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You mean they recently stopped you using a debit card to pay money into your bank account? Why would you do that? If you want to move money between banks you ca

You mean they recently stopped you using a debit card to pay money into your bank account? Why would you do that? If you want to move money between banks you can do so instantly with faster payments. I don't say that to be facetious, I think there's a difference of perspective here which is only going to widen if you think they are a prepaid card. They set out to make a bank, and started with prepaid cards, but that was never the end goal, it was just a way to test out the UI before getting a banking license, so expecting people to pay money in as you would to any other bank account makes perfect sense. This is not a prepaid card you load up, it's a bank account, and they don't want users to think of it as a prepaid card. So I think their user satisfaction for people who want a bank account is doing well - as evidenced by their new customer growth. Can't wait to see them launch in the US market as it is also ripe for disruption and I think they have the scale and ambition to do well there.

raesene9 8y ago
I think the comment was around reduced usuability. It used to be if you wanted to move money into a Monzo account, you could do in all in-app, via a linked debit card. This provided a nice usuable way to get money into the account from a "legacy" bank that doesn't have a good mobile story. Now if you have Monzo + a legacy account (as many do) you have to go log-in to the legacy account to move money to Monzo. Ofc once you go "full monzo" that's not a problem any more but it's still early days for that and Monzo have had enough service glitches to make people a little nervous of committing to having it as their only account, I think.
- grey-area 8y ago
  Other banks don't offer that (top ups via card), and I don't think it's something you should expect of a bank account - it was always a stop-gap. If you're using it for spending regularly and don't want to switch, just set up a standing order for a bit of money each week/month to try it out. I think as they want to become a bank this is part of that process - their focus needs to be on those who use it as their main account. Personally I switched almost a year ago (when they introduced CA), and am happy with that choice so far - kept my old bank just in case but haven't needed it. Re outages many banks have had major outages recently, far more than Monzo... They had a few glitches early on (late last year), but I'm fairly confident of their ability to scale now.
  - raesene9 8y ago
    It indeed isn't a common feature of bank accounts. However it is a feature that Monzo had, which was easy to use and they got rid of it (IIRC due to the costs of providing it), which decreased usability, which I think was the original point the poster made...
    - grey-area 8y ago
      It didn't decrease usability at all for those who use it as a bank account. It's certainly not a good prepaid card account but there are plenty of those.
      - baby 8y ago
        True. And that's also the endgoal of Monzo: to be your main bank.
  - baby 8y ago
    indeed. But Monzo is better than most (all?) banks and this is what people used to top up their cards before they removed the feature.
- lmjabreu 8y ago
  Wonder if they considered offloading the transaction fees onto users. I'd certainly pay for the convenience and would have continued using Monzo (Barclays copied the card freeze and atm locking so no need for Monzo, esp. with this).
- robjan 8y ago
  Technically, as a workaround, you can create a monzo.me link and then make payments of up to £100 to yourself.
  - dharma1 8y ago
    Nice hack, thanks!
- jackpeterfletch 8y ago
  I've been paying my wages in for about a year now. Its been a flawless experience and I'll never look back. From a technical perspective I think it could be easy to believe that because they're a startup your money is in someway less safe, or the service less reliable. But I actually think that because of the sheer technical debt old banks struggle with (they're ticking time bombs on the inside) the opposite might be true.
jonathanbull 8y ago
Speaking as someone who used to top up by debit all the time, a couple of clicks in the app was far easier than switching apps, re-authenticating with my main bank and then making the payment. I don't blame them for doing it - apparently it was costing around £4 million in fees - but it's definitely harmed the UX unless you want to go full Monzo.
- grey-area 8y ago
  Sure, that sounds painful if that is what you were used to. Just out of curiosity, why did you not set up a standing order? If you're using it regularly surely this would work just as well? Seems annoying to have to constantly top it up with small amounts. Was that a commitment too far? When I was transitioning I did a v. small standing order first for a few months and used it for spending, then upped the amount, then eventually switched over salary, direct debits etc.
  - m_t 8y ago
    For beta user, back when Monzo wasn't yet a bank account, the only to put money on it was to pay by card. This was a habit that a lot of us had taken, and as described above, it was just easier to do all in one place: - Go check your monzo app - Notice you're low on fund - Top up using your card A lot of us haven't switched completely, because why would you when other current account can give you travel insurance, small % of interest, etc.
    - lol768 8y ago
      > For beta user, back when Monzo wasn't yet a bank account, the only to put money on it was to pay by card. This is incorrect - it was possible for a long time to top-up via bank transfer. Certainly during beta. It simply required using a shared sort code/account number with a specific numeric reference which tied the payment to your account. It wasn't as instant as it is now (with Faster Payments), but it was still definitely possible.
- dharma1 8y ago
  I've pretty much stopped using Monzo after they removed the card topups. I used to use it all the time while traveling, and usually top up on the spot when the funds on the account run out and I needed to pay for something. Bank transfers really doesn't work for that use case. Now I'm using Revolut for the same purpose (they still allow card top ups), not much difference to Monzo although I really, really like Monzo customer support.
gadders 8y ago
I already have a bank account I'm happy with. I specifically got the Monzo card as a prepaid card to use when spending abroad, which is what they originally sold as one of their key benefits.
baby 8y ago
to answer your question, you used to be able to "top up" your Monzo card directly from the app. It was really quick if you needed more money on the card. As someone else commented elsewhere, most people use it to pay for things, but still use another more ancestral bank to get their paycheck. Now you need to go in your bank's app, log-in there, go through many menus (because banks which are not Monzo or Revolut have no clue about UX) in order to send money to your Monzo card. It's still free, and instantaneous. It's just more cumbersome now. They also removed the "no fee withdrawals abroad" and now you pay a pretty substantial fee (3%) above 200GBP per month. I might be wrong on these numbers but this is what I remember.
- grey-area 8y ago
  Sorry, that probably wasn't clear. I was trying to say this was a deliberate choice as they want to be a bank, not a prepaid card. If they are your bank you don't need to add money periodically with a card. The fee for withdrawals abroad is unfortunate but perhaps they'll be able to up the limit sometime.
  - baby 8y ago
    oh yeah definitely, I got used to toping up via Lloyd's app and I'm fully supporting Monzo to grow.
digianarchist 8y ago
> You mean they recently stopped you using a debit card to pay money into your bank account? Why would you do that? That's the only way to get money into a Revolut account. That, Apple Pay or a SWIFT transfer which costs a fortune.

