Not terrible, but not great. Monese is quite barebones as a service and only provides basic online banking, while other platforms do much more for the same price. However, our evaluation and positive online reviews suggest that there is a huge number of users who are happy with it and don’t mind its limitations, as long as they get what they need from it.
Who is it best for?
Monese is the perfect solution for users who face difficulties opening a bank account in the UK or countries in the European Economic Area.
| Name | Score | Visit | Disclaimer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 7.4 | Visitmonese.com |
Introducing Monese
Monese is a digital bank catering to users residing in the UK or Europe who need to open a bank account without passing credit checks or providing proof of address.
It has three different subscription plans—one of which is free—and provides enough features to satisfy essential banking needs like money transfers, setting up direct debits, and so on.
Let’s dive in and see what exactly Monese can offer to its users.
Types of Accounts
Monese currently offers four types of bank accounts to their customers, Simple, Classic, Premium, and Business.
Simple | Classic | Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
Costs | Free | £5.95 per month | £14.95 per month |
Local transfers | Free | Free | Free |
International transfers | 2% fee (+1% on weekends) | Starting at 0.5% | Free |
ATM limit | Up to £100 per month free of charge | Up to £500 per month free of charge | Up to £1,500 per month free of charge |
Debit card top-ups | 0.3% fee | Free | Free |
Cash top-ups | 3.5% fee | £400 free per month | £1,000 free per month |
Simple
The Monese Simple account is a free account meant for users that don’t require any special benefits and features. It can be a great bank account for travellers who want to spend abroad and send money internationally.
There are no demanding eligibility requirements to open a Simple Monese account, and any person who lives in the UK or the countries from the EEA can create one online. Additionally, you can invite someone to have a joint account with you.
The only thing they would need to open it is an email address, phone number, and a document that can verify their ID. Monese doesn’t require heavy paperwork like credit history or proof of address or anything bothersome like that.
With the free account, Monese users can make and receive Instant Monese-to-Monese and local transfers free of charge. For international transfers, however, they will be required to pay a 2% fee, with an additional 1% charge on weekends. These figures are by all means not astronomical, though they can add up for users that regularly make international transfers.
Simple Account Charges, Limits, and Benefits
Speaking of charges, the Monese contactless debit card doesn’t come free with the Simple account, and users must pay £4.95 for its delivery. Note that the same fee will be applied if the user loses or damages the card and needs a replacement. In the higher-tiered accounts, these charges are completely waived.
With the card, Monese Simple account users can spend up to £2,000 in foreign currencies per month, free of charge. If the user exceeds the limit, a 2% charge will be applied. A fee of 0.3% will also be applied when they top up their card with a Visa or Mastercard debit, while for cash top-ups, the fee is higher at 3.5%.
Finally, the free ATM withdrawals for users of the Monese Simple account are limited to only £100, which is quite disappointing. Withdrawing over the limit will subject the user to a 2% fee.
As already mentioned, the Simple account doesn’t come with any premium benefits, like insurance or purchase protection. However, even free users get access to a virtual debit card they can link with Google Pay and Apple Pay, and have the chance to apply for an interest-bearing account, a credit builder, and other perks and features we discuss later.
Classic
Monese Simple is the least expensive option of the paid Monese accounts, and it has a relatively low monthly fee of £4.95. In addition to being excellent for travel, the Classic account fares reasonably well as a payment method for everyday spending, and it provides users with most of Monese’s premium benefits up to a certain point.
The same eligibility requirements mentioned above apply to Monese Classic as well, and it’s just as easy to get it as the free account.
Classic Account Charges, Limits, and Benefits
Similarly, Classic Monese users get the same free Monese-to-Monese and local transfers, though, for international transfers, they get a considerably lower fee, starting at 0.5%. Spending abroad, however, is not limited to £2,000, and with the Classic account, Monese users can spend as much as they want, free of charge.
Additionally, the much better-looking Monese debit card is delivered for free to Classic users, though all replacements will be charged the £4.95 charge mentioned earlier. The card can be topped up for free with a debit card, and top-ups up to £400 can be made with cash. Amounts over this limit will be subject to a 3.5% cash top-up fee.
