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Pockit Review: Fees, Trust, Account, Card, and Monito's Recommendation
François Briod
Guide
Byron Mühlberg
Reviewer
Pockit is an average current account and prepaid card (6.7/10) that our experts recommend only in certain instances. This is because, while its app is interesting, the account itself is functionally limited (5.4/10) and rather expensive for foreign currency spending (6/10), making it a poor choice for those looking for extensive banking options or for those who travel abroad often. On the other hand, Pockit is a trusted e-money platform (7.6/10) and is much-loved by most of its users (7.9/10).
What Monito Likes About Pockit
- Fast and easy signup process;
- Simple to top up a Pockit account;
- No credit check is required;
- Interesting features such as LOQBOX and cashback.
What Monito Dislikes About Pockit
- Many services come with a fee, all of which stack up over time;
- Daily, monthly, and yearly financial limits can be restrictive;
- Cannot receive money from outside the UK;
- Exchange rates are up to 3.5% worse than the cheapest options;
- Limited number of countries to which you can send money abroad.
Monito's Recommendation
Pockit is an interesting spending platform — one we recommend as a flexible prepaid card option to handle your everyday spending. However, we don't recommend Pockit as anything more than a handy personal finance tool alongside your ordinary bank account. This is because, in addition to its functional limitations, Pockit's service fees can run up surprisingly fast. Instead, if you're looking for a more fully-fledged digital banking service, then we recommend Starling Bank or Monzo. If you're looking for a multi-currency account and card, we recommend the Wise Multi-Currency Account.
Key Questions About Pockit Answered
Where is Pockit Available?
Pockit is currently only available to residents of the United Kingdom, regardless of nationality.
Pockit is not a bank but a prepaid account. This means that Pockit can be used as an online current account but cannot be used to meet everyday banking needs such as savings and loans.
How Monito Reviewed Pockit's Services
As with all services reviewed by Monito, Pockit underwent a rigorous evaluation to assess the quality of its service. To begin with, our experts analysed several key criteria, including customer reviews, the percentage cost of various transaction types, top-up options, access to customer service, as well as business and legal metrics such as revenue, appropriate authorisation, and company size. As with all Monito Scores, Pockit's score was peer-reviewed by at least one Monito expert.
Reviews are written independently by Monito's editors and recommendations given are our own. Services you sign up with using our links may earn us a commission. Learn more.
Trust & Credibility
Background check
Authorised electronic money institution, but deposits aren't FDIC-protected.
Security & reliability
Accounts are fully secured using segregated user accounts and HTTPS and cards are 3-D Secure.
Company size
Founded in 2014 with around 500,000 users and 50 employees in the UK.
Transparent pricing
A full overview of pricing is accessible and complete.
Is Pockit Safe?
Yes, Pockit is very safe to use for everyday transactional purposes. The platform is a licensed, regulated electronic money issuer by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). However, while the company itself is perfectly safe and legitimate, customers take on a small amount of risk when keeping their money with Pockit. There is no deposit protection scheme as there is with other major UK challenger banks, such as Revolut, Monzo, and Monese. According to Pockit:
"[Pockit] is an electronic money product and, although it is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, it is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. No other compensation scheme exists to cover losses claimed in connection with Pockit."
As such, we recommend Pockit to spend money, but not as a way to save money or transact using substantial amounts of money (not least because of the lack of deposit insurance — but also because of the functional limitations, which we'll explore later).
In terms of company size, Pockit is a large and trusted business with some 500,000 customers in 2021.
Service & Quality
Using the mobile app
Well-liked, user-friendly interface with many interesting features, including a credit-building feature.
Managing the account
Functionally limited: no joint account, multi-currency functionality, interest, or overdraft.
Contacting support
FAQ and email support are available, but live chat, 24/7 service, and phone support are missing.
Making card payments
Contactless, online payments, and social payments are supported but Apple and Google Pay aren't yet.
Is Pockit's Card & Online Account Any Good
One of the many digital money solutions to have risen to prominence in the UK in recent years, Pockit is a savvy fintech service that offers flexible prepaid debit cards to nearly half a million customers nationwide. It allows money to be deposited into a prepaid account at any one of around 28 thousand PayPoint stores across the UK, as well as using a bank transfer or a debit or credit card.
