The future of banking is here

I’ve seen the future of banking.

It’s a place where your account balance updates live on your smartphone, with notifications arriving before the receipt has even printed. A misplaced card can be frozen in seconds (and unfrozen just as quickly), help is just a click away and spending is automatically categorised and compared to previous weeks/months.

This future is thanks to Mondo — a rising star in the UK’s fintech sector.

Although yet to obtain a banking licence (it’s due later this year), Mondo has release a pre-paid card and app into the hands of thousands of iPhone-owning beta testers (an android version is in the works).

My card arrived over the weekend (just a day after I ordered it) and I opened the envelope with a sense of excitement, not something I ever thought I would feel about a bank card.

The bright pink card is eye-catching (a great way to get other people asking about it) and works perfectly with chip and pin or contactless payments.

However the magic really starts when you use the app and card together.

Almost the instant a payment is made, your balance is updated. A notification appears on screen faster than the receipt can be printed.

I’ve only used the card for a couple of days and already I’m hooked. Who wants a bank that takes three days to update your balance, when Mondo does it instantly — and with an emoji.

In our always-connected modern world, this feels like banking should feel in 2016.

Unlike Atom (a rival Durham-based digital bank) which has a banking licence but is yet to release a product, Mondo has been thoroughly testing its card and app in the wild with alpha and now beta testing.

It is this openness and willingness to experiment in public that persuaded me to join Mondo.

I’m interested to see what challenges there are to using Mondo everyday, but for now I’m just enjoying the (slightly odd) excitement of paying by card with Mondo.