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I just moved from the USA to the UK. It was shocking how much better the consumer banking system is here. With 10 seconds of typing on my phone, I set up my st

I just moved from the USA to the UK. It was shocking how much better the consumer banking system is here. With 10 seconds of typing on my phone, I set up my standing rent payment to my landlord (which would have been too much money to use Chase's QuickPay at home). I gave my gym and utilities my account number and sort code and they can (with my permission, which I can revoke any time without talking to them) bill me regularly. I recorded a little video of me holding my passport and a scan of it, and that was sufficient ID for them to give me a new account. For everything under £30, I just tap my wallet on the little terminal. For everything over, they bring a terminal to me and I type my PIN. I never have to give up my card to anyone for any reason. It's a pretty low bar to get over, but Monzo is definitely the best bank I've ever had. The US consumer banking system sucks by comparison.

superhuzza 8y ago
Interestingly we have virtually all of those things up here in Canada. 'Tap' payments are a huge quality of life improvement.
- foldr 8y ago
  Canada's consumer banking is a mess compared to the UK. There are no free and instant transfers between accounts, checks are still used and take even longer to clear than they do in the US, and you can't get visa debit cards that will go through the regular visa credit network, which means that (in 2012 at least) it was impossible for me to use my Canadian bank card to make purchases online. Even the USA gets that right.
  - superhuzza 8y ago
    -There are no free and instant transfers between accounts Most banks offer free interac transfers. All you need is your recipients email and they are instantaneous (if the receiver sets to auto-accept). -Checks are still used Could be, but I haven't seen a cheque in years. -You can't get visa debit cards that will go through the regular visa credit network You can definitely get VISA debit cards in Canada.
    - foldr 8y ago
      >Most banks offer free interac transfers. Interac transfers aren't proper bank transfers. They go through a payment processor (Interac) and the recipient has to act on an email. They also weren't free when I lived in Canada, but cost around $1-$2. In the UK and other European countries, making a bank transfer is much more straightforward. The major problem with an Interac transfer, apart from the inconvenience, is that you can't easily prove that anyone received the money, since you're sending the money to an email address (!) rather than a bank account. >Could be, but I haven't seen a cheque in years. Checks are still commonly used in Canada (e.g. for paying rent). >You can definitely get VISA debit cards in Canada. Debit cards are processed through Interac. Most debit cards also allow processing through the visa credit network for foreign transactions, but not necessarily for domestic online transactions. For example, my TD Canada Trust card was not accepted online by Ikea because it could only be processed domestically through Interac or the visa debit network, neither of which were accepted by any significant number of online merchants at the time. I called TD. Their suggestion was just to "get a credit card" (which wasn't really possible for someone newly-arrived in Canada). That may have changed since 2012, but it's still pretty shockingly bad. In the US and UK, you can use your debit card anywhere you can use a credit card. If you don't believe me, here's a quote from the "visa debit" Wikipedia article: > For the dual-network cards, in-person transactions within Canada are processed on the Interac network, but international transactions, as well as online and phone orders through Canadian retailers, are processed through the Visa network.[1][2] (However, Canadian retailers must specifically allow for Visa Debit transactions, even if they already accept Visa credit cards.)[5] "Virtual Visa Debit" works similarly; customers use their existing Interac debit cards for in-person transactions (and Interac Online) in Canada, but are also provided with a secondary "virtual" Visa card (i.e. card number, expiry, and CVV2) which can be used for online and phone transactions (but not point-of-sale, in Canada or internationally). Only in Canada do you actually have to understand any of this crap to figure out why your card doesn't work.
CaptainMarvel 8y ago
Just to distinguish Monzo from all other banks: "I recorded a little video of me holding my passport and a scan of it, and that was sufficient ID for them to give me a new account." Everything else is standard for all banks in the UK.
- glitchcrab 8y ago
  I've worked for a major UK bank on the branch side and I also interviewed at Monzo a couple of months back on the platform side - their verification process satisfies KYC requirements but it feels so modern in comparison to existing banks. Back at my previous bank they're still taking copies of ID and sending them off to a central location to be re-digitised.
spuz 8y ago
How does that compare with the US?

superhuzza 8y ago

Interestingly we have virtually all of those things up here in Canada. 'Tap' payments are a huge quality of life improvement.

foldr 8y ago
Canada's consumer banking is a mess compared to the UK. There are no free and instant transfers between accounts, checks are still used and take even longer to clear than they do in the US, and you can't get visa debit cards that will go through the regular visa credit network, which means that (in 2012 at least) it was impossible for me to use my Canadian bank card to make purchases online. Even the USA gets that right.
- superhuzza 8y ago
  -There are no free and instant transfers between accounts Most banks offer free interac transfers. All you need is your recipients email and they are instantaneous (if the receiver sets to auto-accept). -Checks are still used Could be, but I haven't seen a cheque in years. -You can't get visa debit cards that will go through the regular visa credit network You can definitely get VISA debit cards in Canada.
  - foldr 8y ago
    >Most banks offer free interac transfers. Interac transfers aren't proper bank transfers. They go through a payment processor (Interac) and the recipient has to act on an email. They also weren't free when I lived in Canada, but cost around $1-$2. In the UK and other European countries, making a bank transfer is much more straightforward. The major problem with an Interac transfer, apart from the inconvenience, is that you can't easily prove that anyone received the money, since you're sending the money to an email address (!) rather than a bank account. >Could be, but I haven't seen a cheque in years. Checks are still commonly used in Canada (e.g. for paying rent). >You can definitely get VISA debit cards in Canada. Debit cards are processed through Interac. Most debit cards also allow processing through the visa credit network for foreign transactions, but not necessarily for domestic online transactions. For example, my TD Canada Trust card was not accepted online by Ikea because it could only be processed domestically through Interac or the visa debit network, neither of which were accepted by any significant number of online merchants at the time. I called TD. Their suggestion was just to "get a credit card" (which wasn't really possible for someone newly-arrived in Canada). That may have changed since 2012, but it's still pretty shockingly bad. In the US and UK, you can use your debit card anywhere you can use a credit card. If you don't believe me, here's a quote from the "visa debit" Wikipedia article: > For the dual-network cards, in-person transactions within Canada are processed on the Interac network, but international transactions, as well as online and phone orders through Canadian retailers, are processed through the Visa network.[1][2] (However, Canadian retailers must specifically allow for Visa Debit transactions, even if they already accept Visa credit cards.)[5] "Virtual Visa Debit" works similarly; customers use their existing Interac debit cards for in-person transactions (and Interac Online) in Canada, but are also provided with a secondary "virtual" Visa card (i.e. card number, expiry, and CVV2) which can be used for online and phone transactions (but not point-of-sale, in Canada or internationally). Only in Canada do you actually have to understand any of this crap to figure out why your card doesn't work.

CaptainMarvel 8y ago

Just to distinguish Monzo from all other banks: "I recorded a little video of me holding my passport and a scan of it, and that was sufficient ID for them to give me a new account." Everything else is standard for all banks in the UK.

glitchcrab 8y ago
I've worked for a major UK bank on the branch side and I also interviewed at Monzo a couple of months back on the platform side - their verification process satisfies KYC requirements but it feels so modern in comparison to existing banks. Back at my previous bank they're still taking copies of ID and sending them off to a central location to be re-digitised.

spuz 8y ago

How does that compare with the US?