With the ambitious goal of building “the best current account in the world”, Monzo has confirmed in one of its blogs that it will soon shut down its prepaid card service, encouraging users to switch to current accounts as soon as possible. The deadline for this change is “early April”.

Read more: Analysis: Why is Monzo running into payment trouble?

The idea behind the current accounts is that they work exactly the same, according to Monzo – but not really. The challenger bank has been struggling to maintain their top-up feature in current accounts due to running costs, despite the popular demand.

“It’s also much cheaper (and more reliable) for us to run our own systems and means you get a bunch of new features, like a sort code and account number, Pots, bank transfers and more!” said the blog.

So far, despite having over half a million customers, not even half have made the upgrade. These people slacking will get a warning at least 60 days before it actually shuts.

Read more: Monzo closes new fundraising round, new crowdfunding plans down the line

The change to a current account is free and they become backed by its banking licence (and £85,000 FSCS protection), including a sort code and account number.

Monzo ends the blog with its all-loving, community-building mumbo-jumbo spiel [Ed: in this reporter’s opinion].

by Henry Vilar
Henry is Junior Reporter at IBS Intelligence, follow him on Twitter or contact him at: henryv@ibsintelligence.com