Does Monzo offer a joint account?

I could see this being a problem but the solution needs some consideration. If one person is able to wipe out and close a joint account then that could make the situation even worse.

I’m sure that a lot of people would love that. And that for lots of cases this would be a far better solution than joint accounts (housemates, for example).

But for me, I would be very offended if my bank told my wife she needed my permission before spending our money.

Which brings me back to my statement: either both account holders have the right to use the money as they see fit (in which case this can be abused), or they don’t (in which case it’s no replacement for a joint account).

1 Like

Exactly, and I’m sure that would be the same for a lot of people. It’s just how you mitigate the risk while still having all the benefits of a true joint account.

I’m sure the :monzo: product team will come up with some interesting ideas.

I wonder why none of the challenger banks have offered joint accounts, is it so difficult? They have generated a large base of loyal customers with the majority just using the accounts as petty cash. I can understand Revolut & Transferwise not doing it as they are somewhat specialised, but wanting to make major inroads into the legacy banking market with such a deficient product mysteries me.

I have a joint account somewhere else, and have no particular desire to move it to Monzo, so I think the desire for this differs with the person and their usage of the account. I suppose I might eventually bring it up with my wife if they offer one and it looks interesting, but it really doesn’t matter to me much. Most discretionary spending (i.e. not bills) goes on my account or a business account, not the joint account.

No idea why none of the challenger banks have not tackled this, but it’s probably to do with baking in assumptions about ‘one app, one account’ into the product early on to simplify things and get it off the ground. Certainly Monzo seem to have made that choice early on.

Are you very keen to see a joint account because you want to have all your bank accounts in one place (and use your own account lots too), or that you use your joint account for almost all spending?

I could see this being a problem but the solution needs some consideration. If one person is able to wipe out and close a joint account then that could make the situation even worse.

That’s just how personal joint accounts work - they are based on trust, and if that breaks down, the bank can handle it as a special case, but it’s nothing to do with normal operation of joint accounts, which should allow both partners to use the money within them.

2 Likes

So one thing I want to make really clear here is that the Monzo style is not simply to replicate a feature because this is something that exists and it is something that people may want.

Rather, we look at it and we say "How can we solve the same problem/s in a better way?"

As far as joint accounts, we want to look at the ways that people use them. What is the general purpose of them, where do they work well, and where do they not work so well - this covers a large amount of ground - it’s not a product, but it’s a social function. It’s to do, largely, with human relationships. Joint accounts might get abused by people who control their relationship. How do we ensure that doesn’t happen, for example?

Essentially - in an ideal world - how would this problem be solved? A shared pot for bills that each person contributes to? Perhaps it’s not even a Pot? What if it’s a function that allows a bill to be split evenly and then debits the other person on the date of their choice (for example - you might have a bill coming out of your account on one date, but you might be happy for your partner to cover their share on a different date, such as when they get paid). I’m sure - and we hope - that you all have ideas.

It’s the type of problem that we thrive on solving and making better. It’s social, technical, product, legal, UX, everything - it involves huge community feedback (lots of which you have already given) and I know, with lots of hard work, we can make something game-changing here.

We can do something so delightful that we become the only game in town for people who want a modern “joint account” - or new feature that solves the same problems.

So in answer to the question - “When will Monzo offer joint accounts?” - that depends on your definition. A regular Monzo current account that two people can access instead of one isn’t necessarily the answer. It might be! I’m not advocating change just for the sake of it. But, I really want us to spend the time working out how to do this in the right way, a much better way, the Monzo way. And once we have a couple of huge overhanging projects out of the way, this is something we can really knuckle down and figure out :grinning:

16 Likes

Hmm Pots are essentially extra accounts..

Hmm Pots are essentially extra accounts…

Well, I wish they were and hope they become accounts, but they’re missing banking functions, a transaction feed, ways to schedule transactions etc. all of which users will keep asking for. Joint accounts done with pots would I imagine leave most of the requests on this long thread unanswered.

The current UI of monzo is not really designed to handle multiple accounts and pots are a stopgap IMO, not a solution. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle accounts when they do finally arrive, I hope some method more elegant than the current pots or an account switcher. I live in hope!

2 Likes

You see, this post really upsets me :slight_smile:

Not only is it predicated on the assumption that you know better than I do what I want/need, it also once again completely ignores the true use case for joint accounts. It’s based on two (or possibly more) individuals contributing their share to certain bills/expenses.

I fully, wholeheartedly, and unreservedly agree that for this purpose joint accounts aren’t a good solution, and that some incarnation of “shared pots” would be far superior. And I think it would be great if Monzo or another bank could create such an alternative to joint accounts!

However, the real use case for joint accounts comes when two (or more) people want to truly merge their accounts. When they want to stop talking about “mine” and “yours”, but only say “ours”. In that case noone contributes anything, but both pay everything, and splitting a bill is plainly nonsensical.

8 Likes

Wait what? How on earth did you get that from this -

the whole point is that Monzo’s not going to simply replicate what the other banks do & they’re going to build a solution based on what people actually need instead. That’s exactly what you just asked for.

It sounds like Monzo haven’t made any decisions about what the solution is yet.

8 Likes

We use our joint accounts for all spending with the exception of Monzo which I use only for Google Pay.

1 Like

I like the idea of a shared pot rather than joint accounts.

2 Likes

I may not be your typical user (female and mid 60’s) but Monzo will always be additional to my main bank accounts as it cannot be held as joint account with my husband.

Our primary accounts are in joint name so that in the event of death the surviving partner has immediate access to funds. I agree that joint accounts are not for everyone but they do work for many. in my experience most younger couples do have at least one joint account too, usually for bills.

12 Likes

It’s an aside, but it’s a good point that been brought up here before. If I die then how does my family go about closing my account?

2 Likes

email bereavements@monzo.com or I’m sure they could ring the number on the card

2 Likes

Financial organisations usually require a copy of the Death Certificate and Probate in my (limited) experience. The process is relatively simple if there is a will and my father left a list of assets which made things more straightforward when I dealt with his estate. On a personal basis I have left a Will and list of assets because I want everything to be as simple as possible for my husband and/or children.

You only need a grant of representation or confirmation if the value of the deceased’s estate (after paying the funeral account) is over £5,000

Therefore probate is needed where someone owns a property but may not be necessary if they do not have property and their assets are below £5000 (or say £8000 if funeral cost £3000)

1 Like

+1 on the shared pot idea. If me and my other half have separate Monzo cards and we can have a shared pot that has an account number then this is perfect. Bills go here!

This would be great for other people that live in shared houses etc too who have bills to pay as a group :smiley:

2 Likes

I’m curious - what are the differences between a shared pot which has an account number and a joint account?

That instead of having one to achieve a joint account, you’re forced to have three (one joint v two personal and a joint pot).

Just don’t see (stuck record saying this) why Monzo trying to reinvent wheel here.

2 Likes