Please explain a monzo card like im and idiot

[JacknDiane]

How do you use a monzo card abroad, i mean where does the money cone from? Do you need to put money into your monzo account, is it like a normal bank account you put money in from another account then you use monzo card like a debit card?

Yes i am dim. Please explain simply, thanks

It’s a normal bank account

It’s just a bank account. You put money in it and spend using the debit card. Nothing magical.

Monzo is just an online bank, nothing complicated about it.

Just like any other bank account.

It's just a regular bank account.

Dc going travelling soon, but trying to think what would happen if he lost everything or was robbed (😳)

He's taking his Santander debit card and his monzo card. Ive explained monzo is fee free. Does he transfer money from Santander into his monzo account then use the monzo card as usual?

What happens if either card is lost?

Thanks everyone

The money comes from your account, just like it would from any other bank account, there’s no special account you have to put it in

you’ll get asked if you want it to be in gbp or whatever currency they use where your going but doesn’t matter either way as you mentioned there’s no fees!

I transfer a set amount from my usual bank to Monzo for holidays.

You’ll get asked if you want it to be in gbp or whatever currency they use where your going but doesn’t matter either way as you mentioned there’s no fees!

It can matter a lot. If you ask to pay in GBP, the retailer's bank will use their own exchange rates, which often include high mark-ups.
So always ask to pay in the local currency, not GBP.

Thanks
Im wondering how easy it is to stop anything happening on a monzo account if his card is lost or stolen

You can freeze the card in the app if you lose it, and unfreeze it again if you find it.

You just freeze the card on the app. He should transfer across any spending money ahead of time. Take only the Monzo with him and some spare cash that he can keep in the hotel safe in case of any issues. Hope he enjoys his holiday.

You can set daily spending limits on the app so if someone steals it they can't spend much. Also as long as he has internet access on his phone (ie WiFi or roaming data) he'll get notifications for every transaction so will know quickly if someone is spending on it and can freeze the card very easily. Can also use it on Apple or Google pay in your phone.

As other have mentioned Monzo is just a regular account - as in you can have your wages paid in and your gas bill come out etc but you don’t have to use it like that. If DS already uses his Santander account for everything it’s fine to just use the Monzo for travelling/currency - that’s what I do. I transfer in a couple of hundred (or more if I know I’ll need to pay for something specific) and then just spend on the debit card as required. The app is excellent and very easy to freeze the card if it is lost or stolen. I use it just for holiday spending and it is excellent.

The exact same as any other bank. It’s just a bank account like every other bank account.

You open the app and block your card if it is stolen. Like any other bank card.

He should have them on his phone wallet.

Thanks all again

He can just freeze the card on his phone. He an also keep 99% of the money in a pot that they can’t access with a card and transfer the money to the card pot each day.

If someone steals money, report fraud and get the stolen money back as usual

So maybe send 99% off the money pot to me and I could transfer a bit every day?

It does matter, always choose local currency and your bank will for the conversion rate for you. If you do it in GBP the retailer will set the exchange rate and they can inflate it massively.

This feels as though it's bordering on financial abuse, no?

You seem to be overthinking a very simple process that people do every day. Surely he has the cards in his phone wallet anyway. If anything happens he can just freeze the card.
What age is he?You seem very involved so unless he is under 16 then just leave him to it.
Are you not used to mobile banking or something?

Dc sounds like he’d be in the best position to do this himself, if he is the one getting monzo, he will be able to pick up the security features, freezing his card takes one click, he can have it frozen as standard and just unfreeze when he needs to use it, no need to be faffing about sending the money back to him in dribs and drabs everyday.