Mondo or Revolut

Thank you @GeraltsBathtub

We have Starling accounts. So far we have used them with no issues in France, Germany and Ireland as well as here for payments and cash withdrawals. And we have use it to pay online for hotels in Euros.
DH used to have a Monzo account but after reading up decided to switch to Starling. I wish I could remember why but it was a few years back.

Monzo fan here. Mainly for budgeting. It's changed my life. I've gone from being chaotic/clueless about money, to saving enough for a deposit on a flat.
If you want a free £5 on joining you're welcome to use my link https://join.monzo.com/c/gtvz7g3

Well depends what you want. Monzo is a bank offering bank accounts and Revolut is a payments services provider offering payments services.

@FinanceLPlates Chase is FSCS protected. There are lots of banks in the UK with foreign owners (eg Santander, Handelsbanken, TSB, Marcus) but most of the retail banks operate via U.K. subsidiaries which means they have U.K. legal entities which are authorised to be banks here and regulated as such. Revolut does not have that, it has a U.K. entity but it’s authorised as a payments/e-money firm here not as a bank. You can look up what firms are allowed to do and whether they are FSCS eligible on the Financial Services Register online.

Revolut has a referral fee of £60 at the moment.... for people inviting friends. I've been giving it to those who joined up

Monzo
Revolut is not Fcsc or whatever it is guaranteed

Monzo is better than Revolut (doesn't help that the CEO of Revolut is one of the world's biggest arseholes).

Monzo and Starling are actual banks - look at those. Get the best rates, and enjoy your holiday!

Thought I was on the baby names forum at first. Relieved I'm not.

As you were.

Yes under JP Morgan based on their site

Is Chase not covered by FSCS either as it’s presumably American?

Yes. Lots of people don't realise that. It's now a bank in few more EU countries but that has no bearing on UK

Revolut isn't a UK bank so if they went belly up you don't have the government guarantee. I use Starling for when I'm abroad (it is a UK bank).

I have revolut, works well for the kids. I keep balances low so their bad press coverage isn't really a concern.

Yep if you are going to consider using it for more than just travelling Chase is a great current account (I still have my wages and DD's going to/from Santander but my monthly spending money goes into Chase). With the 1% rewards, 1% current account interest and round up account with 5% interest I feel like I gets loads of free money . The savings account is also a good interest rate, not the highest but it's easy access and they increase the rate very quickly after each base rate rise.

Could I ask for experiences (good or bad) with Starling? Especially for travel in the Eurozone.

And someone saying Revolut isn’t covered by FCSC protections, does this mean if they go bust you wouldn’t get your money back (up to 85K I think) as with other banks?

Sorry OP not trying to hijack your thread but this might be useful for you as well

Chase. 1% cashback, no fees abroad and when I went NYC there were chase banks everywhere to use ATM’s. Due to the cashback I move my ‘spending’ money in there each month.

A lot of private taxi companies were using revolut without any issues. Revolut tends to be the go to for people who have dealings in some parts of Africa.

I prefer Monzo over Revolut as in the latter your money isn’t protected by FCSC regulations

Monzo have a reputation for closing accounts with no explanation. And while a bank has the absolute right to close an account, I’ve heard too many horror stories of people who have simply had notice from Monzo that their account is being frozen leaving them without access to money to pay food or bills.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that there are a lot of companies who won’t accept statements from online banks as proof of address/ID etc, so if you’re going to be in a position to need copy bank statements e.g. for a loan or mortgage or similar then it’s always worth having your main account with a mainstream bank.

I would only ever recommend the online banks as pocket money accounts.

We use Wise. We live in Spain and need to convert £ to € alot. They have the best rates and super quick. Also have Revolut but don't use it as often. DS ( adult) has a Monzo account for when he comes over which he is very pleased with . I think Money Supermarket have a good comparative list on thier website to get advice

@Thehop would you summarise what the FB groups say are scary about online banks?

I prefer wise.

I use Starling, which like Monzo is just a standard current account with fee and commision free overseas spending. I think Revolut is slightly different, but I'm not sure how.

It's not really an issue any more, but Starling used to have a slight advantage in that there were no fees at all for currency withdrawal, whereas Monzo charged above about £300 a month, but as long as you aren't going somewhere that's still very cash based, it won't affect you.

I have Monzo and Chase and First Direct.
I much prefer the Monzo app. And I use this card the most (both UK and overseas)
Chase offers the best interest rate on current account balance.