Monese Account Setup

OU812 · 15-12-2015 3:32pm #1

Signed up with Monese last week & was just getting to setting it up, Little thing bugging me is the account is supposed to be sterling, but the BIC is Estonian.

Any issues with this ?

JTMan · 15-12-2015 7:04pm

A GBP account does not have to be based in the UK.

Nothing wrong with an Estonian BIC.

Yggr of Asgard · 18-12-2015 10:22am

The account is in £.

Monese gives you your own UK Bank Account Number and Sort Code which you can use for £ transactions (incoming/outcoming) and via visa debit card.

The IBAN/BIC in Estonia is only for € transactions into your account and please remember it's not an individual IBAN for your account, it's a common account and you need to make sure that your quote your monese id in the reference field. However they will charge you a fee (0.5%) to convert it into £ and credit it into your monese account.

If you want to get € into your monese account you might be better off using revolut or moneywise etc. to do the payment directly into your monese account via the UK Account number and sort code.

OU812 · 18-12-2015 10:24am

Got my card for it this morning, don't think I'll bother with the account though. Too much buggering around & they don't have an iOS App yet. Card is kind of insipid looking & not contactless either.

soirish · 25-01-2016 7:12pm

Any news if there will be a stamp duty on Monese cards?

Yggr of Asgard · 26-01-2016 12:10pm

soirish wrote: »

Any news if there will be a stamp duty on Monese cards?

I asked them this via twitter, once I get an answer I update.

But i hope it's only the ATM Withdraw tax that applies.

Yggr of Asgard · 26-01-2016 5:13pm

here their answer:

It looks like Ireland switched to an ATM withdraw Tax at the beginning of this year. So, there will be no stamp duty on the card itself as this is no longer required. It is my understanding that the ATM withdraw tax will be implemented at the ATM, so there is nothing we can do to prevent the 12 cent fee from being taken. I hope this answers your question, if not please feel to right back and I will be more than happy to assist you.

Now I don't think that the "atm does it" is correct but at least it's no stamp duty.

OU812 · 27-01-2016 9:23am

New contactless card received this morning

Yggr of Asgard · 27-01-2016 10:19am

OU812 wrote: »

New contactless card received this morning

Is this is your first card or did you order a replacement?

OU812 · 27-01-2016 10:34am

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

Is this is your first card or did you order a replacement?

Second card. Didn't order a replacement and haven't used the first one yet, (it arrived the same time as the #26 card).

Yggr of Asgard · 27-01-2016 10:38am

OU812 wrote: »

Second card. Didn't order a replacement and haven't used the first one yet, (it arrived the same time as the #26 card).

Thanks.

Interesting, I see on the webpage that they now showing the contact less option and in the FAQ they are stating that one can replace the existing one.

OU812 · 27-01-2016 12:43pm

There's two things bugging me about the account & that's why I haven't used it.

1) It's not an individual IBAN for your account, it's a common account and you need to make sure that your quote your Monese ID in the reference field. - not a big deal but a pain to sort out if you forget about it.
2) No iPhone app. Android only. I have access to an android phone (work) but my main phone is iPhone & this is the main reason for not using.

OU812 · 27-01-2016 12:43pm

There's two things bugging me about the account & that's why I haven't used it.

1) It's not an individual IBAN for your account, it's a common account and you need to make sure that your quote your Monese ID in the reference field. - not a big deal but a pain to sort out if you forget about it.
2) No iPhone app. Android only. I have access to an android phone (work) but my main phone is iPhone & this is the main reason for not using.

Yggr of Asgard · 27-01-2016 1:09pm

OU812 wrote: »

There's two things bugging me about the account & that's why I haven't used it.

1) It's not an individual IBAN for your account, it's a common account and you need to make sure that your quote your Monese ID in the reference field. - not a big deal but a pain to sort out if you forget about it.
2) No iPhone app. Android only. I have access to an android phone (work) but my main phone is iPhone & this is the main reason for not using.

The IBAN account (with reference) is only for € payments which than are converted into £ which is the accounts main currency. And it's not the best rates either.

You get a UK bank account / sort code with account which you can use for £ payments. You could use transferwise for example to make payments onto the account to get better rates or even revolut.

Monese is a great basic UK account at the moment, but unless you need a real £ account revolut might be better from a currency conversion point.

soirish · 29-01-2016 2:40pm

Did anyone try to order the card to PM address? Would that exclude the annual stamp duty?

OU812 · 29-01-2016 3:09pm

soirish wrote: »

Did anyone try to order the card to PM address? Would that exclude the annual stamp duty?

That would be tax evasion & I don't think it's worth it for the sake of a fiver.

Yggr of Asgard · 29-01-2016 4:18pm

OU812 wrote: »

That would be tax evasion & I don't think it's worth it for the sake of a fiver.

