Monzo vs Chase UK 2026: 2% cashback vs better budgeting

Affiliate disclosure: this post contains a Monzo referral link. If you use it, we both get the same randomised £10, £20 or £50. It doesn't change anything about your account.

Short answer: keep Monzo as your main account and add Chase as a cashback card. Monzo wins on budgeting, joint accounts and overdrafts; Chase wins on cashback (2% on everyday spending, up to £20 a month, if you clear its monthly criteria) and a 4.5% boosted saver for year one. Neither replaces the other, and the cashback is worth roughly £150 to £240 a year if you actually route your spending through Chase.

Two things changed in 2026 that most Monzo vs Chase comparisons still get wrong: Chase now issues a credit card (so "Chase offers no credit product" is out of date), and it runs a £50 refer-a-friend scheme, though only for customers it invites. Both are covered below.

Both are free, app-only and regulated by the FCA (the UK's financial conduct regulator), and both are covered by the FSCS, the government-backed scheme that repays up to £120,000 per depositor if a bank fails.

Quick comparison

Who pays more cashback, Monzo or Chase?

Chase doubled its cashback to 2% in mid-2026, which makes it more valuable than it used to be, but also more conditional.

The rate: Chase pays 2% cashback on UK spending in groceries, everyday transport, fuel, restaurants, cafes, takeaways and public EV charging points. Chase's own FAQ dates the doubled rate to "from 1 July 2026", and it was still on Chase's published pages at the re-check date below. It works on both the Chase debit card and the Chase credit card. There's no cashback on spending outside the UK and the Channel Islands, or in any currency other than sterling.

The cap: capped at £20/month (i.e. 2% on the first £1,000 of qualifying spending). Over a full year, the maximum is £240.

The catch: you earn in a calendar month only if, in the previous calendar month, you made 15 or more payments by Chase debit card, Chase credit card or Direct Debit, and held £1,000 or more across your Chase saver accounts every single day. Both halves have traps. Standing orders, bank transfers and refunds don't count towards the 15. The £1,000 has to sit in a saver: current-account and round-up balances are explicitly excluded, and one day below the line disqualifies the whole month. New customers get a grace period covering the rest of their first calendar month plus the following one.

The exclusions worth knowing: concessions and in-store retailers inside supermarkets (Argos, Habitat), restaurants inside other venues, alcohol specialists like Majestic Wine, taxis, and home EV charging all fall outside the qualifying categories, even though several of them feel like they should be in.

What it's worth: if you put £800/month through Chase in the qualifying categories, that's £16/month, or £192/year. Spend £1,000/month or more on it and you hit the £20/month cap: £240/year.

For a realistic household that clears the criteria, Chase cashback is worth roughly £150 to £240/year. That's genuine free money, though the conditions make it less effortless than a flat cashback card: you're committing to two Chase products, not one, because the £1,000 has to live in a Chase saver rather than your current account.

Monzo's free account has no cashback. On the paid tiers, Billsback is a monthly draw on household bills rather than guaranteed cashback (see our Monzo Billsback review for the expected-value maths).

Savings rates

Chase: customers joining from 29 December 2025 who open a Chase Saver within their first 31 days get 4.5% AER for 12 months (AER = Annual Equivalent Rate, the yearly rate including compounding): a 2.25% bonus fixed for the offer period, on top of the 2.25% AER variable base rate. Read the eligibility line before you count on it. The boosted-saver terms say the offer is "only available to certain Chase customers; who will be contacted if they are eligible", which sits awkwardly against the open new-customer framing on the marketing page. After the offer period the bonus is removed and you're left on whatever the variable saver rate is then, currently 2.25% AER. Chase also pays 5% AER on the round-up account, which earns surprisingly good interest on spare change.

Monzo: Instant Access Savings Pots pay 2.75% AER on the free account, 3.00% on Extra, 3.25% on Perks and 3.50% on Max. No introductory bonus, but no expiry either. Monzo doesn't pay interest on round-ups.

Everyday banking and app experience

Monzo treats a current account as a budgeting tool. Pots ring-fence cash for bills, savings, holidays and spending money; Salary Sort distributes your pay the moment it arrives; spending targets warn you when a category is running hot; bill splitting with friends is built in.

Chase is built around simplicity. The app is clean, fast and focused on the basics: balance, transactions, cashback earned, savings. It does what it does well, but it doesn't try to shape your financial behaviour. There's no pot system, no salary sorting, no spending targets. If you want to organise your money, you're on your own.

