ISA, as well as some savings pots. Generally everything is great, no complaints for most day to day things.
Two things have caught me out.
First, their daily transfer limit to external accounts is just £10k. Absolutely fine the vast majority of the time, but an utter nightmare on those rare occasions you need to make a larger transfer. You can contact their support and plead your case for a one-off increase, which they’ll review and hopefully approve for the next day. No use if you need to transfer more on the same day.
The other and more fundamental thing I’ve just learned, is EVERYTHING depends on the current account. If I switch my account away from Monzo to another bank, my ISA has to be closed, I can’t retain any savings, and there are literally zero alternative ways of managing the loan. The only option is to transfer loan payments via standing order into a general Monzo-own bank account. You lose all visibility and management, as you cannot use the app.
This is a fairly fundamental difference to other banks who allow you to manage each one of these things independently. Even if I don’t decide to switch my current account away, I am now in the process of manually moving everything away, as I dislike the idea of being so tightly dependent on a single current account and the risk of losing the app should there be a problem with it.
This is all mostly irrelevant to most people, but I thought it would be useful in the spirit of this thread.
Just keep a dormant fee free current account? No biggie surely? Didn’t know about the £10k limit…. That’s no useQuote:
Originally Posted by RobM
Yep that’s the easiest way.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfie
As to the £10k limit, I had no issue transferring circa £90k. Just requested it through the app 24 hrs before. There is also a process if you want to do it quicker. It’s all in the help section.
That make sense…. I mean what if you wanted to buy a house?!Quote:
Originally Posted by craig1912
Chaps and pay the feeQuote:
Originally Posted by Wolfie
Nearly three weeks in and I am enjoying Monzo, thank you, and I do like the daily interest notification :)
Yep and same here fella.
Pitch
As I said, contact them before and it’s no problem. All banks have limits, admittedly most higher than Monzo but every bank needs you to contact them if you want to do a BT over their limit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfie
Sorry…. My question was rhetorical…. That maybe wasn’t clear…. Seems a bit daft not having a simple method of transferring money…Quote:
Originally Posted by craig1912
I agree with the responses to my point, no doubt. Their support is there to help and they will increase the BT amount for example, it's just a thing to be aware of if you're considering a Monzo account and not something you usually have to think about quite so often (thanks to the lower limit). I'm sure other TZ'ers will find this thread in the future when considering a move to Monzo, so we may as well make it as useful as possible.
Their new packaged deals have thrown an interesting curve ball into my plans, as the perks are actually pretty good value. I'm still going to separate day-to-day banking from savings and investments just to avoid the 'all your eggs in one basket' risk, but the Max Plan + Family cover seems good value compared to buying everything individually for the family.