Fun fact. In 2016, Monzo set a record for the fastest crowd-funded start-up in history, raising no less than £1 million ($123 million) in 96 seconds. The company made the most of this money by building a trendy digital bank. Monzo still reports losses, but its valuation increases year after year. Monzo’s CEO, T. S. Anil, says the company is on track to become profitable by 2022. Plus, rumor has it that the neobank is planning an initial public offering during 2022–2023 to fuel its expansion.
Monzo Bank is a neobank based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2015, making it one of the first challenger banks. Monzo began its activity by providing services in the forms of a prepaid debit card and an app. In 2017, it was granted full banking licensing. Now, it’s a full-fledged digital bank with over 3 million customers in the UK, and it’s still growing. Furthermore, Monzo has expanded to the United States. The US Monzo app was launched publicly on February 1, 2022, after months of beta testing.
In this Monzo review, we examine the app and the service to understand what makes it so popular among Brits and so desirable across the pond.
Monzo app review
A single mobile app offers Monzo’s services to individuals and businesses. Moreover, if a user already has a personal Monzo account, they must use the same email address for a business account. Users can download the app from both Google Play and AppStore. There is also a web app for more convenience.
Monzo mobile app (Google Play)
Category: Finance
Released: May 13, 2016
Current version: 4.33.0
Latest update: May 25, 2022
Downloads: over 1 million
Rating: 4.3
The latest app release (4.33.0) fixes a few bugs, but it doesn’t add any new features.
Onboarding
The registration process is very similar to other mobile banking platforms. First, users must provide basic information such as name, date of birth, email and phone number, and home address. Next, as Monzo is a regulated bank, customers have to disclose their income source and the reason for opening an account. The last step is to verify user identity by uploading an ID picture and a selfie video. It takes about 10–15 minutes to complete the sign-up process, and the card arrives within 4–5 days.
Signing up for a Monzo business account is fairly simple and quick too. The only difference is that customers must provide company information and documents, such as a registered company address, a tax reference, and a registration number. The problem is that not all business types are eligible for a Monzo business account. For instance, Monzo doesn’t support charities, public limited companies (PLC), trusts, or funds. Furthermore, companies that provide dating or escort services, are related to gambling businesses, or that produce weapons are ineligible for a Monzo business account.
Services
For individuals, there are three service packages available: Monzo Free, Monzo Plus (£5/month), and Monzo Premium (£15/month). The basic free plan includes:
- A current account with savings, overdrafts, and borrowing
- Monzo Flex (Monzo’s “buy now, pay later” service)
- Deposit protection up to £85,000 per person
- A current account with savings, overdrafts, and borrowing
- Monzo Flex (Monzo’s “buy now, pay later” service)
- Deposit protection up to £85,000 per person
In addition to Monzo free features, Monzo Plus and Monzo Premium come with some extra perks:
- A possibility to manage other bank accounts via the Monzo app
- Interests on balance (1% for Monzo Plus, 1.5% for Monzo Premium)
- Virtual cards for safer online shopping
- Credit score tracker
- Free withdrawals abroad (£400/month for Monzo Plus, £600/month for Monzo Premium)
- Free cash deposits at PayPoint’s boxes (1/month for Monzo Plus, 5/month for Monzo Premium)
- Special offers and discounts
- Worldwide travel and phone insurance (for Monzo Premium)
Monzo Business offers two types of accounts: Lite (free of charge) and Pro (£5/month). Both include a range of useful services for business activity, such as:
- Instant UK bank transfers for free
- Outbound international payments
- Budget tools
- Scheduled payments
- Digital receipts
- Payment links (payment details prefilled in a custom link)
- Integrated accounting tools (Monzo Pro)
- Invoicing (Monzo Pro)
- Multiuser access (Monzo Pro)
Design & Usability
Once considered innovative, this application’s design is now similar to its competitors. The app is informative, intuitive, and responsive. It has beautiful backgrounds, analytics graphs and charts, buttons that are easy to tap and recognize, and even game elements. There is not much to complain about. However, we’re in 2022, so it’s no longer a breakthrough. Keeping pace with “younger” rivals requires fresh ideas from Monzo. For example, some users would find useful QR codes for payments.
Reliability & Security
Monzo uses all modern technologies to ensure data security, including encryption, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. The neobank creates individual cryptographic identities using a private public-key infrastructure (PKI), maintains audit logs for all software infrastructure layers, and has an automated audit system to detect potentially suspicious patterns. Plus, there are multifactor and biometric authentication, real-time push notifications to keep track of transactions, and the ability to manage and lock cards directly from the app.
It wouldn’t be an honest review of Monzo if we didn’t mention that there was a data breach once. Although, it was internal (only a few engineers were privy to customer data) and handled immediately. The bank takes security very seriously. The fact that they responded immediately to the British Airways data leak is particularly notable. In less than three hours, the Monzo team identified all affected Monzo customers and ordered replacement cards for them.
Support
Monzo customer support is available 24/7 via live chat, phone, or email. There is also a help center where one can find answers to frequently asked questions. Overall, users praise Monzo support. However, in recent reviews, customers have characterized Monzo’s support as poor and the staff as ignorant.
Our verdict
We give Mondo 4,5 stars out of 5. Although Monzo has comparatively high withdrawal fees, it remains a smart choice for individuals and businesses. It’s a safe licensed British bank that offers a range of tools to help clients manage their money. The clean, user-friendly, visually pleasing Monzo app always runs smoothly. Customer support has recently been problematic for Monzo, but we believe this can be rectified quickly.
What we like about Monzo:
- User-friendly app
- Free basic plan
- Moderate monthly fees for “Plus,” “Premium,” and “Business Pro” packages
- Real-time transaction notifications
- Free transfers, cash deposits, and withdrawals
- Virtual cards
- Budgeting tools
- Accounting tools for business accounts
- Deposit protection
- A high level of data security
What we dislike about Monzo:
- 3% fee on £200+ withdrawals outside the European Economic Area
- Limited daily withdrawals
- Low saving rates
- Customer support needs some improvement
Why Monzo?
At the moment, Monzo doesn’t offer any cutting-edge features. Instead, it provides a winning combination of full-fledged bank reliability, a safe and reliable app, and modern financial tools. It’s a top digital bank for those who are seeking stability and comfort.
Value for customers:
Monzo offers its customers all basic banking services, relatively low fees, and excellent money-management tools. It also provides integrated accounting programs for business accounts, which can help freelancers and small firms immensely. Combined with the high level of security, all of these factors make Monzo a good option for current accounts.
Value for partnering businesses:
Monzo’s marketplace model offers numerous opportunities to many companies. For example,
- Monzo is seeking partners to provide innovative digital solutions that might be useful to its clients, such as Wise (ex-TransferWise, a money transfer service), Moneybox (a micro-investment app), and Emma (a personal finance app).
- Monzo’s marketplace lets brands increase their visibility and profits. Companies merely need to provide unique offers to Monzo users. For example, the investment app Freetrade granted free shares to Monzo’s Plus and Premium customers who signed up for new Freetrade accounts and deposited at least £2.
