Starlings categories are not perfect, but are far better than Monzo’s.
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NB: When I chatted with their customer support people today to ask them about this they said it’s in the pipeline but not in the short-term. However, as I posted elsewhere in this thread today, I feel Starling’s out-of-the-box categories provide better options than Monzo.
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I like their categories, the only one I would add is ‘Medical’
I quite like Emma’s categories - they seem a really good fit for me.
(Emma as in the app. I’m not talking about someone randomly 
)
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and maybe investments & drinks!
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You have no idea how paranoid I get when someone says they like my categories. Then I realise it’s the app
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Investments, housing, personal care and the ability to exclude transactions from analysis (useful for an aggregator when you’ve got a debit from one account and a credit to another) are what sold it to me in Emma.
I’m in two minds about a savings category as eventually I’d like to see the information directly in Monzo. (Although the same would go for investments, I suppose…)
To me you’ll be forever Rat (if that’s okay with you, of course?)
(More seriously, I know why the name came about, but it must be difficult for media monitoring and online searching. As well as creating Emma related paranoia! )
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Though she might be 
Wine being both!
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or in your case cat-egories
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https://community.monzo.com/t/custom-categories-1/649/2?u=samuel10
That is Hugo’s response as to why we can’t have custom categories.
To be honest, I don’t understand how much more of an effort custom categories would require. Either way, I would much rather have something which takes up slightly more effort but is completely accurate and works perfectly to my needs than something that works “just ok.”
Or the option to create custom categories could be left entirely with the user. If the user does not create any custom categories, automatic categorisation etc could simply continue as they currently are.
And for those of us who will create custom categories, it means we are happy with the extra effort.
Me being slightly synical here, but I think Monzo wants to track exactly what we spend our money on, so they can recommend products to us when the marketplace comes out. This would be the only reason I can think of as to why we don’t have custom categories and why Monzo isn’t even entertaining the idea.
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I think you’re correct 
This is potentially especially important when it comes to offering credit, as it enables Monzo to see what sorts of thing you’re spending your money on & when.
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I think there has to be categories for rent, mortgage, and salary. For most people these two items will represent most of incomings and outgoings, so it makes sense to precisely categorise them.
I also think that bank transfers (eg from another bank account to my Monzo account) need to be excluded from spending. This is just moving savings around.
Also transfers to an individual, like a partner or children, could use a category so you can keep track of it separately.
I really think custom is the only way to go.
I really want a category for smoking, seeing it total up will be a really good kick and help me quit. Currently I’m using general but that means I can’t put anything else in there if I want a true figure at the end of the month.
I’m not sure if I’m doing it wrong but #Smoking doesn’t seem as useful as a category.
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There are apps available for quitting smoking/drinking/other bad habits. Some have a feature where you can say much you’d typically spend on your bad habit, and it will count up how much you’ve saved as you quit. Granted, it relies on you telling the app when you slip, so it can reset the counter, and granted tracking presumed savings isn’t the same as tracking active spending. But it might be an alternative you could try while waiting for Monzo to maybe one day work the way you want it.
That’s cool, thanks.
The current category selection has helped me spot trends for other outgoings, smoking was an example of a niche category that wouldn’t get added but is something I am categorising with a “wrong” category.
In short I’m just adding another voice to the “we want custom categories” mob.
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TestFlight?