What about Monzo donāt you like?
Specially, what about the UI?
As Revolut does not have a UK banking license I believe your money is not protected by the FSCS - this is a pretty good reason to use any of the other banks, challenger or not
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Exactly why I will not use Revolut for anything other than utilising free FX transfers. Nor will I buy shares, gold or crypto through it. Anything that is not regulated as strictly is able to get away with more. Such as when Revolut forgot to turn on their AML software.
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Dutch here.
ABNAMRO for main
Revolut for travel
DEGIRO and BUX Zero for investing
Knab and Nationale Nederlanden for backup/ savings
Nationwide - main account with travel insurance. Also mortgage and credit card.
Halifax - couple of bills to get the Ā£2 per month, used to be Ā£5, and cashback extras for credit card. Cashback credit card where most spending goes through. Iām surprised they still have it when most other cashback deals have gone.
Monzo - mostly travel abroad and a few bills.
NatWest - a few bills and able to get cash out without having the card and PIN. Not the first time Iāve forgotten to take my wallet.
Most of my spending is via Google pay contactless now.
is anyone not using monzo and why?
I travel a lot. Monzo is expensive to use abroad.
I love Starling, though the app is far from perfect. Iāve never been able to see any advantage of Monzo over Starling, can anybody who uses them enlighten me?
I use Revolut and TransferWise too, for FX and as backup spending cards. I agree that itās not good to keep much money in either of them as they are not FSCS protected.
RBS, Barclays and Amex all have cash back in some form.
I donāt take out cash, so Monzo is cheaper than legacy bank accounts abroad
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True, if you always pay by card, itās not an issue. I pay by card whenever I can, but in many places I travel itās not always an option.
What is it with Monzo?
What can it do that the following combination canāt do:
- reward current account for salary and fee free international cash.
- cash back credit card for all spending and fee free international transactions.
- any budgeting tool (spreadsheet/YNAB).
Apart from the marketing/colourful card?
Not comfortable with this thread. Who do you bank with, names of community users are visible in some cases. A quick scroll through previous posts and you can start to build a profile on people that may be used for no good. Be careful folks
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Completely agree. Especially with the OP not returning the favour and just quietly reading this thread.
There will probably be theses written on it and movies made about it one day. The short story is that Starling has a better product than Monzo.
I personally consider Monzo my main bank because they made me feel like I had some influence in building or shaping it, and I feel like they are trying to do something positive for the industry and the world. They offer a set of products and services similar to Starling, but there is also a feeling attached which Starling is lacking for many people (although I am sure there are plenty of Starling fans).
Most people find that Starling has a great app, fantastic rates and efficient service and they are very happy with it, whereas Monzo has not always had those things and you could argue they still donāt, but people just love and support them for reasons that are not immediately apparent to them.
If i were to try to pinpoint some factors behind the love i would say:
Relatable founders communicating their huge mission and inviting users to join them on their journey (both bank development and product development); Building grass roots support within the tech and media industries; Sharing their positive values through communication and transparency; Empathising with people and reaching out across mediums; Allowing early adopters to own a financial stake in the companyās success.
Those are some of the many factors that made thousands of people become Monzo evangelists, and then word of mouth and trust in the opinion of friends, family and colleagues caused millions of others to jump on board as well - some also understanding why Monzo is great, others not fully aware of the mission and values or why they even need an extra card (perhaps just sold on no forex fees or Ā£5 signup bonus).
So Monzo is partly owned by its users and valued itās community and early adopter crowd to build a really strong fanbase and brand love and have reaped the reward of high organic growth, whereas Starling shut itās community due to not wanting user feedback unless it was all great, and they are privately bankrolled by a quantitative trading billionaire youāve never heard of.
TLDR Monzo has figured out how to brainwash 4m people and Starling has not 
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Add to that thesis that Mondo/Monzo was born out from Starling employees
When you objectively look across the main areas of banking (Business, Premium, Current and Children) accounts, it does seem like Revolut has the best product in the market with Starling in second place. Revolut also seems best placed for future success but Monzo has a big cult following.
