Monzo apologises for delays sending out cards

UK digital-only challenger bank, Monzo, has run into problems sending out its Mastercard prepaid debit cards to new customers.

When customers reach the top of the bank’s waiting list and are ready to set up their Monzo account, they are asked to enter their personal details and make their first top up. It’s at this point that Monzo creates an order for a hot coral card. Assuming the customer makes their first top up before 3pm, the new entrant posts a card via Royal Mail 1st class on the same working day.

In a blog post, Leah Templeman, Head of Operations, says: “On September 22nd we ran out of card stock, due to unexpected delays following a machine upgrade at our card manufacturer. On Monday 25th, we sent a message to the 5,000 or so customers impacted to let them know that there would be a delay in receiving their cards. We also stopped unlocking new people from the waiting list, although golden tickets could still be used to skip the queue and unlock the app.”

She adds: “Once the upgrade at our manufacturer was complete, we started receiving new cards on 29th September. Unfortunately, a small portion of the new card stock was faulty, meaning it wasn’t possible to make transactions using any of these cards. We decided not to send out more of these new cards while we tried to solve the problem, which caused further delays.”

“The good news is that we are now sending out cards again, but there is a backlog to get through as our card manufacturer can only produce so many cards in one day. Because of this backlog, we have made the decision to turn off golden tickets on the prepaid programme. If you have already sent a golden ticket to a friend, they will still be able to redeem it but new golden tickets will no longer appear in your feed.”

Templeman admits that this is an issue Monzo should have foreseen sooner and the bank could have been more proactive with its communication to the people who’ve been impacted. “We’d like to apologise to everyone affected by the delays – it is something we will certainly learn from.”

Monzo is moving from prepaid cards to current accounts, and as a result will be working with multiple card manufacturers. “This will help us make sure that if there are ever any issues with one manufacturer in the future, we will be able to move the process to another at short notice. In the long term, we are investigating how to bring part of this process in-house, to make sure we can be flexible and give our customers the best service possible. The good news is that we’ll be inviting all our customers to upgrade to a current account over the coming weeks, before we start rolling them out to the wider public later in the year. They’ll come with all the familiar features from the prepaid – including golden tickets – and you’ll be able to set up standing orders, direct debits, have your salary paid in and more.”