Monzo is a member of the Irish Deposit Guarantee Scheme. The scheme guarantees deposits up to €100,000 per account holder at Monzo.
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The Mastercard exchange rate
Spending abroad should be straightforward. We use Mastercard’s exchange rate with no added fees or charges.
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Spending abroad
When you spend money abroad with Monzo, we use the Mastercard exchange rate. This means you can use Monzo to spend in any currency, without any extra fees or charges from us. We’ve set out more detail on how this works below.
Below are the rates you get when you spend in a foreign currency. Mastercard updates their rate every day at 2:05pm Central US time, which is 9:05pm (CET) time. So, if you buy something before then, you’ll get the rate from the day before.
A quick look at how exchange rates work
The European Central Bank (ECB) publishes reference exchange rates between currencies based on a daily average of European central banks, but individuals can’t get those rates directly.
When you spend abroad Monzo’s card scheme (Mastercard) sets an exchange rate which could be above the ECB rate. This is called the Mastercard exchange rate. This exchange rate is then used to calculate what the transaction will cost.
The conversion will then be carried out by either Mastercard or Monzo, but the rate you get will always be the same (the Mastercard exchange rate). To facilitate this Mastercard or Monzo buy currency on global markets and any difference between the exchange rate they purchase at and the Mastercard exchange rate will be retained.
All banks are required to show you the ECB rate and how the exchange rate you get compares to this so you can fairly compare rates between all providers.