As for ATM withdrawals, Classic Monese users can withdraw up to £500 free of charge, which is quite an improvement over the measly £100 basic users allowed. However, the same 2% fee will be applied for going over the ATM withdrawal limit as a Classic user as well.
Naturally, Classic users get access to all the perks included in Monese Simple, but they also get some packaged account-type insurance benefits. The accident, sickness, and involuntary unemployment insurance included in Monese Classic covers up to £1,500, while the purchase protection covers purchases made in the last 120 days, up to £1,000 per claim and up to £2,500 per year.
Finally, Monese Classic users also get a hospital stay insurance benefit, which covers £40 per day, for up to 30 days.
Premium
The Monese Premium account is the best service that Monese offers. It includes low transaction and additional fees, high allowances, maximum insurance, and high-priority customer support.
Like the previous two types of accounts, Monese Premium also doesn’t have any special eligibility requirements.
Premium Account Charges, Limits, and Benefits
What it does require is paying a £14.95 monthly fee, which adds up to almost £180 per year, and is a substantial amount of money when talking about digital banks. It’s worth noting that users can reduce this amount by paying £124.95 annually.
With the Premium account, Monese users can make Monese-to-Monese, local, and international transfers free of charge. They can also withdraw up to £1,500 from ATMs for free and are subject to the Monese standard 2% fee when withdrawing over this amount.
Moreover, the delivery and replacement of the Monese Premium card are free. Premium users also get free debit card top-ups and £1,000 worth of free cash top-ups per month.
In addition to all the benefits included in the Simple and Classic accounts, Monese Premium users get up to £2,100 cover for accidents, sickness, and involuntary unemployment. Their purchase protection covers purchases made in the last 180 days for up to £5,000 per claim up to £10,000 per year, and their hospital stay insurance benefits cover £60 per day, for up to 30 days.
Benefits & Additional Features – 7/10
Besides making payments and money transfers, Monese offers quite a few additional features and benefits. Unfortunately, it doesn’t provide some of the benefits typically associated with high-street banks, like cashback, discounts, and access to airport lounge clubs. It also doesn’t offer any stock or crypto trading services.
Benefit | Costs | Eligibility criteria |
|---|---|---|
Discounts | N/A | N/A |
Cashback | N/A | N/A |
Lounge access | N/A | N/A |
Stock/Crypto Investing | N/A | N/A |
Insurance | £4.95, £14.95 | Be a Classic or Premium user |
Earning interest | N/A | Be a Monese user of any tier |
Credit builder | £2.50 a month (Rep APR 9.10%) | Be a Monese user of any tier |
Benefits
What’s great about Monese is that all features, with the exception of the insurance policies, are available to every user, and they are easy to set up, right from the app. There are no draggy eligibility criteria like credit checks or minimum deposit requirements, and the features are easy to understand and easy to use.
The Monese Bills Protection and Purchase Protection policies are automatically activated from the very first day the user joins the paid subscription plans of Monese.
Monese Bills Protection
Depending on their subscription tier, the Bill Protection policy covers up to £1,500 for Classic users and up to £2,100 for Premium users, in cases of accidents, sickness, and involuntary unemployment. Some of the bills covered by the policy include:
Rent and utilities;
Insurance premiums;
Groceries;
School fees;
Nursing care.
And even less essential expenditures like monthly subscriptions, streaming services, gym and sports club fees, instrument lessons and other hobby fees, etc.
To be able to claim the insurance money, Monese users must be off work for over 30 days. Self-employed users do not have access to the complete Monese Bills Protection policy, and they only have access to the hospital stay benefits.
Hospital Stay Benefits
The hospital stay benefit is included in the Monese Bills Protection policy, and it covers up to £40 per day for Classic users and up to £60 for Premium users, for up to 30 days.
Monese Purchase Protection
The Monese Purchase Protection insurance policy protects paid users by providing cover for a refund if their personal use items and electronic devices like mobile phones and laptops get accidentally damaged or stolen.