There is no 5€ stamp duty on the card, there is an 12 cent tax per ATM withdraw capped at 2.50/5.00 € (depending on usage type) for withdraws in the republic.

So unless you make a withdraw in the republic there are no Irish taxes on it.

In any case even if you would have it send to PM, you still need to declare the account to Revenue in your tax return.

soirish · 12-03-2016 9:22pm

Monese provides an account number and sort code for the GBP account. Any chance to get the corresponding IBAN and make SEPA payments?

Update:

BIC is NWBKGB2L (NATIONAL WESTMINSTER BANK PLC)
IBAN can be calculated here:

https://www.iban.com/calculate-iban.html
.

soirish · 16-03-2016 11:15am

soirish wrote: »

Monese provides an account number and sort code for the GBP account. Any chance to get the corresponding IBAN and make SEPA payments?

Update:

BIC is NWBKGB2L (NATIONAL WESTMINSTER BANK PLC)
IBAN can be calculated here:

https://www.iban.com/calculate-iban.html
.

Transfer not executable.

soirish · 21-03-2016 1:44pm

Google Play negative user feedback:

Hidden £4.95 monthly fee Everything seems great, however I double checked with the support team and I was told by "Anna" that you get 1 month free then after that once you account exceeds £5 you will pay £4.95 a month. I've sent emails and more messages to the support team asking why it's not explained on the FAQ, 3 days and no reply. Can someone please clarify if there is a monthly charge or not!

Monese support told me this:

Currently no fees are being charged or are applicable, we are trialling versions of the app for future releases, So this has only been seen by a small percentage of people

That's another disappointment after N26.

OU812 · 21-03-2016 1:48pm

I've had zero disappointment with #26, I know there's issues with revolut & haven't used it in a while because of it. i did register & receive a monese card, but never activated it or used it.

Yggr of Asgard · 21-03-2016 2:08pm

But they always did say, that they will introduce fee's, that has been made clear by them in the beginning and was/is part of the FAQ, so it should not come as a surprise.

I still have no fee's in my app, so I guess I'm lucky. I will wait and see what their fee schedule is when it's published, so far the pricing page has changed to display everything free with the exception of send money abroad. It looks different than a fee days ago so I assume they are planing to introduce some sort of monthly fee.

The outage of Revolut yesterday was bad (especially as it was not even communicated on social media or in the App) and it shows that all of these startups have the same problem, customer service.

soirish · 21-03-2016 4:12pm

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

But they always did say, that they will introduce fee's, that has been made clear by them in the beginning and was/is part of the FAQ, so it should not come as a surprise.

https://www.monese.com/terms

Will copy it below in case they decide to change it for whatever reason.

32. What Are The Limits
Unverified Monese Account Limits

Balance limit: £1,750
Top up limit (annual): £1,750
Daily cash withdrawal limit: £300
Total cash withdrawal limit (annual): £700
Daily transaction limit: £700
Person to Person transfers: Not Permitted

Verified Monese Account Limits

Balance limit: £40,000
Top up limit (annual): Unlimited
Daily cash withdrawal limit: £300
Total cash withdrawal limit (annual): Unlimited
Daily transaction limit: Unlimited
Person to Person transfers: Permitted

Monese Account Fees

Getting started on Monese

FREE - Opening your Monese Account:
FREE - Monthly fee
FREE - Monthly Monese Credits that can be used for free transactions (The number of your free monthly Monese Credits will be individual to you and we’ll let you know within the app)
FREE - Transfers within Monese network (Real-time payments)
FREE - UK card purchases
FREE - Card fee (Card delivered within 10 working days)
FREE - Replacement card if expired (Card delivered within 10 working days)
FREE - ATM PIN change
FREE - Checking your balance via Monese app
FREE - Cashback instore (You can request up to £50 cashback at participating UK retailers when making a purchase)
FREE - Paying in via bank transfer (Add funds to your Monese Account by bank transfer from another bank account)
FREE - Email alerts, mobile notifications and SMS alerts (Standard operator SMS charges apply for SMS alerts and addition charges may apply to receive SMS information outside the UK)
FREE - Checking your balance at an ATM
FREE - Card declined fee
FREE - Closing your Monese Account
FREE - Locking and unlocking cards
FREE - Using fantastic Monese support
FREE - Closing Account (Redemption) Fee