Although it's not a fully-fledged bank, Pockit's prepaid account functions much like a regular current account does, meaning that you can have your paycheck deposited there just as you would with a Lloyds or a Barclays account. For this purpose, Pockit provides customers with their dedicated sort code and bank account number.
Credit: Pockit
We particularly like Pockit because it makes managing your spending and gleaning insights into your financial habits very simple. Its direct debit and international transfer features (in partnership with Wise) make the account remarkably functional for everyday use. What's more, Pockit also offers a feature called Pockit LOQBOX, which allows you to "lock" small amounts of money away (between £20 to £200 per month) in a quasi-savings account for one year, after which it is automatically paid back in full into your prepaid account. (As it doesn't accrue any interest, LOQBOX is a handy feature for improving credit score but not necessarily for savings.)
Pockit Account
Unlike many other mobile-only banks, Pockit doesn’t offer different tiered plans. Instead, they provide a regular prepaid debit card, with all members subject to the same fees. However, Pockit does offer a "Simple Account," "Full Account," and "Enhanced Limit Account," all of which function similarly and only differ in that top-up limits for bank transfers. Paypoint cash deposits are raised depending on the account type.
Signing up for an account is relatively fast and straightforward and can be done through the pockit.com website or the mobile app. Pockit claims that it only takes three minutes to sign up for an account, although you should budget in a bit more time if you run into any difficulties.
It's also worth noting that while you won't be required to undergo a credit check to register a new account at Pockit, you will be required to have a UK residence. Verification (which is only necessary if you'd like to upgrade from a "Simple Account") will include the requirement to snap a photo of a valid photo ID and then take a selfie.
Pockit Debit Card
Once you've signed up, Pockit will then send a new debit card to you, which should take between two and seven business days to arrive. Pockit issues Mastercard debit prepaid cards, meaning the card will debit payments directly from your current account.
Pockit cards come in a distinct yellow colour and can be used to make contactless and online payments. Unfortunately, as of December 2021, Pockit doesn't yet support card payments via Google and Android Pay.
Credit: Pockit
You can also add up to three other people to your Pockit account, each of whom will receive their own debit cards. These cards can be linked to the principal account balance or individual balances.
Pockit Mobile App
Pockit offers mobile apps for iOS (Apple) and Android devices, a central part of its platform. To use the mobile app, you'll need to do the following:
- Download the Pockit app and apply through that or sign up on the Pockit website;
- Fill in your personal details such as your name, physical address, and contact information;
- Pay a fee of £0.99 to open the account;
- (Pockit does not conduct a credit check, but you must be 18 years of age or older);
- Verify your account with an ID and selfie to get upgraded to full account status.
Fees & Exchange Rates
Everyday use
A £1.99 monthly fee, with small fees on ATM withdrawals and direct debits too.
ATM withdrawals
£0.99 per withdrawal with a maximum withdrawal amount of £250.
Online spending
Free in GBP but 4% per foreign currency transaction.
International spending
A 4% currency conversion fee applies to all non-GBP payments plus an additional £2.25 per withdrawal at overseas cashpoints (also up to a £250 maximum amount).
Pockit Fees and Limits: Are They as Good as They Appear?
While it appears to be a low-cost service all-round, Pockit charges fees for most of its domestic and international services — and these can stack up considerably over time. As a result, regular Pockit customers can expect to fork out monthly fees that can add up very quickly into the dozens of pounds every month.
What Are Pockit's Fees?
Pockit charges the following set of fees:
- A fee of £9.99 for the delivery of your card¹;
- A fee of £1.99 / month to maintain the account;
- A fee of £1.49 to deposit money at a PayPoint location;
- A fee of £0.99 to transfer money to a UK bank account;
- A fee of £0.99 plus 0.3% to transfer money overseas;
- A fee of between 0.3% and 3.5% charged by Wise to transfer money overseas;
- A fee of £0.99 to transfer money with Direct Debit;
- A fee of £0.99 to withdraw cash from an ATM in the UK;
- A fee of £2.25 plus 4% to withdraw cash from an ATM outside the UK.
