Ability to store and view subscriptions / regular payments

I’m a brand new mondo user but am already excited about it and have spent today changing as many payment and subscription methods as possible over to my new card. A couple of weeks ago I actually started using an iPhone app called “Bobby” which allows you to enter details of your recurring subscriptions including start date, amount, currency and frequency. It then works out your total average monthly outgoings on those and allows you to set up notifications when a payment is due on a per-subscription basis.

My main reason for switching to mondo is that I want to get better control of my finances and develop budgeting skills. It struck me today as I switched things to mondo that it would be great if similar functionality was included. I know the app does show your history with companies you make payments to, but it would be great to have a section where I could input details of monthly, bi-monthly, annual etc payments so that mondo could keep track and let me know in any given month how much I 'm going to have going out so that I can take that into account in my budget. The option of notifications in advance would also be great as I often lose track and end up continuing with things I don’t need because I forget about them. If I could set mondo to notify me [x] days in advance of a payment date I’d be more likely to stop and think about whether it’s really a service and subscription I get value from and want to keep up.

I know I could basically just keep using the Bobby app, but given mondo’s goals it seems like this would be a really great fit to integrate within the service. Once the first payment comes out of my account / balance it could be “linked” to a specific subscription to help keep track of the actual history on payments. This would probably integrate well alongside whatever direct debit tracking / informational systems you guys plan to implement when current accounts go live. Having regular card as well as the DD / standing order information would give mondo important data to become a truly powerful budgeting tool.

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Remember that the card is only a temporary solution until the bank is allowed to offer current accounts at which point what you’re asking for will probably flow naturally out of the normal processing for direct debits and standing orders. Whether they’ll want trial something towards this on the card itself, I don’t know but we’ve had debates before on the wisdom of allowing manually entered transactions to miss with the flow from the bank.

The problem with automated payments is that money can be swiped from your account - unless you are on top of everything - leaving you short or in debit when you don’t want that to happen.

I like the idea of having set payment details stored so you can press a button to make them happen when you want i.e. weekly or on a date that suits you - rather than a predetermined date - without the need to re-enter your card and address details, etc.

I was meaning recurring payments which aren’t DD or Standing Orders or manually instigated each month. I’m thinking of examples such as Netflix, WWE Network, Apple Music payments or annual Plex and EA Access payments that are just set up via your credit or debit card as a recurring payment.

I agree managing regular payments will flow naturally from current accounts for DD/SO but not everywhere (particularly non-UK companies) allow those and only accept card payments. It would be great for those to be fully integrated into the service too.

I do like Alan’s idea of having an option where you can approve or deny a payment. Would be a very quick and convenient way of cancelling those you don’t want and having to consciously approve a payment would focus your attention on it and make it harder to lose track.

Approve or deny on recurring payments set up on your card, rather than your account, would be good. I’m frequently caught out by long forgotten payments that I no longer want to continue

Some great suggestions, thanks!

We’ll definitely take these into account as we build the recurring payments functionality out.

I think this would work especially well with the likes of Kickstarter. When I back something on there, depending on how early I back and how long the campaign is, it can be up to ~50 days until the payment actually gets processed. I could also input the amount as a different currency which could update say on a daily basis to the current exchange rate and then get ‘pencilled in’ just like any other foreign currency transaction once the payment has been made.

Just an idea.

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