Current Accounts
Revolut have the most features, but doesnāt have a UK banking license. I know theyāre in the process of applying for one, but until then, Starling and Monzo are in the best position for being peopleās current account. Once they get a license, I think theyāll take the market.
Monzo has a product thatās not as good as Starling, and lacks the features of Revolut, but seems to have a cult following. Itās interesting that people have taken them over superior products.
Starling has the best product in the market. Iād be interested to see how theyāre growing, particularly with the current tv advertising. It seems they need to do a big push to increase user numbers up to the level of Revolut and Monzo
Business Account
Revolut recently announced they passed 400,000 business customers. They seem to have built a really strong product and are growing at the same incredible rate of their main account.
Monzo seem to have launched a really basic product that is really trying to push people towards the paid versions. They have a lot of work to do to catch up with Revolut and Starling.
Starling have the 100 million grant to pump into their business banking product and announced over 100,000 businesses using Starling business banking. TV advertising seems to really do great for acquisition, so I wouldnāt be surprised if they carved out a huge niche for them self in business banking.
Premium Account
Revolut is the only fintech that has cracked this one. They seem to have really taken the market for people looking for premium accounts. The unlimited foreign exchange, unlimited trading, cash back, metal card and everything else that has come with it has made it a great offering for me. I think the barrier to turn a premium user to a salaried user is very small here.
Monzo has failed twice on premium accounts and based on what theyāve hinted is coming in the third iteration, I think itāll fail again. They seem desperate for revenue, but are looking at paywalling things that should be available for everyone.
Starling doesnāt seem to be entering this space. Itād be good to see them give it a go.
Children Account
There probably isnāt too much revenue in these accounts besides interchange and getting your parents to sign up, but these accounts seem to be setting up the long game for whoever takes the market.
Revolut have launched a childrens account that seems fairly basic, but have no competition from Starling or Monzo. Theyāre really setting them self up for the long win here.
Monzo doesnāt seem to have any current plans at the moment.
Starling also doesnāt seem to have any current plans at the moment. I think they could do a great job if they worked on a childrens account.
International
Revolut is the best here. Theyāre in so many markets and seem to have an expansion playbook that theyāve nailed. It seems theyāve blitzscaled the world and are now rolling out banking operations. It remains to be seen how many of these will make Revolut their main account.
Monzo are going straight for the US. I was disappointed with their initial product as it seemed similar to their premium and business account. Very limited in features and an mvp approach. Chime have already proven there is a demand for fintech banks in the US. They seem to be going straight for the banking license though. Itāll be interesting to see how that plays out in the long term with their competitors getting as many customers as they can right now.
Starling are meant to be expanding to Ireland soon, but until we see the kind of product they launch, we canāt really tell how theyāll do.
Revenue
Revolut Aiming to turn a profit this year. The fact they havenāt rolled out their own lending products yet and theyāre in this situation is amazing in my opinion.
Monzo recently fired 165 members of staff in vegas and said theyāre aiming to hit profitability in 3-4 years. This worries me as a user, but hopefully they can raise enough to hit profitability.
Starling is aiming to turn a profit in the next year. They have a much smaller user base, but seem to know how to build a sustainable business. I wonder how much of the cake theyāll end up with though.
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A great product yes, but the best? Is it? Itās certainly close but Iām not sure thereās a contender for best current account.
A lot of what starling does Monzo used to do
I.e. free unlimited international cash withdrawal
So it will be interesting to see how both banks become profitable and if starting starts to cut costs too
I just upgraded my Revolut free account to a premium account due to the fact I find the user interface easy to use, also they are the only ones offering me children accounts and cards all in one place! Letās hope it is worth Ā£7 a monthā¦
I was using GoHenry for the childrenās accounts, itās such a chore constantly adding money, paying extra feeās because the eldest needs more money ectā¦ also the Ā£3 a month for each child? (Iām a shareholder too)
I have been using Monzo for the past 1-2 yrs all around the world, Itās good but lacks extra features, I wanted to make it my main account but just couldnāt.
When Revolut get their banking licence in the UK I will switch my account to them, until then I use Lloyds because I get the Platinum account for features I use alot.
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