Monzo or Starling banks for travel abroad

[raybarrow]

Hi Folks,

It's raining and we are in special measures so what better time to think of travelling abroad. I've recently closed our Caxton Card accounts after being recently able to spend money from them in the UK at no charge (that option has closed). I always ended up with money sitting on till the next holiday. Now looking at alternatives for when, if ever, I feel confident to travel abroad. I am talking Western Europe so Italy, Austria, Germany, Scandinavia sort of area.

I have a Halifax Clarity card so the Credit side of things is covered. I like the flexibilty of Monzo and Starling in that I can top it up, go abroad, spend and transfer any money back to my main account. Caxton and similar don't have that easy flexibility.

Given they are very similar what are people's experience of using them. The only difference I can see is that one offers greater ATM withdrawl facility and a small amount of interest for account in credit. Not forgetting that one is orange/pink and the other is green. Could be the tie-breaker. Is there anything else I need to look at?

Cheers,
Ray.

[kempiejon]

I've use the Monzo card in Spain/Portugal, I'd say it's more of an orangey-red than pink, it's handy to load up with Euro, monitor spending and I can claim back unspent sterling. I also have a FairFx card, bit of an older system, I think I prefer Monzo now. I have not compared their rates.
Starling I can offer no comment.

[UncleEbenezer]

Starling isn't any of the colours he said, either. The app is predominantly dark blue - no doubt unless you configure it otherwise, but I've never seen the need. And the debit card is a cyan, more blue than green.

I chose Starling 'cos it looked like a best buy for travel, and a competitive deal when at home. Sadly I have yet to travel with it, and see no prospect of taking advantage of the card that gives good terms abroad. Best I can say (of it or any bank) - they haven't done anything to cause me to want to change!

[stevensfo]

You may want to also look at how fast you can top them up when you're away from home. Whenever I transfer funds from my Smile account to Monzo it takes less than a minute. Also which card has the most security measures in the app. Can you specify the countries in which you allow the card to be used? Does the app always let you know every time the card is used? Can you keep money ring-fenced inside the account so that if the card was stolen without you knowing, they'd be a limit to how much could be actually stolen? Can you switch contactless on/off etc etc?

But, yes, the colour is important as well. Monzo is horrendous!

Steve

[Spet0789]

I’d suggest you also look at Revolut if what you are looking for is easier, cheaper foreign currency spending while on holiday.

With Monzo and Starling, you are setting up a new bank account. If you plan to keep your existing U.K. bank account they both seem like overkill.

[UncleEbenezer]

I’d suggest you also look at Revolut if what you are looking for is easier, cheaper foreign currency spending while on holiday.

With Monzo and Starling, you are setting up a new bank account. If you plan to keep your existing U.K. bank account they both seem like overkill.

Depends on circumstances: surely the OP is best-placed to judge his own?

I switched because I could no longer justify having a Santander 123 account without £20k sitting in it (having blown the £20k on a house). My choice of what to switch it to was heavily influenced by Starling being a best-buy for travel, as well as having good reports in other respects.

[stevensfo]

I’d suggest you also look at Revolut if what you are looking for is easier, cheaper foreign currency spending while on holiday.

With Monzo and Starling, you are setting up a new bank account. If you plan to keep your existing U.K. bank account they both seem like overkill.

Actually, I was going to recommend Revolut, but the OP seemed determined to use a real Bank. But in any case, most Electronic Money Institutions (EMI) like Revolut, Transferwise, Monese etc, tend to follow the same rules as the banks. Revolut has a lot of criticism for freezing accounts while they're verifying source of funds etc. Monese has their own way of checking your address which relies on your place being easily found with Google Maps.

Provided that UK banks don't start charging clients for 'looking after their money' then I would suggest that you open as many accounts as you can.

Whether official banks or EMIs, they're pretty much all the same these days.


Steve

[Spet0789]

I’d suggest you also look at Revolut if what you are looking for is easier, cheaper foreign currency spending while on holiday.

With Monzo and Starling, you are setting up a new bank account. If you plan to keep your existing U.K. bank account they both seem like overkill.

Depends on circumstances: surely the OP is best-placed to judge his own?

Errr... yes. Obviously. I don’t think that’s inconsistent with my suggestion that the OP look at another option before making that judgment.