Monese, the globally-connected banking service, that gives people the financial freedom to thrive anywhere, introduces new ‘Simple’, ‘Classic’ and ‘Premium’ pricing plans across Europe. All Monese current accounts, across every new pricing plan, now come with tailored, fee-free, allowances for global ATM withdrawals, cash top-ups and foreign currency spending - ideal for customers travelling this summer, those who are regular cash users and those who love contactless, Apple Pay and Google Pay. All accounts also come with a free contactless Mastercard debit card in Monese’s new, vertical design.
The Monese current account comes in three plans and customers have the freedom to move between these plans, to suit their needs. Customers are not locked in to an annual pricing plan.
Monese Simple - ideal for those travelling or on holiday (free)
Fee-free ATM withdrawals and cash top-ups of up to £200 a month, and fee-free foreign currency card allowance of up to £2,000 a month. Foreign currency transfers are free and instant to other Monese accounts (2% fee when sending to non-Monese accounts).
Monese Classic - ideal for spending/sending money abroad more often (£4.95/month)
Fee-free ATM withdrawals and cash top-ups of up to £800 a month, and fee-free foreign currency card allowance of up to £8,000 a month. Foreign currency transfers are free and instant to other Monese accounts (0.5% fee when sending to non-Monese accounts).
Monese Premium - fantastic value & total peace of mind for customers who frequently travel, spend, and send money abroad (£14.95/month)
Unlimited allowances and zero fees on all ATM withdrawals, top-ups, foreign currency card usage and FX transfers. Everything is all inclusive for £14.95 a month.
All Monese current accounts provide customers with fee-free allowances for global ATM withdrawals, cash top-ups and foreign currency spending:
- Free contactless Mastercard debit card
- Free and instant GBP or EUR current account, or both, available in 31 countries
- Fee-free global ATM withdrawals and cash top-ups allowance (£200/month fee-free allowance on Monese’s Simple pricing plan, as minimum)
- Cash top-ups with the Post Office and Paypoint in over 40,000 across the UK
- Top-ups with SOFORT in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Spain
- Fee-free global foreign currency card allowance (£2,000/month fee-free allowance on Monese’s Simple pricing plan, as minimum)
- Free and instant Monese to Monese transfers globally (any currency)
- Free and instant debit card top-ups (any currency)
- Monese app and Customer Support team accessible via telephone in 12 languages
- Apple Pay for customers in 27 European countries
- Google Pay in the UK (coming soon to rest of Europe)
- Direct Debits in the UK (coming soon to rest of Europe)
- Recurring payments
- The only current account to link with Avios, the rewards currency
- Set budgets, and set savings aside using Pots
Norris Koppel, Founder and CEO of Monese, said: “Back in 2015, I launched Monese with the ambition to give people the financial freedom to thrive anywhere. Today, more and more people expect this freedom, as they find themselves in new places - be it for work, family, study, travel, business, or retirement reasons. We believe banking should be with you every step of the way, wherever you may be.
“Banking is not free, there is always a cost for many of the services we use. We have been focussed on transparency for our customers, being upfront about costs, and building a sustainable business. However, our ultimate goal is to move towards free banking and we are always driving the costs down for all our customers. Today, we are making a big step in this direction, by offering all our customers fee-free allowances so they can be free to use cash and their cards abroad without fees. We know that life changes fast for our customers, so our plans are highly flexible and give customers the ultimate freedom. All of our accounts offer an unrivalled range of product features and services which are ideal for those who may be travelling, or on holiday this summer, but also for those who spend and send money abroad more often, or have complex, cross border financial lives.”
Monese’s new pricing plans are an update to Monese’s original ‘Starter’, ‘Plus’ and ‘Premium’ pricing plans, respectively. All the updated pricing plans carry the same monthly fees (i.e. £0, £4.95 and £14.95 a month).
Monese’s new contactless cards are a vertical design, in blues, with just the Monese and MasterCard logo. Each pricing plan comes with its own card design. Horizontal cards with embossed numbers were originally designed to meet the needs of card reading technologies that are now obsolete. Today, the horizontal format no longer serves the purpose it was originally designed for, and we often hold our cards in portrait. Customer card details are now written on the underside of their card, away from prying eyes, which brings an added layer of security when using a Monese card in public.
Over 1 million people have signed-up to Monese, with customer growth tripling in 2018, and over 3,000 people now joining Monese every day. Demand for Monese across mainland Europe surpassed that of the UK in November 2018, and now two-thirds of all sign-ups to Monese were in mainland Europe. France and Germany are Monese’s core markets outside of the UK. Unlike many of its peers, customers are also using Monese as a primary bank account, with 70% of incoming funds being salary payments.
In February, Monese became the world’s first current account to link with Avios, the loyalty currency, so users can easily track and maximise their Avios balance and check their transactions. In 2019, Monese enabled Apple Pay across 27 European countries. Apple customers living in UK, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden are able to use their Monese cards via Apple Pay, wherever Apple Pay is accepted globally.
