I live in the UK and have used 5 banking apps so far (not all of them at the same time):
- Barclays (App won't work with LineageOS, website is horrible).
- Monzo (App only, no website, works with LineageOS).
- Revolut (App only, no website, works with LineageOS).
- TransferWise (Web and App, both work well, but never tried it on LineageOS).
- ING Home Bank (App won't work with LineageOS, website is manageable, but still a pain compared to the app).
Of course I don't have to use any of these, but there are clear advantages to using any of them, depending on the situation (you wouldn't take a mortgage from TransferWise, split bills with Barclays, and hold foreign currency in Monzo, mainly because they don't support that). Also you don't have to use a phone, just walk around without one, make people email you instead of calling, and ask people for directions instead of looking at a GPS map.
My point is, I paid for my phone (me alone, nobody else chipped in) so I want to use every feature it provides without restrictions, as it is my property. That goes for both taking screenshots and using apps. And when it's not possible, I look for alternatives. Right now none are practical, nor feasible, so all I got left are tricks like scrcpy and rants on forums ;).
Question: if there's no website, how TF are you supposed to use Monzo or Revolut from a proper computer? Is there really no way to do something simple like xfer money or view balance without using your phone? If so, why did you even open an account, I'm assuming that since you are on this site you are at least a little bit technically inclined.
Just looked, and apparently Revolut is 1) app only 2) tied to a mobile number. So not only is it annoying to use, but likely also susceptible to sim jacking. Again, why would anyone want to use this; I hate having to deal with wells fargo (they bought a loan I have) but even they seem less crappy. Not trying to hate on OP, I'm just shocked at how crap their service appears to be.
> Question: if there's no website, how TF are you supposed to use Monzo or Revolut from a proper computer?
You can't. That's why you don't use them for serious work.
> why did you even open an account
Different use cases, different circumstances. I don't depend on them but they give good exchange rates and zero fees when transferring or spending money abroad. It's the "it just works" and "fast and cheap" effect that the traditional banks don't have. And opening an account is done online, and you get access to your account in hours, compared to Barclays which took 2 months of ping pong, when I first moved into the UK (since I did not have a bill issued in my name at my UK address I could not open an account, so I could not pay my landlord rent so I could get an address to open an account, fun times). Without that Monzo account I could have not been paid in my first 2 months.
But if you want to know how crap Revolut really is, try contacting their support to report a bug in their app, they don't have an email, but instead ask you to get in touch with them on Facebook.
Oh wow, that's even worse than I thought. Thanks for the explanation, that does make sense. I wonder if they could get in trouble for AML, or possibly Barclay's is just being overly picky with who they want as customers.
But seriously, not even a support email? Good God, I would trust PayPal with my money more than that; but I suppose they needed to hit all the fintech bingo buzzwords.
They have to do a KYC (know your client) check, which I assume they do a credit check on you, probably via Experian or another one of these. You also send a picture of your ID, and record a video of yourself saying "Hello, I'm $NAME and I want to open an account with $COMPANY".
The Barclay's part is just an old practice. How I ended up doing it after two months was by having a letter from my employer stating that I'm registered with them at a particular address. But what I learned from somebody else that went through this, after those two months, is that they could have said my "home" address was the address the company is registered at instead. This is how they've used to do it with other people that have hit this problem, it just didn't occur to me to ask for something like this, and it didn't occur to them to suggest this either since they assumed I had everything in order (since I already submitted my Monzo account for salary payments).
Monzo have a pretty comprehensive API that you can build your own web based interface around if you wish. If you look on github a ton of people have done that, all you need to do is clone the repo, plop in your Monzo api key and the jobs a goodun.
Monzo only seems to have and login for their business accounts. For personal accounts it's still phone only. And business accounts are a recent addition.
Revolut has login now, but you can't do anything there, except viewing your balance and blocking your card. And this is a new thing, maybe and beta version, otherwise they would have officially announced it somewhere, like in the bragging emails they like to send from time to time.
- Barclays (App won't work with LineageOS, website is horrible).
- Monzo (App only, no website, works with LineageOS).
- Revolut (App only, no website, works with LineageOS).
- TransferWise (Web and App, both work well, but never tried it on LineageOS).
- ING Home Bank (App won't work with LineageOS, website is manageable, but still a pain compared to the app).
Of course I don't have to use any of these, but there are clear advantages to using any of them, depending on the situation (you wouldn't take a mortgage from TransferWise, split bills with Barclays, and hold foreign currency in Monzo, mainly because they don't support that). Also you don't have to use a phone, just walk around without one, make people email you instead of calling, and ask people for directions instead of looking at a GPS map.
My point is, I paid for my phone (me alone, nobody else chipped in) so I want to use every feature it provides without restrictions, as it is my property. That goes for both taking screenshots and using apps. And when it's not possible, I look for alternatives. Right now none are practical, nor feasible, so all I got left are tricks like scrcpy and rants on forums ;).