Monzo Bank - Any Views??

[RobM]

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.

[Wolfie]

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 use

[craig1912]

Just keep a dormant fee free current account? No biggie surely? Didn’t know about the £10k limit…. That’s no use

Yep that’s the easiest way.

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.

[Wolfie]

Yep that’s the easiest way.

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?!

[wileeeeeey]

That make sense…. I mean what if you wanted to buy a house?!

Chaps and pay the fee

[TheTigerUK]

Nearly three weeks in and I am enjoying Monzo, thank you, and I do like the daily interest notification :)

[Pitch3110]

Yep and same here fella.

Pitch

[craig1912]

That make sense…. I mean what if you wanted to buy a house?!

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.

[Wolfie]

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.

Sorry…. My question was rhetorical…. That maybe wasn’t clear…. Seems a bit daft not having a simple method of transferring money…

[RobM]

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.