Monzo’s new cashback feature – how good is it really?

How does the cashback feature work?

Monzo’s new cashback feature is being rolled out gradually, with all customers scheduled to gain access to it by December 2023 so there might be a short wait to access the feature if you’re already a customer. If you have notifications turned on, you should receive one to let you know that it’s been made available.

Once the feature has been made available, customers will be able to see all of the offers they are eligible for, and choose which ones they’d like to use. In order to use a specific offer, you will be required to activate it through the app. Once activated, the next time you buy something using your Monzo card with that selected partner, you’ll qualify for cashback according to the terms in that offer.

Offers are split between single-use and multi-use with expiry dates attached to them. The cashback earned is instantly displayed in the app and is paid into a ‘Cashback Pot’, usually within 3-4 days. You can access your cashback any time.

At the time of writing this article and testing the feature, it was not possible to deactivate a cashback offer once it had been activated. You would be required to deactivate the cashback feature entirely in order to do that. However, given that there appears to be no quota or limitation on the number of offers that can be activated, this should have little or no impact overall.

Where can you earn cashback with Monzo?

In the below table, we show some examples of the retailers that are offering cashback with Monzo at the time of writing this article. We do expect this list to be dynamic and will inevitably change over time.

How does Monzo’s cashback compare?

While Monzo’s new cashback feature has been designed and delivered very well, the concept is not particularly innovative or new in the world of retail banking. Most high street banks offer similar cashback deals with their current accounts, which let you pick the deals you want to use. Arguably, Monzo has delivered a superior feature from a user experience perspective, however, some of the popular brands you can also earn cashback with are:

• Virgin Money’s Club M account offers cashback from selected retailers, which can be traded for eGift cards.
• Co-op’s Current account allows earning up to £2.20 cashback through Everyday Rewards.
• Revolut’s Standard account provides various cashback offers from selected retailers in the app’s rewards section.
• TSB’s Spend & Save account offers £5 cashback every month for the first six months if you make at least 20 debit card payments in that month.
• Barclays Blue Rewards members can earn cashback on spending every time they use their linked debit card with participating retailers
• Halifax’s Reward account lets customers choose from £5 into their account, a Vue cinema ticket, or 3 digital magazines.
• Lloyds Bank’s Club Lloyds provides up to 15% cashback when using your debit card at selected retailers.
• Starling’s Current Account uses the Tail app to get cashback offers from various retailers.
• Dankse Bank’s Dankse Reward offers a £5 reward every month paid directly into the account.
• Santander’s Edge Current Account gives 1% cashback on selected household bills and essential spend, with a cap of £10 per month for each category.
• Chase Bank offers 1% cashback on everyday debit card spending, capped at £15 per month.

Across the market, cashback features vary in terms of the cashback percentage, the types of purchases that qualify, and the conditions under which the cashback is earned. For instance, some accounts like TSB’s Spend & Save require a minimum number of transactions to qualify for cashback, while others like Chase Bank offer a straightforward percentage back on all purchases. Additionally, some accounts, like Santander’s Edge, focus on cashback for specific categories like household bills and essential spend.

Equally, there are alternative apps that offer cashback offers such as HyperJar, JamDoughnut and Cheddar which may be appealing when assessing cashback rewards across the market place.

Some credit cards also pay you cashback for everyday spending, though you’ll generally need to pass a credit check to get one. Nonetheless, some of them feature good introductory offers and good ongoing terms for responsible use (those who use their card for every day spending while consistently clearing their balances monthly). Our Credit Card database contains over 130 cards and reviews with rates, fees and offers from UK financial firms which you can easily explore and compare. Alternatively, you can read our ‘Best UK credit cards’ where we break down the most popular in the cashback category.

Eligibility

• This feature is not available for business account spending.
• The feature requires users to actively accept offers to participate.

Monzo cashback FAQs