For people who want their bank to be a passive background service (deposit money, spend money, earn cashback) Chase is perfectly adequate and arguably less cluttered. For people who actively budget and want their bank to enforce structure, Monzo is in a different league.

Travel and spending abroad

Neither charges a foreign transaction fee on card payments abroad, both using the Mastercard exchange rate, which puts them ahead of almost every traditional UK bank.

ATMs are where they differ, and not in the way a feature table suggests. Monzo's £200 a month outside the EEA (the European Economic Area: the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) is the point at which a 3% fee starts, with no ceiling above it. Chase's £1,500 per calendar month, £500 a day, is a ceiling you cannot exceed: it charges nothing within it and publishes no fee for going beyond, because you can't. For card-only travellers (most people in 2026) the distinction never comes up. For anyone who regularly withdraws cash abroad, Chase is the better choice up to its monthly limit, and Monzo the only one of the two that will keep dispensing past its own.

Which is better for borrowing, Monzo or Chase?

Monzo offers an arranged overdraft at 19%, 29% or 39% EAR (Equivalent Annual Rate: what it costs over a year if you stayed permanently overdrawn), set by your credit score and Monzo Flex: a buy-now-pay-later product with 3-month interest-free instalments, Section 75 protection (a Consumer Credit Act right to claim against your card provider if the retailer fails you), and the option of longer plans at 29% APR. (For a deeper look, see our Monzo Flex review.)

Chase still offers no overdraft. Its general account terms put it bluntly: "as we don't allow overdrafts". If you don't have enough money in your current account, your payment is declined. There's no buffer and no arranged facility.

Chase does now offer a credit card, which is the change most comparisons have missed. It carries 24.9% p.a. APR representative (variable), representative meaning the rate most approved applicants actually get, plus no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and 0% interest on purchases for up to 3 months if you keep up the minimum repayments. It earns the same 2% cashback under the same £20/month cap, and you can only apply if you already hold a Chase current account and pass its credit and affordability checks. There are no balance transfers.

So the honest framing is: Chase can't lend you a buffer on your current account, but it can lend you money on a card, at a rate under half Monzo's overdraft EAR. An overdraft catches you automatically; a credit card is the cheaper way to borrow deliberately.

Joint accounts

Chase does not offer joint accounts. Its support page says so outright: "Sorry, we don't currently offer joint accounts." Monzo's come with shared pots, bill splitting and every budgeting tool the personal account has, with both partners getting full visibility and control through their own app.

Customer support

Both are in-app chat only: no phone line, no branches, no email. Monzo is responsive on simple queries (card replacements, transaction disputes) and slower on complex ones; Chase's support runs on J.P. Morgan's infrastructure and has a reputation for slightly faster resolution, though experiences vary. If you want a branch, neither of these is your bank.

The verdict: Monzo as primary, Chase as a cashback card

Chase takes most of the individual rounds: cashback, the year-one savings rate, free non-EEA ATMs, and now a cheaper way to borrow deliberately. None of it adds up to a primary account. No overdraft, no joint account, no budgeting depth, no salary sorting: a bank that declines payments when you tap empty is a spending card with extras.

Monzo is the better current account. Chase is the better secondary card to put alongside it.

After nine years on Monzo, that's the setup I'd recommend: salary, bills and budgeting stay in Monzo, everyday spending goes through Chase so you clear its 15-payments-a-month criterion, with £1,000 sitting in the Chase Saver every day of the month to unlock both the cashback and the year-one savings bonus. (For the full pair-and-where guide, see Best second UK bank account to pair with Monzo.)

The cashback is real, up to £240 a year, but only if you actually route your spending that way every month. If you know you won't, stay on Monzo alone and don't let a headline rate talk you into a setup you won't run.

Monzo vs Chase FAQs

Is Chase or Monzo better for cashback?

Chase is better. It offers 2% cashback on groceries, transport, fuel, restaurants, cafes, takeaways and public EV charging (capped at £20/month, so £240 a year) at no monthly cost, as long as in the previous calendar month you made 15+ payments by card or Direct Debit and held £1,000 across your Chase savers every day. Monzo's free account has no cashback; the paid tiers offer Billsback, which is a lottery rather than guaranteed cashback.

Does Chase have an overdraft?