raesene9 8y ago

I think the comment was around reduced usuability. It used to be if you wanted to move money into a Monzo account, you could do in all in-app, via a linked debit card. This provided a nice usuable way to get money into the account from a "legacy" bank that doesn't have a good mobile story. Now if you have Monzo + a legacy account (as many do) you have to go log-in to the legacy account to move money to Monzo. Ofc once you go "full monzo" that's not a problem any more but it's still early days for that and Monzo have had enough service glitches to make people a little nervous of committing to having it as their only account, I think.

grey-area 8y ago
Other banks don't offer that (top ups via card), and I don't think it's something you should expect of a bank account - it was always a stop-gap. If you're using it for spending regularly and don't want to switch, just set up a standing order for a bit of money each week/month to try it out. I think as they want to become a bank this is part of that process - their focus needs to be on those who use it as their main account. Personally I switched almost a year ago (when they introduced CA), and am happy with that choice so far - kept my old bank just in case but haven't needed it. Re outages many banks have had major outages recently, far more than Monzo... They had a few glitches early on (late last year), but I'm fairly confident of their ability to scale now.
- raesene9 8y ago
  It indeed isn't a common feature of bank accounts. However it is a feature that Monzo had, which was easy to use and they got rid of it (IIRC due to the costs of providing it), which decreased usability, which I think was the original point the poster made...
  - grey-area 8y ago
    It didn't decrease usability at all for those who use it as a bank account. It's certainly not a good prepaid card account but there are plenty of those.
    - baby 8y ago
      True. And that's also the endgoal of Monzo: to be your main bank.
- baby 8y ago
  indeed. But Monzo is better than most (all?) banks and this is what people used to top up their cards before they removed the feature.
lmjabreu 8y ago
Wonder if they considered offloading the transaction fees onto users. I'd certainly pay for the convenience and would have continued using Monzo (Barclays copied the card freeze and atm locking so no need for Monzo, esp. with this).
robjan 8y ago
Technically, as a workaround, you can create a monzo.me link and then make payments of up to £100 to yourself.
- dharma1 8y ago
  Nice hack, thanks!
jackpeterfletch 8y ago
I've been paying my wages in for about a year now. Its been a flawless experience and I'll never look back. From a technical perspective I think it could be easy to believe that because they're a startup your money is in someway less safe, or the service less reliable. But I actually think that because of the sheer technical debt old banks struggle with (they're ticking time bombs on the inside) the opposite might be true.

