Just for context, I use my American express as much as physically possible and use Monzo to categorise those purchases by paying of the Amex card, purchase by purchase and manually setting the category for each amount. I have been doing this for a little over 5 years and I love it. Really helpful way of tracking my spending whilst using a separate credit card and getting avios etc.
The other day I was sorting some payments on my way home and it started to rain, the water on my screen meant that I mistakenly clicked the āAll past and going forwardā button on one of these Amex payments. In essence I had just set close to a thousand unique purchases to the āParkingā category.. I actually chuckled because I thought of how rediculous it would be if 1 miss placed finger could literally destroy 5 years of careful categorisation..
I was absolutely certain I would simply message the Monzo team and they would have me back to the previous state of affairs in no time. There obviously has to be a backup of all our information for various reasons so there is no logical reason why they wouldnāt be able to restore these categories.
Boy was i shocked to find out that Monzo actually have absolutely no protocol in place for a situation like thisā¦ And it took them 3 days to tell me this.
5 years, down the drain for 1 single misplaced finger. I would suggest this feature needs some sort of fall back for situations where the change was unintentional.. Surelyā¦?
Wow, that sounds like a real headache to do! Is it just this month thatās gone a bit off track, or is the full 5 years of data actually useful?
Either way, Iād be seriously considering a third-party tool to automate it. Chances are, itāll have exactly the features you need (and probably more) since thatās what theyāre built for. My timeās definitely worth more than manually logging, transferring and categorising every single transaction, every single day. Either that, or Iād just ditch the points or categories altogether
That sounds frustrating and itās a good warning.
I agree with others Monzo isnāt really the best tool for categorising payments from a non-Monzo source (one of the main reasons youāve just unfortunately discovered).
I do it in excel. You need a budget is good too (have used before, not recently though). One thing you could do (I think) in Monzo is to do it in the app then export each month and store it there.
Itās a shame as Monzo is 90% there but things like, thereās no backup, editing history etc really cause issues
I find this useful to be honest. And it only takes a couple of minutes a day.
The process of looking at my own transactions really helps me keep track of my budget in my own mind. Not that itās for everyone, but it is a valid approach. Automation is handy but it has downsides - I would be less aware of what I am spending on what.
I tend to categorise my stuff when Iām bored watching tv but in all fairness I donāt find it important any more.
I know it is for some, maybe Iāve not peaked that level of care, or itās a past time and just focus on whatās left in the account not where I spent
For categorising yes, but transferring from a different bank as well
You donāt necessarily need to automate either. There are tools available that can give you a clear, consolidated view of all your accounts - then you donāt need to transfer.
Itās absolutely a personal thing if you want to get so granular. Iām like @Carlo1460, if I buy something itās because I need it, so I just focus on whatās left
haha Iām the same, but technically āI need itā so I buy it
I understand everybody is different, I guess Iām quite fortunate that I can keep everything simple. I get paid monthly, all direct debits etc come out, and whatever is left is mine to spend throughout the month. So I donāt need to budget really tightly as someone who is paid weekly might, for example.
A simple check when you press the button could solve this, maybe something like if > 50 transactions, add a pop up to sayā¦are you sure? This will update 10,000 transactions lol.
i stopped categorising my third party cards the first time i had to disconnect it in order to fix a 90 day āreconnectā issue after being advised it was the only way to fix the problem at the time. once reconnected all previous categories were reset. honestly, i like the idea of categorising but i have still yet to ever use the feature beyond a business account where it speeds up my taxes.
