Monzo Review 2024 (+ £5 Free Money Offer)

This independent Monzo review tells you all about the cult around the coral-coloured card. Monzo has been stirring up the banking world with its app-only bank account. But should you trust it with your money?

I started using Monzo in July 2018 and still use it as my daily spending account. Below, I’ll tell you why I love it, alongside its features and drawbacks.

🪧 Should you sign up through my affiliate links, I may receive a commission at no cost to you.

Monzo Free Money Offer

Are you here for your free money? Just take the free money and never look back! Or, you can refer friends to Monzo, as it has a great friend referral program.

Click the button below, enter your phone number and click “Accept Invite”. Signing up should take 15 minutes at most. You don’t need a Monzo referral code; simply click the button and sign up. You can find more great offers on my free money offers list.

Instructions

After accepting the invite, Monzo sends a link to your phone to install the Monzo app. During the sign-up process, you need to enter your:

• Phone number
• Email address
• Postal address

You also need to take a selfie and a photo of your ID. Accepted forms of identification include your:

• Passport
• Driving license
• ID card
• Residency permit

Monzo is a regulated UK bank, and this is a standard procedure for opening an account. Once set up, wait for your card to arrive. Then, put money into your account and pay with your card within 30 days. You get your £5 bonus automatically.

Monzo also offers a current account switch service, so you can make it your main bank easily.

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What Is Monzo Bank?

Monzo is a mobile-based challenger bank. It is a digital bank and does not have any physical branches. Founded in 2015 by Tom Blomfield, Monzo now has over 7.4 million customers.

Because Monzo is a bank, it is regulated like traditional banks. It must also fulfil the criteria set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Monzos accounts benefit from Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection. Should Monzo go bankrupt, you receive up to £85,000 of your money back. This cover does not include investment losses.

Is Monzo Safe and Legit?

Monzo is legit. It is a registered UK company with the number 09446231. On Trustpilot, Monzo has over 29,000 reviews with an average score of 4.1/5.0. Overall, 84% of users rated Monzo as great or excellent. Negative reviews complain about a lack of customer service and account closures.

Personally, I have never had issues with Monzo’s customer account, and my account hasn’t been closed so far.

Monzo Customer Reviews

Customer reviews are overall positive. The Monzo app is rated 4.9 out of 5.0 on the App Store. Its Google Play rating is 4.5 out of 5.0. most reviews are positive, and customers are happy with the service.

Negative reviews are mostly about user experience. It appears the app is slow for some users. Some users have also found it difficult to navigate the app since the recent updates.

Monzo Current Account Review

Monzo’s personal account is for private people and personal spending. It is the account I’ve been using for years.

Monzo Fees

Monzo has three plans. All members start on the free Basic plan. I use this plan and only temporarily upgraded my account for this review. The Basic plan is enough for my banking needs.

	Basic	Plus	Premium
Card	Plastic	Holographic	Metal
Price	Free	£5 per month	£15 per month
Minimum term	–	3 months	6 months
Features	Everything you need	Other accounts, in Monzo 1.00% AER/Gross (variable) interest £400 fee-free cash withdrawals abroad Custom categories Multiple categories per transaction Virtual cards Advanced roundups Credit Tracker Offers Auto-export transactions 1 free cash deposit a month	Phone insurance Worldwide family travel insurance Discounted airport lounge access Other accounts, in Monzo 1.50%/1.49 AER/Gross (variable) interest £600 fee-free cash withdrawals abroad Custom categories Multiple categories per transaction Virtual cards Advanced roundups Credit Tracker Offers Auto-export transactions 5 free cash deposits a month

Besides the card, Monzo Plus and Premium offer further incentives to upgrade. None of these are essential, though. One problem with the Basic plan is that you don’t get free deposits. I have a separate standard high-street bank account that I use to deposit. Then, I transfer the money from there to Monzo.

The second issue you may encounter is the absence of interest. As a workaround, you can open a free Marcus account for your savings. You have to make an extra transfer, but the interest rates are better.

Lastly, users on paid plans get a holographic or metal card. Personally, I prefer the card that comes with the Basic Plan. Though, for general use, it doesn’t make a difference. You can see my card below (It’s plastic but a limited edition).

Saving With Monzo

You can create savings pots for your savings goals on Monzo. These are separate mini-accounts or pockets. As stated above, I recommend a dedicated savings account like Marcus for your money. However, pots can be useful for short-term savings.

Monzo will forward money in your pots to Investec Corporate and Investment Banking. When you need the money, you can transfer it back to your account with a few taps.

Monzo can round up your purchases on the paid plans to save more money. While this function is useful, you may prefer one of the best automatic saving apps.

Spending With Monzo

1. Spending Categories

The feature I like most about Monzo is the automatic categorisation of expenses. It’s the main reason I use Monzo, and it makes budgeting so much easier. It makes Monzo one of the best budgeting apps in the UK.

If you have Monzo Plus or Premium, you can customise the categories. For me, the basic categories are enough. Every month, I transfer the total spending per category to my spreadsheet, and that’s it. I love how easy this is with Monzo.

Below is my monthly spending and how I use the categories.

• Groceries. I put all my supermarket shopping in this category.
• Shopping. These are my personal expenses, such as clothes and other things I need.
• Entertainment. Monzo puts all my optional expenses here, like eating out or books.
• Transport. Everything I spend on transportation goes in here.
• General. This category includes expenses that don’t fit anywhere else.

2. Card Payments

Your Monzo card works like any other Mastercard. At shops, you can pay contactless or by entering your PIN. If you want, you can change the PIN in the app.