jonathanbull 8y ago

Speaking as someone who used to top up by debit all the time, a couple of clicks in the app was far easier than switching apps, re-authenticating with my main bank and then making the payment. I don't blame them for doing it - apparently it was costing around £4 million in fees - but it's definitely harmed the UX unless you want to go full Monzo.

grey-area 8y ago
Sure, that sounds painful if that is what you were used to. Just out of curiosity, why did you not set up a standing order? If you're using it regularly surely this would work just as well? Seems annoying to have to constantly top it up with small amounts. Was that a commitment too far? When I was transitioning I did a v. small standing order first for a few months and used it for spending, then upped the amount, then eventually switched over salary, direct debits etc.
- m_t 8y ago
  For beta user, back when Monzo wasn't yet a bank account, the only to put money on it was to pay by card. This was a habit that a lot of us had taken, and as described above, it was just easier to do all in one place: - Go check your monzo app - Notice you're low on fund - Top up using your card A lot of us haven't switched completely, because why would you when other current account can give you travel insurance, small % of interest, etc.
  - lol768 8y ago
    > For beta user, back when Monzo wasn't yet a bank account, the only to put money on it was to pay by card. This is incorrect - it was possible for a long time to top-up via bank transfer. Certainly during beta. It simply required using a shared sort code/account number with a specific numeric reference which tied the payment to your account. It wasn't as instant as it is now (with Faster Payments), but it was still definitely possible.
dharma1 8y ago
I've pretty much stopped using Monzo after they removed the card topups. I used to use it all the time while traveling, and usually top up on the spot when the funds on the account run out and I needed to pay for something. Bank transfers really doesn't work for that use case. Now I'm using Revolut for the same purpose (they still allow card top ups), not much difference to Monzo although I really, really like Monzo customer support.

gadders 8y ago

I already have a bank account I'm happy with. I specifically got the Monzo card as a prepaid card to use when spending abroad, which is what they originally sold as one of their key benefits.

baby 8y ago

to answer your question, you used to be able to "top up" your Monzo card directly from the app. It was really quick if you needed more money on the card. As someone else commented elsewhere, most people use it to pay for things, but still use another more ancestral bank to get their paycheck. Now you need to go in your bank's app, log-in there, go through many menus (because banks which are not Monzo or Revolut have no clue about UX) in order to send money to your Monzo card. It's still free, and instantaneous. It's just more cumbersome now. They also removed the "no fee withdrawals abroad" and now you pay a pretty substantial fee (3%) above 200GBP per month. I might be wrong on these numbers but this is what I remember.

grey-area 8y ago
Sorry, that probably wasn't clear. I was trying to say this was a deliberate choice as they want to be a bank, not a prepaid card. If they are your bank you don't need to add money periodically with a card. The fee for withdrawals abroad is unfortunate but perhaps they'll be able to up the limit sometime.
- baby 8y ago
  oh yeah definitely, I got used to toping up via Lloyd's app and I'm fully supporting Monzo to grow.

digianarchist 8y ago

> You mean they recently stopped you using a debit card to pay money into your bank account? Why would you do that? That's the only way to get money into a Revolut account. That, Apple Pay or a SWIFT transfer which costs a fortune.