Monzo customers might notice a new pop-up when transferring cash – but it’s far from annoying. In fact, it could help you from making an expensive mistake.
The digital bank is starting to roll out an innovative feature that could save customers from financial blunders. The new button is set to prevent countless errors when transferring funds to pals, relatives and companies.
The online banking giant has revealed statistics that show nearly one-third of Brits have made a payment mistake over the past year, either by sending cash to the incorrect person or inputting the wrong sum, resulting in over £825 million being sent by accident.
To combat this issue, Monzo has introduced an Undo Payments feature to its app-based platform. It offers users a chance to cancel a bank transfer within a 10 to 60-second grace period post-transaction.
By default, you’re given a 15-second window to reconsider, but this can be adjusted down to 10 seconds, upped to a full minute or turned off entirely. The feature will gradually become available to all Monzo users in the upcoming months, with some seeing it activated in their accounts as of today (May 14), reports Bristol Live.
Aimed at boosting confidence and providing reassurance for Monzo’s personal and business account holders, this tool is especially useful if someone realises they’ve been duped into making a payment to a scammer. It offers a crucial “moment of pause” to halt the transaction.
Recovering funds mistakenly sent through any bank could be resolved as simply as asking a friend to transfer cash back. But when the money goes to a business or scammer, it could involve a lengthy process with no certainty of reimbursement.
Monzo’s latest research has uncovered that nearly one in three people (32%) have suffered financially from incorrectly sent payments. To combat this, Monzo has introduced the Undo Payments feature, a safety net for those moments of error, transforming potential panic into relief.
How does it work?
Imagine that you’ve just made a bank transfer to a mate and instantly realise there’s a problem – maybe the amount is off or you’ve picked the wrong account from the list of names. Monzo’s innovative undo button steps in at this point.
Upon confirming a payment, a 15-second countdown will display, giving you the chance to reverse the transaction. You can hit ‘Undo Payment’ on the confirmation, Home or payment detail screens before time runs out.
Once you press that button, Monzo halts the payment process. The funds stay put in your account, and the unintended recipient remains none the wiser about the near-miss transaction.
Andy Sacre, Head of Payments at Monzo, commented: “We know it’s important to be able to send money quickly and easily – but we also know that mistakes can happen, whether that’s sending the wrong amount to someone or paying the wrong person. In another industry-first, we’re bringing the best of banking and technology together to solve that problem for our customers, with this simple yet powerful feature that ensures they can send money with Monzo more confidently and safely than ever before.”
