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Ironically I tried to close my TSB account on Saturday morning because I'd just switched to Monzo Bank and was told they couldn't close my account due to the is

Ironically I tried to close my TSB account on Saturday morning because I'd just switched to Monzo Bank and was told they couldn't close my account due to the issues they were having. Still no access to my old account this morning...

jdefelice 9y ago
Have you switched to Monzo as your full-time bank? I use it for everyday spending but I not sure I want to put my wages into it yet.
- sofaofthedamned 9y ago
  I tried Monzo and they're awesome, but ended up ultimately moving to Starling. Reason being they have a full FSCS license, so your balance is guaranteed by the government up to around £85k. Apart from that they're both much the same, and both leagues better than a normal bank. It's amazing buying stuff or getting cash out and the notification comes through on the phone before the ATM tells you the cash is coming! Another good thing both have - you can switch off cards instantly. I thought i'd lost my Starling card when out last week, instead of cancelling it I just temporarily halted it until it was found.
  - maxehmookau 9y ago
    Monzo now has a full FSCS licence.
    - sofaofthedamned 9y ago
      Good to know, thank you. What I do love about Monzo is their approach to development - they blog everything, even the outages. Good to see the process involved in making a new bank from scratch. I'm keeping the account as a scratch account but have already moved the direct debits from my old Halifax account to Starling.
      - maxehmookau 9y ago
        Agreed. Watching them discuss in detail in their blog about how they use Kubernetes has been really interesting.
        sofaofthedamned 9y ago
        Yeah. As somebody who was learning Kubernetes whilst using it to deploy a data science platform it was very useful to see the failure cases :D
      - dankohn1 9y ago
        Monzo's head of engineering will be keynoting at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon in Copenhagen next week, and talking about past outages: https://kccnceu18.sched.com/event/Dsan/keynote-anatomy-of-a-production-kubernetes-outage-oliver-beattie-head-of-engineering-monzo-bank https://kccnceu18.sched.com/event/Dsan/keynote-anatomy-of-a-...
        maxehmookau 9y ago
        That sounds great. Gutted I won't be there, hope it's recorded!
        dankohn1 9y ago
        Yes, we'll have it on the CNCF YouTube channel a few days later. https://www.youtube.com/c/cloudnativefdn https://www.youtube.com/c/cloudnativefdn
        maxehmookau 9y ago
        Amazing, thanks!
- maxehmookau 9y ago
  Yep. My employer pays directly in to them and has for 6 months now. Zero complaints and top notch customer service.
- Rjevski 9y ago
  I’ve been using the Monzo Current Account since August 17’ (back when it was in closed beta) as my main account and it’s never failed me.
- katpas 9y ago
  Also using it full-time, moved over my direct debits and it's been great. Ironically we went with TSB over a challenger business bank thinking they might be more reliable... Will have to find a branch this afternoon so we can pay our team as online is down
HenryBemis 9y ago
Monzo!! I was wondering when they will become a full bank. I remember they were offering prepaid cards. I am shocked that in the UK you cannot get an SMS alert when making a purchase or cannot see "fast/live" when you make an expense. I am most definitely joining them (but keeping my "main" bank) As for the TSB, it would be interesting to see what went wrong and how they fixed it.
- danpalmer 9y ago
  > I am most definitely joining them (but keeping my "main" bank) This seems to be a very common pattern, and I wonder if they are having issues because of it. I was a Monzo early adopter and even I haven't moved over entirely. I think a lot of users _liked_ the prepaid cards, to help them budget spending money, etc. I suspect that a lot of people haven't upgraded to a full bank account with them as a result.
  - londons_explore 9y ago
    They forced everyone to upgrade or leave a few weeks ago.
  - benbristow 9y ago
    Monzo has a new 'pots' function on it. Basically you can put money in your account into separately named isolated areas in your account that can't be spent using your card normally. In layman's terms as many saving accounts as you want with more flexibility. You can still kind of use it as a prepaid card by just topping it up from your bank when you want. It's just better as you can now use Android Pay etc. and have proper banking functions like having an actual sort number/account number, direct debits, standing orders etc.
- Jonnax 9y ago
  Android pay has a similar functionality depending if the card supports it. My Amex is linked and I get a notification of all purchases as they go through regardless of whether I use my phone or card.
sorokod 9y ago
Serious question - are you comfortable with Monzo being on-line only? If it fails because of a failed upgrade, hacker attack, AWS not being available, etc... what is your plan B ?

