How we make money: one referral reward, fully disclosed

The one reward we earn

Monzo runs a referral scheme for its business customers. As a customer, our company has a referral link. It is a link, not a code: there is nothing to type at sign-up. When someone who has never opened a Monzo account before opens the link, then goes on to download the app, apply, add money and make a first card payment within 30 days, Monzo pays £50 to you and the person who referred you.

The full mechanics, including the reasons a reward sometimes does not arrive, are on the referral page. The rules themselves are in Monzo’s business referral scheme terms. If you are not sure whether you would qualify, the bonus checker asks five questions and tells you.

Monzo’s monthly limit, and what happens when we reach it

Monzo limits how many referral rewards one referrer can earn: 3 rewards a month. That limit is ours, not yours, but it affects you. Under the scheme terms, if someone signs up through our link after we have already reached the limit for that calendar month, neither side is paid for that referral. The count resets on the 1st of the next month.

We do not hide this. The referral page says it near the button, and we keep track of how many rewards have been paid in the current month. Two things follow from it:

• Our income is small and fixed. At most 3 rewards a month at £50 each. There is no way for this site to earn more by pushing harder, which removes much of the incentive to oversell.
• The reward to you is never guaranteed. Even if you qualify and complete every step, the limit can mean nothing is paid that month. If the reward matters to your decision, check the referral page first, or consider opening early in a month.

If you ever click through and the reward Monzo shows in the app does not match what we describe, please tell us. Monzo confirms the amount in the app and may change the scheme.

What we do not do

• No paid placements. No bank, e-money provider, broker or agency has paid to appear on this site, to be ranked in a particular position, or to have wording changed.
• No adverts. No display advertising, no sponsored posts, no “partner content”, no remarketing pixels. We also do not advertise our referral link anywhere: no paid search, no social ads, no promoted posts. The privacy policy lists everything the site loads.
• No affiliate links to other providers, today. When we compare Monzo with Starling, Tide, Revolut Business or the high-street banks, the links to those providers are plain links. We earn nothing if you choose them.
• No data sales. We do not sell, rent or share visitor data with anyone.

What this means for objectivity

A referral reward is a conflict of interest. The honest way to handle one is to describe it precisely, then show how it is contained:

• The amount is fixed. We receive £50 whether the page you read was glowing or critical. There is no tiered payout, no volume bonus and no commission on your balance or spending, and Monzo’s monthly limit caps the total anyway.
• We publish the downsides. The review covers what Monzo does less well, such as the cost of cash deposits and its narrow eligibility. The eligibility page leads with who cannot open an account.
• We point people elsewhere and earn nothing for it. Partnerships, LLPs and charities cannot open Monzo Business, and the alternatives page sends those readers to providers that accept them, with no referral attached.
• Figures come from the source documents. The editorial policy explains how every figure is tied to a primary source with a checked date, so you can verify us without trusting us.

Why we still recommend Monzo Business

Because we use it, and because for many small UK businesses it holds up. For our company the reasons are the savings boost on the Team plan, Tax Pots for setting money aside, and an app that is very app-first and natural to use with a lot of useful features. Those reasons would be true without the referral. The caveats, chiefly who cannot open an account, the cost of handling cash, and the fact that the reward is only for people who have never had a Monzo account, are stated wherever we recommend it.

How to avoid the referral if you prefer

You do not have to use our link. If you would rather open an account with no referral attached, go to monzo.com directly and download the app from there. The trade-off is simple: you will not receive the £50 reward, and neither will we. The information on this site is free to use either way. Under the scheme terms the reward is only paid when the sign-up starts from a referral link, so there is no way for us to earn from a direct application.

How we label it

The UK advertising rules in the CAP Code ask that marketing be obviously identifiable as such at the point you see it, not only on a separate disclosure page. So every button that leads to Monzo carries the words “Referral link” next to it, along with the destination site. Every in-page referral box repeats who qualifies: the £50 is only for people who have never opened a Monzo account before and who complete the steps within 30 days.

In the page code, every referral link is marked rel="sponsored" so search engines treat it as a commercial link. If you find a button or link to Monzo anywhere on this site without that labelling, it is a mistake: please let us know and we will fix it.

If this changes

Today Monzo Business is the only account we have a referral link for. If we ever add a referral or affiliate link for another provider, for example because our company opens an account elsewhere, we will list it on this page with the reward amount before the link appears anywhere else on the site, and label it the same way at the point you see it. A dated entry will also go in news.