Things we have to charge for

£0.50 - UK fast bank transfers
£0.50 - European SEPA transfers
£0.50 plus 0.5% of the transaction value (£1 minimum) - Bank transfers abroad (Your money is converted at the mid-market rate)
£0.50 plus 0.5% of the transaction value (£1 minimum) - Card purchases abroad (Any transaction in a foreign currency will be converted into pounds. We'll do this at the rate of exchange provided by Visa Europe on the date they process the transaction which may differ from the actual transaction date. See more information on exchange rates on the Visa Website. Some retailers may charge additional fees.)
£0.50 - ATMs UK (Some ATM providers may charge additional fees)
£0.50 plus 0.5% of the transaction value (£1 minimum) - ATMs Abroad (Any transaction in a foreign currency will be converted into pounds. We'll do this at the rate of exchange provided by Visa Europe on the date they process the transaction which may differ from the actual transaction date. See more information on exchange rates on the Visa Website. Some ATM providers may charge additional fees)
£0.50 - Deposits via PayPoint (Maximum load amount of £249)
UK standard rate - Call costs to Support Team: Calls to +44 1706 304001 are charged at UK standard rate.
£5.00 - Replacement card if for lost/stolen/damaged.
£5.00 - Administration Fees (Administration fees may only incur when our settlement banks or the receiving bank refuse your transaction due to incorrect payment details, their regulatory requirements or any other valid reason, also for instigating a chargeback on request of the Cardholder, transaction revocation, manually rectifying Cardholder errors or investigating shortfalls. Any administrative fees will be deducted from your Account):

Yggr of Asgard · 21-03-2016 4:25pm

And if I recall this correctly there were always there with the exception of the bank transfer free and the card replacement fee.

They also offered initially 5 free credits to be used for ATM withdraw's, bank transfers etc. (with the exception of foreign transfers).

What however is new is the the 300£ ATM withdraw limit, that used to be higher.

The challenge is that the T&C contradict the pricing overview on https://www.monese.com/pricing .

Looking at the pricing page it looks like they are going for a subscription fee rather than the current pay as you go with free credits for some activities or pay as you go for those.

One has to wait to see what the app is changing to because the "Full pricing details are included in the Monese app" is dubious.

There is certainly something changing with monese.

November Pricelist:
https://web.archive.org/web/20151124094639/https://www.monese.com/pricing

soirish · 22-03-2016 4:30pm

In the future, and with plenty of notice Monese prices will be based on a set of free essentials and paid extras.

Support team just told me "plenty of notice" means 60 days

JTMan · 22-03-2016 7:54pm

soirish wrote: »

Support team just told me "plenty of notice" means 60 days

Minimum legal compliance. Under EU consumer law 60 days clear notice is required to change fees or interest rates on a 'payment account'.

soirish · 29-03-2016 11:33am

Just got this email:

Our New Pricing - £4.95 p/m
After an incredible few months of building and improving our current accounts, we are finally ready to unveil our new pricing. It has taken a ton of customer feedback for us to arrive at a price that is in keeping with our commitment to fairer finance, but will still enable Monese to continue growing into the global service it was always intended to be.

As one of our early members you have been enjoying a mostly free service as part of our launch celebrations, only paying our rock bottom 0.5% fee on currency exchange when sending money abroad. Without you, we would not be here today and as a small “thank you” we’d like to give you an additional 2 months free service.

From 1st June, 2016 you will be billed a simple fixed price of £4.95, per month - taken directly from your Monese account balance, at the start of each monthly billing period.

See more details here and full T&Cs here.
What's The Catch?
No catches, no hidden fees, £4.95 per month and that's it - for everything, except currency exchange.

Here's what's included:
• Your Monese Current Account
• UK account number and sort code
• Your contactless Monese debit card
• Receiving money into your account
• Paying cash into your account
• UK bank transfers
• Sending money abroad
• Global ATM withdrawals
• Global card payments in store and online
• Real-time payments to other Monese accounts
• Real-time account activity notifications

For currency exchange we charge 0.5% on top of the mid-market rate, which is up to 8x cheaper than the high street banks.

See more details here and full T&Cs here.
https://www.monese.com/pricing
https://www.monese.com/terms

This is very different from "the essentials you need to manage your money day to day will be free forever" which they promised a few months back.

And keeps getting better:

Can I cancel my Monese card?
You have a legal right to cancel your card up to 14 days from the date you purchase it without incurring any penalty and we will refund any card issue fees. We may charge you a Cancelled Card Fee if we have already incurred costs by ordering a card in your name. You can also cancel your card any time after the 14 day period subject to a Redemption Fee (the Fees and Limits table (section 34)) by contacting Support Team.

Yggr of Asgard · 29-03-2016 11:46am

I agree, there once was a promise:

In the future, we will introduce fees for some of the services we provide, but don't worry, the essentials you need to manage your money day to day will be free forever.

Disappointing that they went down this general monthly fee instead of a model where certain things would remain free as their initial suggestion or promise.

With the 300£ ATM limit I might go elsewhere now.

soirish · 29-03-2016 11:51am

I'm closing this account, what a nonsense.

Lots of upset users on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/search?q=monese&src=typd

OU812 · 29-03-2016 12:13pm

Just emailed them to cancel.

soirish · 29-03-2016 12:24pm

Support just told me the account will remain free for zero balance customers.

Monese Account Setup

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