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Avios online banking partner Monese boosts its benefits – should you apply?

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Back in February we wrote about the new partnership between online banking service Monese and Avios.

Avios Group joined a £60m funding round for Monese in December 2018, and this is now leading to various bits of Avios functionality appearing in the Monese app.

Monese has just revamped its benefits package, and it is now substantially more competitive alongside Revolut, Monzo, N26, Starling, Atom etc.  Most importantly, the free plan now allows you to spend £2,000 per month in foreign currency with no foreign exchange fees.

What is Monese?

Monese, founded in 2013, aims to simplify the process of getting a bank account in Europe.  It’s a ‘mobile app only’ bank that gives users a £ and a € account allowing them to bank like a local across the UK and Europe.

Accounts can be opened within two minutes with a photo ID and a video selfie.  (This does work, I set up an account for myself in record time without leaving my desk.)

The company launched its banking product in 2015 and currently has over 1,000,000 users in 31 countries, supporting 12 languages.  Customers are currently moving $3 billion through their Monese accounts each year.

How does Monese work?

You can find full details of how Monese works on its website.

In summary, there are three different plans to choose from.

  • Simple – FREE
  • Classic – £4.95 / month
  • Premium – £14.95 / month

What has changed about Monese pricing?

The free ‘Simple’ plan is now substantially more attractive:

  • There is no longer an ATM fee – you can now withdraw £200 per month without charge
  • There is no longer a £5 delivery fee for getting a plastic debit card – this is now free
  • There is no longer a charge for foreign currency spending – your first £2,000 per month is now free
  • You can now make foreign currency transfers between Monese members for free

This makes Monese more comparable with Monzo etc.

Introducing the new Avios partnership

Monese users can link their Avios account to their Monese account and track their Avios earning in the same app as their banking balance.  This includes Avios earned from flights, via the e-store and any Avios earned from credit cards.

The app currently lists your last five Avios transactions and Monese is working on increasing this.

Monese Avios

There is a menu option, although it is not fully live yet, to earn bonus Avios when spending at specific retailers with your Monese debit card.

Is it worth getting a free Monese account?

Whilst being able to track your Avios balance from within the Monese app is a cool function, Monese still lacks any ‘killer’ Avios functionality which would make it a ‘must have’ for HfP readers.

It is getting there, however, and if you are looking to try an ‘online only’ bank then Monese may be more relevant to you than Monzo, Revolut etc.  There is no need to close your existing High Street account – you can simply transfer money to and from your Monese account as you need it.

Remember that you can now spend £2,000 per month abroad without FX fees. Monese is a good card to take on holiday this Summer if you don’t have a dedicated ‘0% FX fees’ credit card.  You can easily top up your Monese account before you fly and then transfer any remaining balance to your main current account on your return.

If you are reading this on a mobile device, you can get the Monese app by clicking here.  Remember that signing up to the ‘Simple’ account is FREE and you can do it in a couple of minutes with a video selfie and a scan of some photo ID.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (64)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • John says:
    4 Jul4 July 06:37

    One potential downside of Monese is that, like Revolut, it’s not a proper bank despite their use of terms like ‘current account’ – it’s an ‘electronic money institution’ that doesn’t give you FSCS protection.

    Obviously the chances of losing money are pretty slim considering the money is ring-fenced, but for me there would have to be a substantial edge over the alternatives for me to consider them.

    • Optimus Prime says:
      4 Jul4 July 07:51

      Didn’t Revolut get a banking license from Bank Of Lithuania?

      • John says:
        4 Jul4 July 08:31

        That doesn’t make it a UK bank.

        • Mike says:
          4 Jul4 July 09:07

          It does make it an EU bank with a €100k guarantee on deposits.

          • Will says:
            4 Jul4 July 09:57

            Out of interest is it the ECB or government of Lithuania that provide the guarantee in this case?

            Also post brexit does it apply to non EU entities?

            Does it need to be a Euro denominated balance to qualify or can you hold sterling equivalent?

          • Heran says:
            4 Jul4 July 11:07

            You would then have to claim money back from the bank’s home country, i.e. Lithuania in this case, which may be harder to do it in the UK.

  • Bill says:
    4 Jul4 July 07:05

    I applied last week, will I be switched to the new simple plan?

    • bill says:
      4 Jul4 July 09:53

      I see in the app I can switch from “Classic” to “simple”. Problem solved and debit card ordred

  • TGLoyalty says:
    4 Jul4 July 07:16

    Probably the most important question for this type of service on here. How can you top up your account?

    • Rob says:
      4 Jul4 July 09:00

      I wouldn’t be running articles telling everyone even if I had worked it out.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        4 Jul4 July 10:41

        that’s why i’m asking others in comments 🙂

        • stevenhp1987 says:
          4 Jul4 July 10:51

          It tells you on their website… Bank Transfers, Debit Card, Cash at Post Office & PayPoint… £200 free per month on the free plan.

