Display running balance with each entry

Feedback & Ideas
41

I remembered my use case for this:

I’ve topped up £100, £250, £300, £350 in the recent months. Looking back in the app, how much excess money did I have in my account after each top up?

I know I have £8 spare this month, but how was last month? I might want to compare up to the last x months so a graph isn’t ideal.

Using the CSV would mean I have to export the file, save it to the PC (looking at a CSV on a 5" screen is not happening), look at it unformatted or spend time to format the columns; compared to just logging into the online banking of my other bank.

My suggestion is a swipe from the right to show/hide running balance.

3 Likes
42

+1 for this as previously mentioned :slight_smile:

3 Likes
43

Thanks but I cannot find an option to have a running balance on CSV report. I cannot find this option on the app or on the CSV report. Also, I don’t want to have to have to use spreadsheets just to check whether or not my payments have gone through/not gone through.

44

It’s not an option in the app as far I’m aware. You’d have to integrate with the API and something like Google Docs.

The majority of users aren’t technically knowledgeable enough to accomplish this. Hence what I think @anon44204028 and @PhatPheddy were implying.

2 Likes
45

Yeah monzo needs this feature to be implemented in some way, standard in every other bank ever really

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46

Which is something :monzo: are trying not to be :grin:

1 Like
47

Mondo aren’t choosing the opposite option from other banks in every case. They’re choosing what they think is the correct option. That isn’t mutually exclusive with implementing many standard banking features like this.

4 Likes
48

I understand that and agree, but I think a running balance is a really important for many people - doesn’t have to invasive, could be expandable like how you swipe on imessage to see the timestamp

3 Likes
49

As with all project management, at this stage, the question isn’t really about the solution - if the need is clearly identified, a solution will be found.

The question right now is why: What problem does the user have? What is the need, and what would the best solution achieve for you?

e.g. As a Mondo user, I want to be able to find all my transactions with a specific merchant, so that I can check how much I spend with them on average and potentially try and save money in the future.

The need for this is fairly clear. The solution was created by providing the search and targets features.

So rather than just saying that you want a running balance, explain the problem you have and the requirements around a potential solution.

4 Likes
50

Its glaringly simple…

Without it, you have no way to reconcile inputs and outputs… For a bank !!!

Can you not see how huge a hole that is ??? You simply cannot have a bank, where the user has to trust, the banks version of the account, without the tools to check it. Mine is wrong for a start.

2 Likes
51

Ohh sorry I thought it was another iPhone only, at this time, feature.

52

@billinghamj I’m glad I’m not the only one who was a bit surprised by this :laughing:

But apparently users auditing their banks is a thing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Judging by the number of comments from different users earlier in the post, it’s not just a few users who do this. So it’s good to see that Hugo wants to provide this information.

@PhatPheddy when you say “wrong” what do you mean? And can you see, from the running balance in the API, where the balance calculation went wrong?

1 Like
53

I am textbook example of why this is an essential feature… I have a invisible deduction (only in API) and a visible refund… So my monthly spending is -100 and my timeline is +100… The balance is correct but the data displayed is not.

However the only reason I know the apps data is wrong, is because I had only had the card a few weeks, have a limited number of top ups, and am watching it closely. Theres no way (in app) to check the app / systems accuracy, none !! If I was months in, it wouldnt be possible or practical to go back and verify (think now how you would attempt to make sure your input / output was correct, imagine a spending your sure you made, think has come off your balance, but you cant see in the timeline… How do you now go and ‘find’ where the balances dont line up ??).

I am floored that others dont have a similar reaction to the absolute necessity of this. When you top up 50, 500, 200, etc and mates split a few bills, and a monzo.me payment comes in… All mixed with spending, sending someone shared costs money… Are you really saying you dont reconcile inputs and outputs every once in a while to ensure the app is correct ?? You just ‘trust’ your bank never to screw up ? Me I go through my bank, credit card statements, and accounts like a hawk.

I understand Monzo wants to keep the timeline clutter free… I agree with the design process so far… But it is essential that somewhere, you can see your historical balances, as they happened v credit/debit. I think as metadata works cleanly, but can imagine others preferring more immediate access (side swipe) too.

I cannot imagine any banking app not having this… Its not like a ‘preference’ or exotic feature. Its the nuts and bolts. The need to see ‘starting balance… inputs outputs… ending balance’ (can be per transaction, top up to top up, monthly metadata, all kinds of ways) is how you double check its correct.

Apologies also if I seem to be table thumping on the subject, but I struggle to see how any argument can be made that this isnt a huge oversight in not being in there.

11 Likes
54

This particular point I do agree with. I’ve had a couple of transactions with Monzo over the year be completely invisible to the apps and CSV data export, accessible only by the raw API.

I’ve flagged it up every time and been assured that it’ll get fixed so it’s concerning that this is still occurring as Monzo makes moves to launch the bank. I’d honestly consider it a deep, product-killing flaw of any financial service to have a transaction fully settle without being shown to the user in a statement (here, the feed scrollback kind of is the statement).

To my poking around, there are two issues here. Either the transaction enrichment service and whatever generates the full feed items are not being properly monitored and rerun on failure or the app needs to show these incomplete entries anyway. Preferably both. Either way, there is a lot of really incredible work being done on both a technical and banking cultural level that will all be for nothing if customers can’t fundamentally trust the balance and the statement. That much worries me.

8 Likes
55

Yes, a similar thing happened with my transaction feed as a result of last weeks Monday outage. The debit was visible, I was told I had been refunded due to card failure but the refund wasn’t visible.

I’d say it’s a common enough occurrence to warrant showing a running balance.

Granted it’s in beta and can be expected to stabilise once current accounts are available, but I’d still feel more confident in my bank if they were display that information. Monzo are meant to be as transparent as possible after all.

1 Like
56

Its not even the issue of actual mistakes…

You simply cant say to people heres a current account, deposit money with us, but theres no accurate way to audit it !!

The ability to audit and reconcile your account, is a fundamental essential (personally). I cant see how this hasnt come up already or been envisioned by the team.

1 Like
57

I’m in the same boat as @alexs really. It’s never occurred to me that manually auditing your own bank accounts is a thing anybody did. As You and @anon44204028, together with the odd outage here and there, have illustrated it is an essential feature of any bank.

2 Likes
58

For real ??

You should try living in the developing world for a bit… Total loss of faith in any institutions…

59

Okay, so if the problem is checking that Mondo hasn’t messed up your balance calculations, there is already a great solution for this - just export your entire transaction history as a CSV. You can then analyse it as you wish.

60

but not much fun if you only have a mobile screen to view it on (Monzo is after all a mobile bank not an internet bank)