No. Chase's account terms state plainly that it doesn't allow overdrafts, so payments are declined if your balance is insufficient. Monzo offers an arranged overdraft at 19%, 29% or 39% EAR depending on your credit score. Chase does, however, offer a credit card at 24.9% p.a. APR representative (variable) with 0% on purchases for up to 3 months, which is a different thing from an overdraft: it won't catch a payment you can't cover on your debit card.

Which has better savings rates?

Chase wins for the first 12 months (4.5% AER on the boosted saver). After that, Monzo's ongoing 2.75% AER beats Chase's 2.25%. Chase's 5% round-up account is a unique feature that earns well on small amounts.

Do both work fee-free abroad?

Yes. Both use the Mastercard exchange rate with no foreign transaction fees on card payments. Chase allows fee-free ATM withdrawals abroad up to £500 a day and £1,500 per calendar month, which is a hard limit rather than a fee threshold. Monzo offers unlimited free ATM withdrawals in the EEA, and £200/month free outside the EEA, then 3% with no ceiling.

Does Chase have joint accounts?

No. Chase currently only offers individual accounts. Monzo offers joint accounts with full budgeting features.

Which bank has the better app?

Both apps are well-rated. Chase is simpler and more focused; Monzo is more feature-rich with deeper budgeting tools. Which is "better" depends on whether you want your bank to actively manage your money (Monzo) or stay out of the way (Chase).

Can I switch from Chase to Monzo or vice versa?

You can open either account in minutes without switching. Neither requires you to close your existing bank. Both support the Current Account Switch Service (CASS), the guaranteed scheme that moves your payments across and closes the old account, if you want to move your Direct Debits over, but it isn't required.

Is there a Chase referral bonus?

Yes, but you probably can't use one. Chase runs a refer-a-friend offer paying £50 each to the referrer and the new customer, provided the friend hasn't applied to Chase before 3 December 2025, submits the code within 30 days of opening, and deposits at least £1,000 within 30 days. The catch is that it is invitation-only: Chase's own support page says "if you're eligible for our Refer a friend offer, you'll see the promotion on 'Home' and in the 'Rewards' section of your Chase app", and that offers roll out "to different customers at different times". Each referrer gets up to five codes and every code is single-use, so no published Chase code on any website will work for you. You need one from someone you actually know who has been invited.

Monzo's is the scheme you can rely on: a randomised £10, £20 or £50 when you join via a referral link and make a card payment within 30 days, open to every customer rather than an invited subset (see the best UK bank referral bonuses roundup). Chase pays more on average, and to almost nobody.

You might also like

• Best second UK bank account to pair with Monzo
• What does MoneySavingExpert say about Monzo vs Chase?
• Best UK bank account for travelling abroad

Sources

Every Chase figure on this page was re-checked against Chase's own pages and terms on 28 July 2026. Chase is a competitor rather than a brand we test, so its facts sit outside our weekly referral verification and are dated here instead.

• Chase 2% cashback (opens in new tab) and the cashback terms (opens in new tab): the rate, the £20 monthly cap, the 15-payment and £1,000-daily-saver criteria, and the new-customer grace period
• Where you can earn cashback (opens in new tab): qualifying categories, the excluded merchants, and the UK-and-sterling-only rule
• Chase Saver with boosted rate (opens in new tab) and current savings rates (opens in new tab): 4.5% AER for 12 months, the 2.25% base, and 5% AER on round-ups
• Chase credit card (opens in new tab): 24.9% p.a. APR representative, 0% purchases for up to 3 months, no annual or FX fees
• Chase general terms and conditions (opens in new tab) (v1.9, effective 28 April 2026): "as we don't allow overdrafts"
• Travel with Chase (opens in new tab): no FX fees at the Mastercard rate, £500/day and £1,500/calendar-month ATM limits abroad
• Chase joint accounts (opens in new tab): "Sorry, we don't currently offer joint accounts"
• Chase refer a friend (opens in new tab) and the referrer terms (opens in new tab) (v1.0, 3 December 2025): £50 each, five single-use codes, invitation-gated
• Chase FSCS protection (opens in new tab): £120,000 per depositor
• FCA Financial Services Register: https://register.fca.org.uk/s/ (opens in new tab)
• FSCS deposit protection: https://www.fscs.org.uk/ (opens in new tab)

If you're opening a Monzo account, using a Monzo referral code gets you £10, £20 or £50 when you make your first card payment.