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How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years

tomblomfield.com

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Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years

#71

Post by blibble »

willyt wrote: post #56
blibble wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 source: https://monzo.com/legal/fee-information/

I was surprised by this and it turns out its a bit of a misrepresentation as you get unlimited fee free withdrawals if you meet one of these criteria which, in the UK, pretty much anyone except a teenager with no job will meet: At least £500 was paid into a Monzo account in your name over the last rolling 35-day period, and you have at least one active Direct Debit on the same account in the same period. You’ve recei…

it's not misleading, it's true

if you lose your job, you're now being charged 3% to pull your own money out

(and regardless: they still charge you to deposit your own money, unheard of for retail customers)

Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years

#72

Post by antihero »

nly wrote: post #64
mojuba wrote: post #39

I 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 be…

The Revolut app is a hot mess though. Monzo have kept theirs clean l, focus and and useful.

The Monzo app lags and chokes swiping between accounts on my brand new iPhone 13 Mini.

Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years

#73

Post by oakesm9 »

shantnutiwari wrote: post #54
mojuba wrote: post #39

I 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 be…

I gave up on Revolut after scandals about its CEO and financial shenanigans; and the many customer service nightmares. In banking, boring is better

I tried boring with TSB. Their botched IT migration which left with me with no access to money for a few days and seeing other customer full account details when I signed in online causes some to switch to Monzo. They’re not perfect, and their app is getting noticeable worse for the fundamentals as they add more money making features like loans and flex, but I’ve still had no major issues in years.

Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years

#74

Post by ralphmelish »

lysergia wrote: post #68
surfer7837 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of hard to determine if you're a UK tax resident without some details, no?

There’s no mention of it being a strictly UK affair in the app description. I imagine 100s of people download it each day, fill in the form and then bail once they realize it’s UK only.

I've just checked the description in the Play Store and it says 'Open a full UK bank account'. Maybe that is new, but it is pretty clear.

Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years

#75

Post by Jamie9912 »

surfer7837 wrote: post #65
lysergia wrote: post #58

I downloaded Monzo on the Play store and installed it. During registration it asked for personal data like my address etc then proceeded to tell me it’s a UK only app. I was shocked. I’m in the EEA and thought I could use the app. It should be clear in the app’s description that it’s a UK only affair. I imagine this has happened to many more people other than me.

Kind of hard to determine if you're a UK tax resident without some details, no?

You don't need to be a UK tax resident to have a Monzo account. I have UK citizenship, but am not a resident or tax resident

Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years

#76

Post by robertlagrant »

dazc wrote: post #41
varispeed wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starling is no better, you were just lucky. I found Starling customer service appalling. Basically "go somewhere else if you don't like it".

I have a monzo personal and business account and I haven't had any major issues. As a former Barclays customer, they'd have to be fairly terrible to be any worse though. I did try an open a Starling account once but they claimed my phone number was already linked to an existing account, which I found strange and wasn't prepared to jump through the hoops required to prove otherwise.

Well it might be true. They just haven't realised that there are only so many phone numbers, and they change hands.

Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years

#77

Post by BillinghamJ »

Jamie9912 wrote: post #75
surfer7837 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of hard to determine if you're a UK tax resident without some details, no?

You don't need to be a UK tax resident to have a Monzo account. I have UK citizenship, but am not a resident or tax resident

FYI, I'm pretty sure they actually do require you to be a resident, though a lot of people get away with not updating their address

https://monzo.com/help/legal-stuff/tax-residency-not-uk

Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years

#78

Post by ralferoo »

oakesm9 wrote: post #70
robertlagrant wrote: post #46

> First, a note about the context. We started the company in the UK in February 2015, when “digital banks” weren’t yet a popular idea. BankSimple had launched in 2012 with some big plans, but sold to BBVA in early 2014 with about 100,000 accounts, having struggled to raise sufficient funding to continue. N26 started development in late 2013, initially as a card for kids, while Revolut was founded a few months after M…

Before starting Monzo they attempted a hostile takeover of Starling but we’re rebuffed by the founder. Tom took basically all The staff and started Monzo, so I can imagine he doesn’t want to draw too much attention to it. Anne Boden’s book is worth reading if your interested in the early history of digital first banks in the UK https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51007680

The irony is that Starling is consistently the better bank, from my perspective.

I started off getting Monzo when it advertised itself as a pre-paid debit card and it's big selling point was free foreign ATM transactions. I never actually used it all that much (I've been with them about 5-6 years, and maybe done about £1000 total foreign withdrawals).

At some point when they introduced limits, there was a post on their forum comparing them to Starling, Revolut and N26 and others. N26 was a bit of a hassle, but I got the other two just in case I needed more than the £200 a month you were now allowed.

Since then, the service at Monzo has steadily declined, as they decide to start charging fees for this that or the other than used to be free, adding more and more junk dressed up to look pretty, but every month or so the service gets degraded a little more somehow. An extra charge here. A restriction there. More in-app advertising for services I don't want, etc.

And yet throughout that, Starling has continued to do everything you'd expect from a bank, and with the convenience of an online bank. Their app hasn't really changed at all in that time, and yet somehow it's still better than Monzo's. Simpler, sure, but certainly less annoying.

It's telling that I've never felt comfortable trusting Monzo with my salary, because it always feels like it'll fold any moment, so I've always had my salary paid into a "real bank" and just have a standing order each month to transfer £500 a month for monthly expenditure, but pay most bills directly from the old brick and mortar bank. I needed to keep that old account around anyway, because Monzo makes life impossible if you need occasionally to use cheques.

And so, when I started a company and needed to choose a bank for my business account, it was a no brainer - Starling.

Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years

#79

Post by oumua_don17 »

ralferoo wrote: post #78
oakesm9 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before starting Monzo they attempted a hostile takeover of Starling but we’re rebuffed by the founder. Tom took basically all The staff and started Monzo, so I can imagine he doesn’t want to draw too much attention to it. Anne Boden’s book is worth reading if your interested in the early history of digital first banks in the UK https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51007680

The irony is that Starling is consistently the better bank, from my perspective. I started off getting Monzo when it advertised itself as a pre-paid debit card and it's big selling point was free foreign ATM transactions. I never actually used it all that much (I've been with them about 5-6 years, and maybe done about £1000 total foreign withdrawals). At some point when they introduced limits, there was a post on the…

>> It's telling that I've never felt comfortable trusting Monzo with my salary, because it always feels like it'll fold any moment

Can you elaborate more on this, the fold part?

>> from the old brick and mortar bank

Which such bank/s you recommend?

PS: I have been in UK for quite a few years now and only use Monzo.

Edit: typo and query

Re: How we got customers to sign up to Monzo in the early years

#80

Post by jozvolskyef »

mojuba wrote: post #39

I 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 be…

I would try Monzo, but all I get from them is

> Unfortunately we can't offer you a Monzo account

> We're afraid we can't go into more detail about why we can't offer you an account.

> We assess every application using details you've given us, and any information we get from the credit reference agencies we use (Experian and TrnsUnion) or from anti-fraud services like Cifas.

Starling is the same. As a debt-free UK resident without any UK driver's licenses, utility bills, benefit claims, gun certificates, electoral register or GP records, the only bank that is willing to do business with me is Revolut.

Not having any credit history is becoming a barrier to access more and more services that require an identity check. While it is understandable that companies want to protect themselves from fraud, this trend is making it difficult for people who don't have a credit history to access basic services. This is creating a significant barrier for certain groups of people, and it is something that should be addressed. When it comes to providing essential services to those who fall through the cracks, Revolut may be more ethical than the other options.

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