How do they make money?
Interest on loaning your current account balance out.
How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years
31–40 of 120 posts
Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years
#32Good old Monzo times. Sadly, in my opinion the company took on too much investment and was now bound to deliver tech-company returns with a product that fundamentally isn't compatible with them. This led them to become yet another bullshit "growth & engagement" operation and ultimately killed the appeal of the product, all while competitors such as Starling Bank stepped up their game and delivered a very similar prod…
A bit ironic given Tom literally worked for Starling at the beginning. A bit odd that this doesn’t get a mention.
yeah, as far as I'm aware the only reason Monzo exists is because of a falling out between Tom and the Starling CEO
I don't know what really went on, but Starling's side was reported in the UK press: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/starling-bank-boss-anne-b...
Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years
#33How do they make money?
- Interchange fees (Monzo take ~1% of every card transaction) - Packaged account fees (Monzo Plus, Premium and business Pro) - Lending (Overdrafts, Personal Loans, Credit Card) - Interest on bank deposits
they also charge you to take your own money out and put your own money in(!!!)
Cash withdrawal in pounds in the UK: First £250 in a rolling 30-day period free, 3% after that
Cash deposit: £1 per deposit to pay in cash at any PayPoint
Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years
#34On a general note, referral rewards are not necessarily a good thing i.e. when you say "invite a friend and get $X". Turns out non-money rewards work better.
A quote from [1]:
> When money comes into play it switches us from ‘social mode’ to ‘business transaction mode’. We become more selfish, distant, less helpful, and less willing to be helped.
You don't even need research to back this, it seems obvious when you think about it.
Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years
#35Earlier this year my partner and I switched our joint account from Monzo to Starling simply because we both hated using the Monzo app. Navigating the app feels unnatural to us and probably due to how infrequently we use it, we never learnt to live with it. Last week I finally closed my personal Monzo account as I only used it for one small DD a month and much prefer the Starling and NatWest apps.
I have used Starling app and I couldn't make sense of statements. I think it's equally bad as Monzo. Also I kind of despise the idea that you have to have an app to access the account. After trying these "challenger" banks I am staying with my good old High Street bank where I can access my account from the web and it does not have any confusing bells and whistles.
I don’t know about Monzo but you can access your Starling account on the web.
Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
A bit ironic given Tom literally worked for Starling at the beginning. A bit odd that this doesn’t get a mention.
yeah, as far as I'm aware the only reason Monzo exists is because of a falling out between Tom and the Starling CEO I don't know what really went on, but Starling's side was reported in the UK press: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/starling-bank-boss-anne-b...
Steven Bartlett has a really insightful with Tom Blomfield about this [1], and then also with Starling CEO Anne Boden [2]. While I'm generally not a great fan of his podcast, these two I found to be fascinating.
[1] https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/e86-monzo-ceo-on-death...
[2] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e107-starling-bank-bui...
Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
yeah, as far as I'm aware the only reason Monzo exists is because of a falling out between Tom and the Starling CEO I don't know what really went on, but Starling's side was reported in the UK press: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/starling-bank-boss-anne-b...
Steven Bartlett has a really insightful with Tom Blomfield about this [1], and then also with Starling CEO Anne Boden [2]. While I'm generally not a great fan of his podcast, these two I found to be fascinating. [1] https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/e86-monzo-ceo-on-death... [2] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e107-starling-bank-bui...
Thanks - I read Anne Borden’s book so will be interesting to hear Tom’s side too.
Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years
#38Given Monzo's hiring practices, I'm not sanguine about the future of this company. I myself went through their interview process not long ago and to say it lived up to the sentiment of the glassdoor reviews is putting it mildly. Several rounds, silly armchair-psychologist behavioral questions, and the interviewers made it blatant that they didn't want to be there. Did my last interview at 4pm one day, got rejected by…
I’d you have offers from Google and Amazon then why are you interviewing at a place like Monzo? They can probably tell you’re both wasting your time so rejected you on that.
Because Monzo will pay more than Google or Amazon in the UK.
Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years
#39I was one of the early adopters. Monzo felt fresh and exciting back when it started, kind of like Google in its early days. But I later switched to Revolut and never looked back. I was driven purely by intuition and no particular reason.
While trying to understand why, I thought it was probably because there was too much PR and fuzz around Monzo as an "ethical business" and little action. You don't just talk about being ethical or caring about the customers (most data collection companies say "we value your privacy"). You prove it by doing, by delivering an amazing product and customer support, and by showing how you are going to turn profitable. Revolut and other competitors talk less but you can see they are doing reasonable job on all fronts.
Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
yeah, as far as I'm aware the only reason Monzo exists is because of a falling out between Tom and the Starling CEO I don't know what really went on, but Starling's side was reported in the UK press: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/starling-bank-boss-anne-b...
Steven Bartlett has a really insightful with Tom Blomfield about this [1], and then also with Starling CEO Anne Boden [2]. While I'm generally not a great fan of his podcast, these two I found to be fascinating. [1] https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/e86-monzo-ceo-on-death... [2] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e107-starling-bank-bui...
I found Anne Boden a tad disingenuous, mentioning 'the book' at every opportunity. Tom sounded more genuine, to me.