Classic users are covered for purchases made in the last 120 days, for up to £1,000 per claim and £2,500 per year, while Premium users are covered for purchases made in the last 180 days, for up to £5,000 per claim, and £10,000 per year.
Features
While it may lack some beneficial features, Monese does provide access to credit builder cards and interest-bearing accounts across all three tiers. It also offers plenty of other small perks, like saving pots, a roundup feature, and so on.
Monese Credit Builder
The Monese credit builder is a tool that all Monese users have access to, without the need to do anything extra to qualify. It’s a very simple, yet efficient tool that allows users to improve their credit score, without actually getting a loan.
The user just needs to decide how much they can afford to pay toward a simulated debt for the duration of 12 months. Each month the user pays on time, the timely payment is reported to the credit bureaus, and their score improves. At the end of the 12 months, the user gets their money back, and their credit score improved.
While Monese’s credit builder loan is essentially interest-free, the representative APR cost of a £600 credit builder loan is 9.10% or £2.50 per month.
Digital Savings Account
All Monese users, regardless of their subscription plan, also have access to the platform's digital savings accounts, called Monese money pots.
They can easily create up to 10 savings pots for different saving goals, and schedule recurring contributions towards their pots using the Monese app. Monese also has the popular round-up feature that allows users to round up their transactions and automatically send the difference to their saving pots.
The Monese money pots don’t bear any interest. However, Monese is partnered with savings marketplace Raisin, and from the Monese app, users can find a range of Raisin saving products that will allow them to earn interest on their savings.
Saving & Interests Earned – 5/10
Monese does not offer any interest-bearing savings accounts but rather collaborates with savings marketplace Raisin, which offers a range of savings products Monese users can get access to with their accounts.
Overdraft Limits & Fees – 0/10
Monese doesn’t offer any overdrafts or other forms of borrowing.
Sending & Spending Money Abroad – 7/10
Simple | Classic | Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
Currency conversion fee for transfers | 2% | 2% | ❌ |
Fee-free foreign currency spending | £2,000 | No limit | No limit |
Free International ATM withdrawals | £100 | £500 | £1,500 |
Monese can be a great option for spending abroad, particularly in Europe. Even with the free Simple account, users can spend up to £2,000 free of charge, as long as they are spending GBP, EUR, SEK, or RON. Going over the £2,000 limit or spending in another foreign currency is subject to a 2% fee.
The currency conversion when spending in foreign currencies is done according to the Mastercard wholesale exchange rate.
However, Classic and Premium accounts are not limited to the £2,000 allowance, and the Mastercard wholesale exchange rate costs are the only charges these users have to pay when spending abroad.
Finally, Monese’s free international ATM withdrawal allowance is £100 for Simple, £500 for Classic, and £1,500 for Premium accounts.
Sending money abroad
While overseas usage fees are attractive, a 2% flat fee applies to transfer money abroad – which is pretty high for online bank standards. The fee is waived for Premium users.
While the fact that it's a flat fee is a plus, so you’ll know what you are paying with each transfer, it can be quite substantial for larger amounts, especially considering other options like Revolut or Starling, which has respectable personal allowances before fees kick in.
Its coverage includes over 30 countries, and you are able to hold euros and Romanian leu – which, in a way, gives some sort of flexibility to exchange at favourable rates and use it whenever needed when dealing with these currencies.
Besides these, Monese doesn’t give the right kind of value to upgrade to its Premium account for almost £15 per month for this purpose only.
Usability 8.6/10
Just like in the initial account creation process, the Monese app is user-friendly and quite intuitive for everyday use. Making payments, transfers, and creating saving pots with it is easy, convenient, and secure.
Monese App Review
As a digital-only financial service, Monese excels at online banking. Since there are no physical Monese branches, the user has the ability to do everything from the app itself.
In addition to making payments and transfers, users can create up to 10 saving pots and schedule automatic monthly savings. They can also activate the roundup feature that rounds every transaction up and contribute the difference in the savings pots.
The app is also where users can make claims for insurance money, access budgeting tools, apply for a credit builder loan, and link their Monese cards with Google Pay and Apple Pay.