          • AlexT says:
            4 Jul4 July 12:38

            One can load up to GBP 200 only for free? That’s nonsensical…

          • Rob says:
            4 Jul4 July 15:30

            No, that’s not what it means. You can pay in £200 of cash into your Monese account over the counter at a bank for free. (Monese is charged by the banks or Post Office for them doing this.)

            Debit card top ups are totally free, unlimited.

          • Nick_C says:
            4 Jul4 July 14:57

            As I read it, the £200 limit is on ATM withdrawals and cash deposits – so deposit cash or withdraw cash up to £200 per month with no fee.

          • AlexT says:
            4 Jul4 July 15:42

            Thanks for the clarification, Rob

          • New Card says:
            4 Jul4 July 16:59

            Aren’t debit card top ups limited to 2 x £300 per month? Or am I misunderstanding what you mean, Rob?

          • Lady London says:
            4 Jul4 July 17:16

            that’s us told then. hopefully no more clues needed for those interesting in such things

    • Luckyjim says:
      4 Jul4 July 11:03

      That ship has sailed. You had to get on board early.

    • Nick M says:
      4 Jul4 July 12:48

      I tried to top up with Virgin but was rejected as this is a credit card rather than debit card… this did also instigate a call from the Virgin fraud team who asked me about a number of other recent transactions – apparently its a bit of a red flag when a company checks your card (bills £1 or similar and then immediately reverses it) but then doesn’t follow this up shortly afterwards with an actual payment

  • Mike says:
    4 Jul4 July 07:24

    Could I use my AMEX or Virgin Mastercard to top up my account

    • Mikeact says:
      4 Jul4 July 07:33

      For me, no point at the moment. I can easily see my Avios transactions on the BA App. Now if they were to award Avios on spend, then we’re talking. It could be a great replacement for Lloyds.
      Meanwhile, I’ll leave it in my drawer collection of ‘ not to be used cards.’

  • David says:
    4 Jul4 July 07:37

    Considering that the avios programme for the UK is closed, isn’t the avios tracking part is useless for UK residents? Or did I miss something?

    • Rob says:
      4 Jul4 July 08:59

      It is BAEC tracking. We just call it Avios tracking.

    • Nick_C says:
      4 Jul4 July 09:18

      Most of my Avios sit in my avios.com account until I’m ready to redeem them.

      Useful for overriding the pro rata deduction of redemptions from the various HHA members.

      Although the ability to book flights in Avios.com using my Lloyds voucher didn’t work a couple of days ago, so this functionality may have gone? (However, so have my Lloyds vouchers, so no longer an issue for me!)

  • David S says:
    4 Jul4 July 09:21

    Nothing is ever free so I’m wondering how their FX conversion works. Is it a case of there being no fee but it is a bad FX rate. Does anyone have any info ?

    • Rob says:
      4 Jul4 July 10:35

      You have just been pre-programmed over the years with all of these 3% credit card FX fees and the ludicrously bad rates charged at airports to thinking that there is some weird mysterious ‘cost’ involved in buying foreign currency if you are a bank. There isn’t. You can scoop up all you want at the interbank rate. Even if Monese was buying the FX it needs in the market it would only be paying a teeny tiny margin.

      As it happens, Monese has large amounts of FX on hand anyway, since the bulk of its customers are outside the UK, so it doesn’t even necessarily have to buy any currency. Your transaction to buy Euro is netted out by another Monese customer moving to £.

  • Yorkieflyer says:
    4 Jul4 July 09:25

    I have a Starling account and see no additional benefit here?

    • Rob says:
      4 Jul4 July 10:30

      Agree, no reason to switch (yet …) if you are already integrated into another platform.

    • Memesweeper says:
      4 Jul4 July 10:32

      I have Starling, Monzo and N21. It’s Starling I use everyday— a marvellous proper current account.

      • Lady London says:
        4 Jul4 July 17:12

        Wondering what do you think of N26? It seems strong for those who have business in German-speaking countries? does it have any major disadvantages or lack things the other cards do? ADAC can’t debit my Metro account and I’m looking for a virtual account they could debit from Germany.

        any advice on choosing between the virtual cards/banks for this purpose would be appreciated if anyone’s got a view!

        • Rob says:
          4 Jul4 July 20:00

          We did a piece on N26 too. Key feature for me is WeWork membership on the Premium card.

    • Shoestring says:
      4 Jul4 July 17:48

      yep, that’s fairly cheap recruitment cost to them & £15 in your back pocket

      not sure the other benefit (paying in, points) is that attractive for the hassle involved

  • Jason Lawrie says:
    4 Jul4 July 11:54

    Monese, Starling, Monzo, they are all in their infancy. Monzo held yet another round of funding. True the money burn rate is high and will be years before they turn a profit.

    If the app goes down what back up have you got. Ok they have got banking protection but I wouldn’t like to keep a sizeable amount of money.

    Nowadays businesses cease trading overnight after the directors have milked it dry.

    Enjoy the perks but always be on the ball

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