Monzo Fees Increase Announced

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Spotted this today on the MoneySavingExpert website…

App-based bank Monzo is introducing new fees for customers who take out cash or order replacement cards from October - though you won’t need to pay if you have Monzo Plus or rely on Monzo as your main bank account.

From 31 October 2020, those who use Monzo to withdraw more than £250 over a 30-day period in the UK or European Economic Area (EEA) will be charged a fee of 3%. Those who withdraw more than £200 elsewhere in the world over 30 days are already charged 3% (except those who have Monzo Plus, who have a higher £400 limit before they’re charged.)

And there will also be a £5 charge for card replacements - though it’ll still be free to get a new card if yours expires or is stolen, or you’ve been a victim of fraud.

Monzo says that only 21% of its customers will be affected by the new charges, based on how people used their accounts last year. It says that the average Monzo customer only withdraws £36 a month, and 90% have never ordered a replacement card.

When these cards came out I decided to try the “big” three… Monzo, Revolut and Starling. The idea being that because I travel a lot a fee-free card would be great especially with the best exchange rates. To cut a long story short I’ve made Starling my main bank, Revolut is my travel and emergency (CC Topup) card and I found I had no need for the Monzo card: partly also because of all three of them it was by far the worst option for my need so I cancelled it.

Seeing this news made me realise I’d made the correct decision. Some people love Monzo and I respect that, if it’s good for them then go with it.

I’m now wondering though whether Revolut will follow suit… any thoughts?

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It is not a surprise to us. These challenger banks are here to make money. They just wait to create to a sizable customer base. Once they get a good amount customers and they try to make them hook on to their apps. Once the customers understand the value out of the apps, these banks are getting ready to monitize their business. We need to agree that unless they are profitable, they will not be able to survive in this competitive environment. As long as they can launch the features with added values, some segment of customers won’t mind paying a fee. Chase, Bank of America and other main street banks charge a monthly fee of $10+, unless one maintains a min balance. Also, they make money out of all other fees such as overdraft fee, insufficient fee, statement fee, stop payment fee, deposit item returned fee, etc. to make their branches profitable. It is shocking to know that each bank branch may cost half a million every year. No wonder these main street banks are there to suck their customers blood while there is virtually no improvement in their services/apps.