All other services — including topping up your account using a bank transfer or a debit or credit card payment — remain free of charge.
Pockit Limits
Pockit places a set of financial limits on some of its services that can be very restrictive for some customers. For example, unless transfer limits are manually raised, a Pockit customer can only top up their account up to a maximum of £1,440 per year for bank transfers and PayPoint cash deposits, respectively. These limits are higher for "Full Account" and "Enhanced Limit Account" holders than they are for "Simple Account" holders, and it is possible to request to have them raised with ID verification.
The limits to add money to a Pockit account are as follows:
¹ You can add £10+ in the first 7 days to waive the delivery fee
Simple Account | Full Account | Enhanced Limit Account | |
Max. single transfer | £120.00 |
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Min. single transfer | £10.00 | £10.00 | £10.00 |
Max. / day | £200.00 |
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Max. frequency / day | 5x |
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Max. / month | £120.00 |
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Max. frequency / month |
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Max. / year |
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Max. frequency / year | 120x |
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Last updated: 31/12/2021
Pockit Exchange Rates
A very handy service that Pockit offers is international money transfers. Through Pockit's mobile app or website, customers can send money from British pounds in the UK to a foreign bank account in a different currency. This service is offered in partnership with Wise (often the cheapest money transfer service of all according to data from Monito's comparison engine), meaning that these transfers tend to be low-cost, all told.
While Pockit doesn’t list live exchange rates for sending money abroad, it does list an exchange rate fee (a type of commission fee) of up to 4% on every ATM withdrawal abroad and 0.3% on every international money transfer. The latter comes in addition to a £0.99 fixed fee per transfer, and the former to a £2.25 fixed fee per transfer. Over and above these fees, Pockit weaves in a nontransparent exchange rate margin (which it calls an "FX margin") into its currency conversions which can be as high as 3.5% of the transfer value.
This means if you were to send, say, £500 to a friend over in the EU, the three fees could combine to as much as £19.99 (or 4% of the transfer amount.) That’s a lot more than you might pay with a specialist currency provider, as dedicated currency exchange services will offer you much better exchange rates and lower fees. You can easily compare specialist currency providers to find out where you can get the best deal.
If you'd like to send or spend abroad, it's also worth keeping in mind that Pockit has some other limitations on international transfers:
- You can only send money to a bank account overseas (i.e. not for cash pickup);
- You cannot send money to India;
- You cannot use your Pockit debit card in Brazil;
- A Pockit account does not allow you to receive money from outside the UK.
According to Pockit's website, international transfers typically take anywhere between one and three working days to arrive.
Fees Levied by Banks
In addition to the fees outlined above, certain fees can be levied by banks when you're transferring money internationally. These fees, which are outside the control of Pockit, are known as correspondent bank fees
They can range anywhere between £10 and £100 if Pockit's bank partners are for any reason unable to transfer your funds directly into your beneficiary's bank account and need to rely on a correspondent or intermediary bank to get the job done.
To avoid the fees outlined above, compare the competitive marketplace of international money transfer providers by running a search on Monito's real-time comparison page.
Customer Satisfaction
Customer review score
Average Trustpilot rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.
Number of positive reviews
Around 7,500 four- and five-star reviews.
Pockit Customer Reviews
As of December 2021, Pockit ranked relatively well on Trustpilot with a score of 3.4 out of 5 stars from nearly ten thousand total reviews. A majority of users (62%) who rated Pockit give it either a four- or a five-star ranking, while slightly over a quarter (26%) rated it with only one- or two-star rankings.
The Pros
Many customers have praised the app for its seamless design and for being simple to use, with one reviewer saying, "Excellent bank, excellent service, brilliant banking facilities, easy to set up, overall a very good banking service. Five Stars."
Others liked the ability to boost credit scores using LOQBOX, while others reported good customer service and praised the numerous options to top up their accounts.
The Cons
The main negative sentiments concerning Pockit were that accounts had been locked until reviewal from customer service agents. A large number of complaints also involved the fact that £0.99 was charged as a monthly fee, a cost that some customers found to be overpriced.
