Monzo? It might just be the best thing since sliced bread
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few months, you’d know what Monzo is. It’s an awesome and innovative company and one of the first solely digital banks in the UK.
The business was founded in 2015. I first heard about it late last year. I got around to signing up and getting my card early this year, and my whole outlook towards banking has changed ever since!
The thing that amazes me is not just the fact that the team has created a great proposition, but also the fact that they’ve packaged it in such a way that gets people excited. And I mean tell-all-your-friends-and-scream-about-it-to-anyone-willing-to-listen excited. How? Quite simply, according to Tom Blomfield, Monzo’s CEO and co-founder. He attributes success to on one thing:
“Our strategy is pretty simple — make something people want.”
And boy, do they deliver on the promise! Here is a list of the 7 reasons why I love Monzo, and why you may fall in love with it too:
- Let’s start with the basics — Sending money and toping up the card is super easy. Unlike traditional banking where sending and receiving money is a bit of a drag, Monzo has made the key actions super easy. You can top up with a single click and sending money to contacts in your list who own Monzo cards is just as straight-forward. It is that simplicity, that attracts people.
- Great conversation starter — every time I whip out the fluorescent orange card, people in shops ask me ‘What is this?’ or they comment ‘That’s an odd looking card’ which is a great way to turn every Monzo card holder into a brand advocate. Fair play to the marketing team on that one.
- Even when they get it wrong, they still get it right — Whenever there is an issue, we hear about it on Twitter, via email and an instant push notification. None of the overly-technical legal speak we’re so used to hearing from high-street banks. Instead, they use everyday language and emojis in their communications. It feels, like talking to a real human. Best of all, they actually tell you when issues are resolved which is something most companies don’t do
- Lost your card? They got you covered — if I lose any of my other bank cards, I wouldn’t even know where to start to get them blocked. Probably a google search so I can find a number to call, then a lot of press 3 for this and 5 for that, and if I’m lucky and click the right combo of buttons, I may eventually get through to an actual human being who will block my card for me. None of this with Monzo. It’s as simple as it should be. You open the app, hit freeze card and that’s it! And If you like me eventually do find your card, you can defrost it yourself and continue using it as normal. Conventional banks don’t really offer this and you’ll just have to wait for your replacement card (which will probably take 3 to 5 business days)
- They solve problems by asking customers for their help — Withdrawing up to £200 from international ATMs is free. Anything over that amount is paid for by Monzo. Clearly, as their customer base continues to grow, they can’t afford to keep paying. So they asked us ‘Hey guys, how do we solve this?’. ‘How would you like to make this so it works for everybody?’ We were given a number of options such as pay per transaction, pay a one-off fee, pay a monthly fee etc. As well as this, they opened the floor to suggestions if anybody had a better idea of resolving the issue. I mean, how great is that? A company that asks the right questions and has the customers so hyped up that they actually help them build a better company.
6. Keep an eye on spending, personalized reports and budget setting capabilities — What most high-street banks offer is a monthly statement of income and expenditure. What Monzo offers is a detailed insight into your spending patterns. There are a number of categories and your spending gets automatically allocated to one category or another. Eating out, travel, entertainment, bills, etc. This is great if you want to keep an eye on your spending and if you, like me, keep asking the same question of ‘Where does my money go’ every month. Monzo answers that for you. You can also set up a budget and the app will help you stick to it by letting you know how much you’ve got till you hit your budget.
7. Spending abroad — don’t even get me started on how user-centric the whole experience is! My boyfriend and I went to Sweden a couple of months ago and this was the first time we tried Mozno abroad. We put some money in and got on the plane essentially. The app was so good at showing real-time spending in GBP and the native currency as well as how much we had left in the card and how much that equated to when converted to Swedish kronas. No fees and no fuss! It doesn’t matter if you’re withdrawing cash or using a point-of-sale (POS) terminals. There are no fees (for now), and you’re charged the official MasterCard exchange rate. This is pretty impressive, considering most high-street banks charge ridiculous fees when you use your card abroad. My bank, for example, charges £1.50, plus an additional 3% per transaction.
Of course, it’s not all perfect and I know they have a lot of issues to iron out. I’m not that big of a fan of their current account for instance because I feel that some of the best features have been stripped out. Nevertheless, I think they are on the right track and I believe app-based mobile-only banks are the way forward in general.
With in-branch footfall reducing dramatically particularly amongst millennials, and with an ongoing trend of more and more of our commodities moving into the digital domain, it comes as a no surprise that this financial solution has experienced such a positive uptake.
Ultimately, Monzo is a digital wallet that really has the end user in mind. So the real question is, is it time to ditch our cards and go, Monzo?