3. Withdrawing Money

You can get free cash withdrawals at ordinary ATMs. Monzo has a daily ATM withdrawal limit of £400 and a monthly limit of £5500 in the UK. On the free plan, you can increase this allowance by either:

• Paying at least £500 every 35 days to a Monzo account and having at least one active direct debit.
• Getting regular Department for Work and Pensions or Department for Communities payments.
• Getting a student loan payment every eight months.
• Sharing a Monzo Joint Account with someone who does one of the above.

You can increase your allowance by subscribing to Monzo Plus or Monzo Premium.

4. Spending Money Abroad

Monzo is a great account when travelling because there aren’t any fees. You can withdraw up to £250 from ATMs on a rolling 30-day basis in the European Economic Area. For the rest of the world, the limit is £200.

After that, there is a 3% charge. Your allowance increases if you use Monzo frequently. With Monzo Plus or Premium, the allowance is £400 and £600, respectively.

Borrowing Money

If you want to borrow money, Monzo offers the following options:

• Apply for loans
• Apply for an overdraft
• Use their Buy-now-pay-later scheme (Monzo Flex)

With Monzo Flex, you can borrow money and repay Monzo over three interest-free instalments. You can repay Monzo over 6 or 12 instalments for 19% interest if you need more time.

Monzo Features: What Else Can the App Do?

Monzo is constantly adding new features. I haven’t used all of them, but some help making my life easier. Noteworthy features are:

• Split the Bill: split a bill with other Monzo account holders.
• Add receipts: take a photo of your receipt and attach it to a transaction.
• Committed spending: lists all your planned outgoing transactions for a month.
• Salary Sorter: splits your salary into different pots.
• Block gambling transactions: you can’t deposit to gambling sites.
• Card Freeze: freeze your card from within the app.
• Early payday: receive your salary by 4 PM the day before payday.

A helpful feature is the Monzo contacts function. You can send money to other Monzo users without needing account details. You won’t have to send your bank details by email with Monzo.

Monzo Customer Service

As a customer, you can use the live chat within the app to contact Monzo. You can also call Monzo’s customer hotline to get support. Typically, Monzo responds quickly and resolves issues without problems. Since opening my account in 2018, I only contacted Monzo a few times. Every time, the support staff helped me swiftly.

Monzo Business Account Review

In 2020, Monzo started to offer business accounts for sole traders and companies. Compared to the personal account, it offers extra features for professionals.

What Does Monzo Business Cost?

Monzo offers two plans for business banking:

• Monzo Business Lite: Get basic business banking features for free.
• Monzo Business Pro: Get basic and advanced business banking features for £5 monthly.

Switching between account types is easy:

1. Head to your Business Settings
2. Tap on your account
3. Select “Change account type”
4. Confirm that you would like to change your account type

What Features Does Monzo Business Offer?

With both the Pro and the Lite plans, you get all the features that define Monzo:

• Business debit card
• Mobile and web access
• Payment links
• Card payments with Stripe
• 24/7 customer support
• Free instant UK bank transfers
• Pots to separate money
• Instant notifications
• Budget and spending categories
• Digital receipts
• Outbound international payments

You also have all the essential banking features:

• Full UK business current account
• Apple Pay and Google Pay
• Fee-free spending abroad
• Manage scheduled payments
• Pay in cash and cheques

However, there are also a few differences in the features available with the Monzo Lite vs the Pro plan:

	Monzo Lite	Monzo Pro
Tax pots	–	Yes
Integrated accounting	–	Yes
Multi-user access for limited companies	–	Yes
Invoices	–	Yes
Exclusive offers	–	Yes
Virtual cards	–	Yes
Xero (six months free use)	–	Yes

“Tax pots“ lets you set up separate pots within your account. Monzo transfers a percentage of your earnings to them. When the dreaded day to pay tax comes, you are all set.

You can share your balances and transactions with “Integrated accounting“. You can also export your data to PDF or CSV. With “Multi-accounting“, you can give your team access to the account. You can see who spends what and when.

“Invoices” is a similar function to PayPal invoicing. You can generate invoices and send them to your customers. When paid, Monzo reconciles invoices automatically.

Monzo Pros and Cons

Pros

• Easy set-up through the mobile app
• Lots of helpful functions for private people and business owners
• 24/7 customer support

Cons

• Deposit and withdrawal restrictions
• Some features are only available on the paid plans

Monzo FAQs

How Do I Find My Monzo Sort Code?

Finding your Monzo sort code is easy. Simply follow the steps below:

1. Tap the Home icon in the menu bar
2. Tap ‘Manage’ to the right of your transaction feed
3. Find your sort code and account number under Account Details

Monzo vs Monese, Which Is Better?

The main difference between Monzo and Monese is that Monzo is a bank. Monese is an eMoney institution. Read about all the differences in my Monzo vs Monese comparison.

Are There Alternatives to Monzo?

If you don’t want Monzo, you can try the following alternatives:

• Monese. Monese is an e-money institution with a £30 sign-up offer. Read more in my Monese review.
• Emma. Emma is a budgeting app with budgeting functions similar to Monzo’s. Read more in my Emma review.
• Starling Bank. Starling is another digital bank similar to Monzo.

Monzo App Review Summary

Monzo is an app-based bank founded in 2015. It is a legit and regulated bank. When signing up, you can choose from three plans. Of these, the standard account has enough functions.

Monzo offers great budgeting features and is convenient to use abroad. Personally, I use it for day-to-day expenses, but you can also use Monzo as your main account.

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