jdefelice 9y ago

Have you switched to Monzo as your full-time bank? I use it for everyday spending but I not sure I want to put my wages into it yet.

sofaofthedamned 9y ago
I tried Monzo and they're awesome, but ended up ultimately moving to Starling. Reason being they have a full FSCS license, so your balance is guaranteed by the government up to around £85k. Apart from that they're both much the same, and both leagues better than a normal bank. It's amazing buying stuff or getting cash out and the notification comes through on the phone before the ATM tells you the cash is coming! Another good thing both have - you can switch off cards instantly. I thought i'd lost my Starling card when out last week, instead of cancelling it I just temporarily halted it until it was found.
- maxehmookau 9y ago
  Monzo now has a full FSCS licence.
  - sofaofthedamned 9y ago
    Good to know, thank you. What I do love about Monzo is their approach to development - they blog everything, even the outages. Good to see the process involved in making a new bank from scratch. I'm keeping the account as a scratch account but have already moved the direct debits from my old Halifax account to Starling.
    - maxehmookau 9y ago
      Agreed. Watching them discuss in detail in their blog about how they use Kubernetes has been really interesting.
      - sofaofthedamned 9y ago
        Yeah. As somebody who was learning Kubernetes whilst using it to deploy a data science platform it was very useful to see the failure cases :D
    - dankohn1 9y ago
      Monzo's head of engineering will be keynoting at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon in Copenhagen next week, and talking about past outages: https://kccnceu18.sched.com/event/Dsan/keynote-anatomy-of-a-production-kubernetes-outage-oliver-beattie-head-of-engineering-monzo-bank https://kccnceu18.sched.com/event/Dsan/keynote-anatomy-of-a-...
      - maxehmookau 9y ago
        That sounds great. Gutted I won't be there, hope it's recorded!
        dankohn1 9y ago
        Yes, we'll have it on the CNCF YouTube channel a few days later. https://www.youtube.com/c/cloudnativefdn https://www.youtube.com/c/cloudnativefdn
        maxehmookau 9y ago
        Amazing, thanks!
maxehmookau 9y ago
Yep. My employer pays directly in to them and has for 6 months now. Zero complaints and top notch customer service.
Rjevski 9y ago
I’ve been using the Monzo Current Account since August 17’ (back when it was in closed beta) as my main account and it’s never failed me.
katpas 9y ago
Also using it full-time, moved over my direct debits and it's been great. Ironically we went with TSB over a challenger business bank thinking they might be more reliable... Will have to find a branch this afternoon so we can pay our team as online is down

HenryBemis 9y ago

Monzo!! I was wondering when they will become a full bank. I remember they were offering prepaid cards. I am shocked that in the UK you cannot get an SMS alert when making a purchase or cannot see "fast/live" when you make an expense. I am most definitely joining them (but keeping my "main" bank) As for the TSB, it would be interesting to see what went wrong and how they fixed it.

danpalmer 9y ago
> I am most definitely joining them (but keeping my "main" bank) This seems to be a very common pattern, and I wonder if they are having issues because of it. I was a Monzo early adopter and even I haven't moved over entirely. I think a lot of users _liked_ the prepaid cards, to help them budget spending money, etc. I suspect that a lot of people haven't upgraded to a full bank account with them as a result.
- londons_explore 9y ago
  They forced everyone to upgrade or leave a few weeks ago.
- benbristow 9y ago
  Monzo has a new 'pots' function on it. Basically you can put money in your account into separately named isolated areas in your account that can't be spent using your card normally. In layman's terms as many saving accounts as you want with more flexibility. You can still kind of use it as a prepaid card by just topping it up from your bank when you want. It's just better as you can now use Android Pay etc. and have proper banking functions like having an actual sort number/account number, direct debits, standing orders etc.
Jonnax 9y ago
Android pay has a similar functionality depending if the card supports it. My Amex is linked and I get a notification of all purchases as they go through regardless of whether I use my phone or card.

sorokod 9y ago

Serious question - are you comfortable with Monzo being on-line only? If it fails because of a failed upgrade, hacker attack, AWS not being available, etc... what is your plan B ?