Monzo / Mondo / Revolut banking

That's not correct. It's about that for over 7.5k to 15k and 19ish % for under 7.5k.

From the guardian article:

"But while payday lenders usually hit customers with interest charges equal to an annual percentage rate (APR) of 1,000%, Monzo is charging a maximum 24% APR on loans up to £7,500. Loans worth between £7,500 and £15,000 are charged as low as 3.7% APR."

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/money/2019/aug/15/monzo-launches-short-term-loans-for-25m-customers

Still. Not the 1000% Wonga were charging some people

https://monzo.com/blog/2019/08/15/loans-the-monzo-way

From the above

We offer rates from 3.7% APR representative on loans of £7,500 to £15,000, to 20.4% APR representative on loans up to £7,500.

Confused, isn't that exactly what I said. From 3.7% for 7.5k. Not market leading but decent. And not payday loan extortion at the other end.

Yes you are totally correct you did. I (mid) read your comment and added an "up to" in erroneously. Mucho apologied

I used a Monzo loan the other month when a piece of hi fi kit I have been after for a while came up on eBay for a great price. I didn't have the readies but knew it was too good to miss. Borrowed a grand for three months and paid about £25 for the privilege. Way less than the amount I saved by being able to pounce.

Frictionless is exactly the right word. Took less than two minutes from thinking "hmm, I wonder about Monzo loans" to having the cash in my account.

My wife and I want to open a joint bank again for bills/paying for meals/holiday etc. We visit family in USA as well so thinking the Monzo card would be useful for spending over there.

We don’t have time to both go into an actual bank to do this. Any reason not to use a Monzo account for this?

I just set up a Starling bank account for travel, overseas cash point withdrawals are free as well as overseas transactions. Monzo charge for cash withdrawals after the first £200 per month. I haven’t looked at it as a main current account though. Might be worth a look.

Monzo is great for this, i find the joint account really simple.
On overseas ATM withdrawals the first £200 per month is free, then they charge 3% after that..

Card payments you simply pay the MasterCard rate, no additional monzo charges at all

Monzo has a £200 a month fee-free withdrawal limit for overseas cash.

I use Starling which is pretty similar but has no limit

It's worth noting that revolut/Monzo both had initial limitless foreign withdrawals and introduced limits further down the line once they had reached a certain size in terms of customer base - and I'd expect starling to the same. If cash withdrawl is a must have feature then do be prepared to keep jumping shark to the 'next' provider as it is often the incentive used to tempt users to their platform.

Starling > everything else.

You get the global exchange rate, not the local one or the inflated one most banks impose on you. And there’s no charge and no limit.

To the point where I spend money abroad for work, I input my expenses into my accounting software (FreeAgent) in euros and it does the conversion to £, and I actually sometimes pay less via starling than what FreeAgent calculates the expenses at.

It's only the cash withdrawal that's different there. You get the same rate and no fees using Monzo too.

A lot of the other modern cards (Tandem, Revolut, Monzo, etc) use the same rate.

The only issue is cash withdrawals where, as mentioned above, when they get more popular a limit is imposed for ATM withdrawals with a fee after that.

I'm sure Starling will impose a cap at some point and then it will be on to the next one.

Revolut has worked pretty well for me in most of my ultra races. I don't compare rates or anything I just want it to work. Their app is pretty quick and I've now got it set to autotopup which is handy (after watching someone run the card three times before I realised I'd emptied it at the hotel the night before)

I'm sure Starling will impose a cap at some point and then it will be on to the next one.

I'd rather fewer orgs have my details, so I'm more inclined to just take out a wodge of currency before I go anywhere and then use the card/cash as appropriate.

Another thing to bear in mind - and it’s a big one. To the best of my knowledge;

Starling & Monzo are registered banks and as such your money (upto 85k) is covered by the FSCS.

Revolut isn’t, so you aren’t covered.

Revolut isn’t, so you aren’t covered.

Yeah, but no one is putting more than a hundy on their card are they? If they are they're missing the point of these type of cards, where you can almost instantly add funds with the app.

Maybe.

I’d wager many people are putting a lot more than £100 on at a time.

Also, if you’ve got the option of a ‘Revolut’ or a bank account, where your money is protected, you get interest (albeit tiny), you can receive and transfer money as you would any other bank, and you have the full balance of your account available in any currency in the world at the same exchange rate as Revolut, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t just open a bank account. It takes minutes with Starling. As far as I can tell it has all the advantages - and more besides, and none of the downsides. Just my tuppence.

Many people voted for Brexit and Trump. Many people are idiots.

If you're using the cards properly the amount of money on them will be small, the interest would be basically non-existent. As for why not Starling. Starling didn't exist (or at least I was unaware of it) when I got Revolut. Revolut works well so if it ain't broke...

"Revolut use the interbank exchange rate, which is usually cheaper than the MasterCard rate offered by Starling. Although, it is worth checking current rates. Revolut do markup their exchange rates for out of market hours too. So be wary of this."
https://www.finder.com/uk/revolut-vs-starling

I use monzo as my main bank account and for all direct debits and rent.
I also use them as my savings account, their interest on their standard saving pot is about 60% better than what you get on an ISA with HSBC. And it’s way easier to use and track your money and it’s all in one place. Realise it’s not for everyone but I think it’s great. They also were mega helpful when I bought some trainers off a fake website too. Chat function is great. Have had no issues abroad either.

I bank with a 'normal' bank. I only use Revolut for avoiding international banking fees. Different use case and since Revolut isn't a bank replacement like Monzo it's not quite what I'm talking about.
Obviously, if I was to have all my ill gotten gains in one of these alternative banks I'd reconsider the levels of protection being offered.

My missus has a Monzo though and she was complaining about her bank dropping their saving interest rates so I might mention the Monzo pots to her.

Ah, it's not actually Monzo ISAs it's 3rd party offerings provided through Monzo.

So you could just use https://www.oaknorth.com/ for the ISA and avoid Monzo taking a small cut. They also don't impose the £500 minimum deposit.

12 months £1 - £500,000 1.51 1.51
https://www.oaknorth.com/savings/personal-savings/personal-fixed-rate-cash-isa/

Yeah sorry, third party, but I just meant it’s all on the same monzo platform. I can’t be bothered opening a separate account. My savings aren’t substantial enough to worry about the cut they take. I was just tired of HSBC so basically stuck everything on my monzo in the end and noted the terms were way better.
No doubt there’s better ways to save out there..