Monese launches student accounts

The banking challenger will waive its fees for students’ first year.

Digital money app Monese has launched its student account.

Timing the launch with A Level results, out yesterday, Monese wants to ease the financial burden of higher education.

The app typically charges for its product, a mobile-optimised account which combines such features as speedy on-boarding, real time spending notifications and money management tools.

But its new student account will allow international and domestic students to access a number of features free of a charge, for a year. Student users are also being offered a £5 joining incentive, which will land in their Monese account after their first deposit of £10.

The features available to students will include a free contactless debit card, instant foreign currency exchange with a 0.5 per cent fee, 6 monthly ATM cash withdrawals, instant top-ups with a 0.35 per cent fee and cash top-ups via the post office (£1 fee) or Paypoint (2.5 per cent fee).

It may not seem especially generous when other digital banks give so much away for free, but Monese specialises in catering to international students who often find it difficult to open a bank account due to lacking a UK address.

“Collecting A level results is an extremely stressful event and can have long lasting repercussions throughout the professional lives of the UK’s young people. The cost of attending university is an added worry, and the way students bank during that time is an important factor for managing their finances. Many high street banks will offer huge overdrafts for students, however after university they often find themselves stuck in that overdraft when costly fees start to kick in,” said Monese’s founder and CEO Norris Koppel.

“For international students who find it painful to open a bank account and all those who like to travel during their university years, they can benefit from the Monese Student Account completely free of charge.”

Monese passed a milestone in July in announcing that it had racked up over 500,000 customers.