Monese design and navigation
The Monese app has a sleek white theme that gives it a classy look but also makes important information pop out. The app is designed to provide a quick, at-a-glance overview of what the user needs without too much fuss.
Navigating and switching between tabs is intuitive and lets the user feel like they know what they’re doing, even if they are opening the app for the first time in their life.
Login and Security Features
In addition to the passcode we mentioned earlier, Monese allows users to securely log in to their account using Face ID, Touch ID, and fingerprint scanner. In addition to the biometric login, Monese employs multi-factor encryption and authentication protocols.
For example, a single user can only be active on one device at a time, and to authorise a new device, they would have to through a multi-factor authentication process.
Opening a Monese Account
Opening an account with Monese is as easy as it gets. As a matter of fact, the simplicity of its account creation process is one of the main selling points of Monese. Unlike high-street banks, Monese doesn’t do credit checks and doesn’t require its users to provide proof of address documentation to verify their accounts.
The Monese app can be found on both the App Store and Google Play, and once it’s installed, all it takes are a couple of minutes to get started. Here’s a step-by-step guide that can help you open a Monese account.
Set Up the App
Download and install the Monese app and tap on Get Started button. To sign up, you have to enter your email address and choose your country of residence. Here, enter any invite code if you have one – it usually comes with a cashback offer.
Create a password for yourself, and make it memorable as you’ll be using it to access the app later on. After you verified your email and phone number, you can start setting up your account.
Run the ID Checks
At this stage, you have to enter your address and submit your ID documentation. If you are in the UK on a temporary basis, it makes sense to use your passport (which is a permanent form of ID) rather than your biometric residence permit, as you’ll need to change it after you move out.
Set Up Your Account
Choose between GBP, EUR, and RON accounts, which will be your default currency (but you can change later on).
The next step is to answer five personal questions to allow the app to provide each user with a personalised experience.
Once the questions are answered, the user can see the three Monese plans as well as details about what each plan includes, and choose the plan that suits them best.
After selecting your preferred plan, the creation process is complete, the account is active, and the app will prompt the creation of a virtual card which is optional and can be done later.
Customer Satisfaction and Reputation – 8.1/10
Monese has an overall positive reputation with users online, indicating that the largest portion of users are satisfied with its services.
Customer Reviews
Looking at its online ratings on Trustpilot, the App Store, and Google Play, Monese has an overwhelmingly large number of positive reviews.
Trustpilot score | 4.2 stars (36,000+ reviews) |
|---|---|
App Store score | 4.8 stars (63,000+ reviews) |
Google Play score | 4.6 stars (97,000+ reviews) |
Considering that there are a large number of reviews, the ratings from these three sources can be considered valid and insightful. Most reviewers rate Monese with five stars, though there is also a notable percentage of users that only give the app a one-star rating.
As already mentioned, customer reviews point out Monese’s ease of use and convenience as its best attribute, and such praises can be found in most five-star reviews.
On the other hand, common complaints include slow and unreachable customer support and being unable to solve an issue for long periods of time.
Customer Service
Users who want to contact Monese customer service can do so via live chat, available in the app, through email, and by phone.
Contact email | |
|---|---|
Contact phone number | +44 1706 304 001 |
There is also an extensive FAQ page on the Monese website, which users can use to find solutions to their issues much quicker, without having to contact the support team.
Security
Unlike some other fintech services, Monese is a digital bank, which means it’s regulated by the FCA, protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and offers a similar level of security as a high-street bank.
FCA regulation | Yes |
|---|---|
FSCS protection | Yes, up to £85,000 |
2FA | Yes |
Virtual cards | Yes |
In addition to the security features we mentioned earlier, Monese offers a few other optional security measures like a 3D secure protection layer, real-time notifications for every transaction, and the option to lock and unlock the Monese card at any time.
Alternatives
Of course, Monese is not the only digital bank or fintech solution that can provide you with the service we explain above. If, for some reason, you dislike Monese or are unhappy with a certain aspect of it, consider looking into:
They are all great apps for quick and easy money transfers and payments and are suitable for spending abroad. While similar, all three of these alternatives offer some unique advantages and have various pricing models, making it likely that one of them will match your needs.
