The worst thing any company can do is offer features for free and then make customers start paying for those same features. I donât know who has seen it yet since Monzo really doesnât have that many customers in the US yet, but âMonzo Proâ is the next big thing and SURPRISE, it costs $10 a month. Everything is a subscription, even my own bank!! I understand lowering the savings rate, since that costs Monzo money, but putting the connected accounts, savings jars, and early payday behind a paywall is disgusting. Monzo was becoming one of the best consumer friendly banks in the US but they had to go and ruin it to make an extra buck.
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Use another platform then.
There is no platform like Monzo, and they probably know that. It just sucks because all weâve been asking for in the US is simple features like check deposit, virtual cards, and cash deposit and all we got was this. It doesnât even matter to you cause youâre not in the US
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I guess theyâve determined that charging for some features has been successful in the UK, and are now planning to replicate in the US. Iâm surprised there isnât a subscription option under $10/month though. In the UK we can get connected accounts on a ÂŁ3/month tier (albeit without cashback or enhanced savings rates), which I think is reasonable.
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That will be it.
It sounds like this is the beginning of a trend in the US, which will likely become more mainstream over time. The next phase will probably involve offering more value or features at the same price point to stay competitive.
As someone pointed out, this approach is already quite common in the UK and in terms of Monzo you can get plans for as little as ÂŁ3. Outside of banking, most businesses now operate on a freemium model.
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I too was a little surprised at the steep costs. However, Monzo has been a breath of fresh air for features, app speed, and general banking quality. I donât know of another bank, credit union, or fintech that offers the tech and service quality that Monzo offers. While I donât really want to pay $120/year for these services, they really are top notch and Iâll end up paying for it on the 18th when the conversion occurs.
Cashback (2%!) on groceries and eating out 
Early pay for 2 days earlier
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Yeah, surely if you keep a relatively modest (few grand) balance on the account and use it for spending in supermarkets and restaurants this $10 pays for itself?
All of these features, apart from APR and cashback, are available free with most major banks
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I actually donât mind paying the $10/month IF they offered in app check deposit and online/digital bill pay. Otherwise I canât use Monzo as my primary bank. I wonât be staying. I may keep an eye on enhancements, but will continue looking for a feature rich internet banking platform in the mean time.
I really donât think Monzo understands the US Banking market. Itâs VERY different than the UK/European markets. This move shows that to be true (in my opinion).
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In the UK, the connected banks feature (account aggregation) provided for free by some major banks is relatively poor. For example they omit features such as transaction notes, ability to search transactions over long periods, and sometimes spending analytics. Itâs only Monzo and a few non-bank financial apps which actually provide good quality account aggregation. I think this is the reason Monzo can charge for this feature in the UK in spite of some other banks nominally offering aggregation for free. Whatâs the situation in the US? Are there some major banks which actually do have good quality account aggregation for free?
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In the US, unlimited connected accounts and early payday are all generally free perks given by most banks. I am not sure why Monzo believes itâs appropriate to paywall these features. The high APR and cashback are generally the only âabnormalâ things that may be worth the $10, but just those two things alone doesnât make the monthly fee worth it. The connected accounts feature, as you said, is provided free barebones. But you can easily transfer money from one bank to another through your financial institutionâs app. Plus, thereâs no point in me paying money for that if I can easily see my transaction history by simply clicking my other financial institutionâs app. I think the most egregious one of this is paywalling early payday. That one is standard free for all banks and Credit Unions here.
Early payday is standard free with most banks in the US
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I switched to SoFi, but Iâve been hearing good things about Envelope
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Savings jars and early paydays are available in the basic default plan in the UK.
Itâs the 18th of June in WA state. I keep trying to upgrade, but the message says, âSorry about this. Something went wrong. Please try again.â
EDIT - Just joined with Pro. Good to go!
In the US, because of the number of fintechs offering aggregation and spending analytics, the bigger banks have all started to develop (or acquire, in some cases) the tech to make this work. There are shortcomings to what the bigger banks offer here. For example, when I use US Bank (despite the name, isnât nationwide, mainly in the western and midwest states), I can only look back through 2-3 months of transactions in my connected accounts, and I can categorize transactions but not attach detailed notes. But cash flow analysis, setting savings goals, those are things that it does without having to pay extra. I have the same functionality at BMO (a major Canadian bank that also operates in the US west and midwest) but with the added ability to link my Canadian accounts to factor those in as well.
However, a surprising number of traditional online banks still donât. Capital One, which only does basic credit cards in the UK, is one of the best-known âonline banksâ (they have a few branches here and there, but theyâre online-first) here in the US. No connected accounts, no analytics, and even their transactions canât have notes added on. Ally Bank, another big name in the space, also doesnât offer anything of the sort in its app.
So Monzoâs connected account functionality is better, for sure. Whether itâs $10/month better is another story. Without the 2% cashback and boosted interest, it would be a very tough sell at that price point.
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