Does Monzo offer a joint account?

Well, 50% of people didn’t vote for the top entry so… ;-D

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It’s not so much a metaphor as a core part of banking that established banking got right. People want separate accounts with different permissions, some shared, some individual, some with other providers. I think after exploring this space Monzo are going to end up with separate accounts, let’s see.

I bet if there were fixed periodic pots top-ups this would have fewer votes.

Yes I’d be happy with that sort of limited rules for pots, though it’d be nice to see them explore it a bit better, there are lots of possibilities there, and possibilities for other apps too to set up rules (things like save the change or saving goals, or transfer back to current to cover DDs etc).

Lack of Apple Pay is irritating, but this lack doesn’t break the core experience.

I agree and for me this is not essential, but for a lot of people it is taken as read that your bank supports it and is an integral part of their day to pay with their watch or phone, they won’t switch without it.

Monzo won’t be offering savings accounts with interest (last I checked).

Seems a lot of their customers disagree. The other approach they may take of course is to make it incredibly easy to save with other providers in the marketplace (I suspect this may be their goal), and display those as separate accounts (hmm, seems to be a theme here :slight_smile: ) inside the app so the user doesn’t have to leave monzo. I’d love to see this as it means Monzo would not be competing on boring banking features and could give you a choice of say FreeTrade S&S ISA, Cash ISAs, H&L ISAs, Premium Bonds etc. for saving, and show your balance (and hopefully a transaction stream) in-app.

To answer some of your questions @garete

Would you want a simple sign-up system, like bumping phones together

Nice idea, but unrelated to multiple accounts Could be a simple way to transfer a golden ticket, I like it.

Do you want to keep your own account or convert it?

I don’t think it matters. Monzo need to handle both. I would perhaps do both for a while.

Would you want yours/their/dd filters? In transactions and spending? Joint targets or individual?

I’d want a separate joint account :grinning: with a separate stream, dd, standing orders and spending.

Would you want a shortcut to transfer money to/from your personal account?

Not important to me, existing payment infrastructure between bank accounts would suffice, if it is a proper bank account this would come for free.

Would you want more than two people for an account?

For monzo the step from 1 to 2 is the biggest, won’t matter if it is 2 or 20. 2 is probably fine for now though.

Would you want rules for pots set up first

Personally I think that feature is more interesting and exciting than joint accounts as I have a joint account elsewhere I’m in no hurry to move.

Why are you after joint accounts before overdraft has been fully rolled out and direct debits improved???

Standing orders work fine to ensure bills are paid from a joint account. Overdraft is an unrelated feature IMO.

Some people split the costs unevenly, should the app help you with that?

I don’t feel this is a particularly interesting feature for me, just set up different standing orders from your separate individual accounts to your joint account (which is a real bank account isn’t it, not just a pot?).

Would you want individual pots

I view pots as half-done accounts (they work in similar ways but without the banking infra of account no. So I’d want pots expanded to first-class accounts instead, then all these problems go away.

How is location security affected? Card freezing

Interesting question, cards are separate and tied to location of one person so that’s easy, but freezing for all members of account would be nice (for say a family account).

To get to joint accounts, I’d quite like them to rethink their idea of one feed, give us multiple feeds/pots/accounts each with an optional card, and let us assign money to those pots - so expand pots to be first class accounts. Handling external accounts in the same way with open banking would be great, so that Monzo becomes an overview of your entire financial situation and lets you move money transparently between those different accounts and it becomes less important to you which particular provider or banking infrastructure sits behind the given account.

Would be interesting to know what sort of joint account people want, a single shared account or separate joint account with individual accounts as well - I suspect most want the latter.

  • Share one account between two or more people
  • Separate accounts for individuals as well as a joint account
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I would like a pot I can invite my wife to, which we both have access to.

Once I can pay standing orders and direct debits directly from a pot I’ll be happy.

Will probably need a pot feed of some sort but I would already like one of those to see what’s going on in my pot.

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Perhaps a shared pot associated with a digital/virtual card? The other party could use a smartphone for credit. I would love this for children’s pocket money!

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Just to add to the discussion - this is a feature stopping me from transferring over fully. I have a shared account with my partner (non married) and we input different amounts, at different parts of the month (she is paid weekly, I am paid monthly) and we use it for a range of shared purchases and direct debits. In many ways it’s more important than my personal bank account.

I will wait to be proven wrong, but I personally don’t think a shared pot is actually good enough for the features of a Joint account. We would need a physical card to be used in store (the weekly food shop for example). Also it would be good to be able to have all the insights of it as a full account. I feel it would become confusing if the option was merely a shared pot.

Until a full joint account option is available, unfortunately, as much as I love it, Monzo will be more of a plaything rather than a fully fledged banking option.

Fingers crossed it is soon added to the agenda.

Also, to me, functionality should be completely put ahead of whimsical factors like the colour of the card. And I’m a designer…!

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Food for thought..

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What the banks say they will do:

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Now on the roadmap :slight_smile:

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==== Victory! ====

Good news

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Fantastic news! :heart_eyes:

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Fantastic news … To an extent.

It’s in the long term plan. A step forward. But, Starling say they are looking at it much more in the short to medium term.

So for me, it just shows how low down the pecking order this is. Rules for pots and opening savings with other providers is higher on the list. And joint accounts are at the bottom of that long term list. So not a priority for Monzo.

Disappointing.

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Just upvoted joint accounts on https://trello.com/b/9tcaMB4w/monzo-transparent-product-roadmap. If you sign up for trello, you too can upvote it.

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I think it’ll probably rely fairly heavily on the upcoming rules for pots feature (which I personally feel is most important to me out of all the upcoming features), which is undoubtably why joint accounts, or shared pots whatever we call them, will be implemented so late.

If the Joint account ends up just being joint pots I think me and the other half will have to move away from Monzo as I need a fully fledged joint account. We are one entity as far as money is concerned so our bank should reflect that not some hashed together job with the pots system

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I’d like joint pots but not interested in a joint account. My partner and I are 6 years into a relationship and going pretty strong (Don’t see a future apart) but if we do split it’s easier having a single account.

I can defently see an audience who want a fully fledged joint account though so have voted it up on Trello even if it does seem a bit old fashioned to me.

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I think where a traditional joint account comes into play is where one partner earns a majority of that couple’s income and in the event of death they do not want the account frozen and want the surviving partner to retain access to the funds.

Linked accounts or linked pots may perhaps suit partners with similar income, or flatmates wanting to share bills, or not want retained access if one dies.

I can see uses for both types of account and hopefully they will implement both not just one of them.

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Thanks for sharing the trello link! I’ve added my vote and followed.

Got to say that like many others on here, the lack of a joint account is the main reason why I can’t fully switch my main current account to Monzo. I love all the features, but that is a deal breaker for us.

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It’s clearly all been said, but just to add my voice:
Joint accounts are an essential part of the way my wife and I manage money.

I’ve voted and followed on Trello!

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This is the only thing holding me and wife back from closing down long-standing account with another bank and going all-in with Monzo.

I upvoted on Trello.

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