Drunk Mode - Temporary Card Freeze

[monzonaut]

Thinking about my friend Mikey who keeps “ripping off himself” every Friday at the pub
Don’t take it too seriously

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

So I guess that’s how this feature would look -

Limit Spending for Limited Time

Backstory of the problem: I was on a night out last weekend and my friends were saying how they daren’t bring their contactless cards with them because they can spend recklessly when they’re tipsy Not good for me, because I hate cash. Proposed solution: I was thinking it’d be useful if, while sober, you can set a limit for what you can spend for that night. So in effect, I’d say ‘after £20 has been spent, freeze my card until 8am’. Perhaps there could be some contingency (emergency pi…

[zancler (Zander)]

Ha! I love it, great job on the design! We have seriously considered it, and it’s on our Badass Ideas Trello board, as @alexs linked there’s definitely a desire for it. I reckon it might end up looking something quite like this, too

What do you reckon @hugo?

[hugo (Hugo Cornejo)]

Wow, this is amazing. Thanks a lot As @zancler said, totally spot on.

I only have one concern with this kind of feature (declining payments under certain conditions). Even if it’s the user the one giving the order for us to not let them spend more there are certain situations in which you actually consume the good before paying, restaurants mainly. In one of those situations (let’s say you don’t have reception or any battery left) the “drunk mode” can be really painful as you need to deal with a bill and a card that doesn’t work. So, yeah, something tricky to balance

[beningreenjam (Ben Green)]

I still argue that this is very feasible, although I know how easy it is for comments to get lost in longer topics.

@beningreenjam

Transactions that take place at places where people often end up getting drunk, even tipsy, (bars, pubs, clubs, etc) can always be categorised under the “leisure” category, which currently doesn’t exist.

If it were to be made available and those types of venues get their transactions automatically selected as the new leisure category; Then that leisure category could be locked to a maximum spend until morning or reaching home. All other spending would be as normal even while the leisure category remains locked.

[OJFord (Oliver Ford)]

So let’s say Monzo implement this…

…and now your drink’s in front of you, next to a guy asking for your money. Your card declines. Do you really just say “ah well that’s that then”, and be on your way home?

Personally I’d be fumbling around for cash or another card; kicking myself for not disabling the feature - not even because I want the drink, but because I’d not want to walk away without paying…

[mj84 (Michael Jenkins)]

I love the implication that Monzo users like alcohol so much that they need to be rescued from themselves with a technical solution.

[Andy1 (Andy Little)]

I agree with @hugo. In a pub / bar you order a drink, they pour it, then they ask for payment. If your card is frozen you can’t pay. Were I a landlord, and that happened to me a few times, I’d simply refuse to take Monzo cards at all.

[garete (Gareth)]

Maybe if there’s a warning threshold, and the notifications get LOUDER before the card freezes - e.g. LAST ROUND: YOU’VE SPENT £50 TONIGHT. Also I hope would the card unfreeze automatically in the morning, if I got a lift with mates.

[beningreenjam (Ben Green)]

As @hugo has pointed out above and @alexs reiterated the point on a previous thread,

@hugo

(let’s say you don’t have reception or any battery left)

… there’d be no notification and no automatic card unfreeze / category limit disabled.

[beningreenjam (Ben Green)]

I still think a complete lock out of the card preventing all transactions is incredibly dangerous as the point made by @mj84

@mj84

I would not like to see anyone locked out of their account, due to emergency situations e.g. some one needs a cab to get home to safety.

and expanded upon later by myself

@beningreenjam

Ultimately it’s their choice but I think it’s a bit dangerous not having an emergency fund.

For instance if you decided to go out in a city that’s not your home town and if for some reason you miss the last train home then you’d be screwed without enough money to cover either a taxi or hotel for the night.

[garete (Gareth)]

So what would you like to see if there was a drunk/night out mode? I haven’t used Monzo on a night out (take money from an ATM is my freeze, then find I don’t have enough money on the card the next day*). Maybe a prompt to freeze your spending at a location - you’ve spent £x at 'spoons, would you like to freeze further spending here until 6am?

*enough money in total, but notes and coins that I’d rather was on the card…

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

That ties in nicely with this idea -

Last Time You Were Here You Spent X Alert

I was joking around with someone today about ways that Monzo could help prevent spending that’s probably not a good idea (they suggested a cap on spending at the weekends). I thought about sending a notification if you go to a certain merchant’s location & you spent a relatively large amount of money (compared to your usual spend), last time you were there, something along the lines of “:rotating_light: last time you were here you spent this much, this might hurt tomorrow”. The alert could be …

obviously neither solution is perfect because if you’re on a pub crawl, for example, you’re not going to spend that much in a single location but the notifications are just an extra reminder, I think some sort of prompt would be useful.

[beningreenjam (Ben Green)]

Much better , but still not perfect unfortunately

@Andy1

I agree with @hugo. In a pub / bar you order a drink, they pour it, then they ask for payment. If your card is frozen

… or reached the limit on that category/merchant and then…

@Andy1

you can’t pay. Were I a landlord, and that happened to me a few times, I’d simply refuse to take Monzo cards at all.

I’m now starting to realise that this pursuit for imposing a hard limit to our spending (by any means) is not quite so feasible as I thought.

[JamesBell (james_e_bell)]

There clearly seems to be a need around here however I wonder whether we are jumping to the solution too quickly?

Is it really necessary to freeze the card / actually prevent payment? Perhaps there are some nudge type things that can be done if you go over your set limit without freezing e.g. snarky notifications ( youve spent how much??) or maybe nominate a buddy for some social embarrassment (if my wife got notified of my spending on a night out over a certain amount maybe I would reign in my spending)!

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

Simon (from Monzo) has mentioned setting up an integration that would send a tweet, every time you bought a beer during dry January (IFTTT would do this)

[beningreenjam (Ben Green)]

Exactly, given my new found aversion to the hard limit, a buddy and/or snarky notifications sounds better.

Another possible one:

You’re in danger of being embarrassed on YouTube!

[JamesBell (james_e_bell)]

Haha I like that, maybe Monzo could go into ‘judge mode’ when you exceed your limit

“you are still spending? you arent very good at these limits”

“ I cant watch anymore”

[beningreenjam (Ben Green)]

I wonder if there’s a bar tab app (with a decent selection of pubs, clubs and restaurants) that Monzo could integrate with? - After a quick search, none that I can find in the UK, unless my Google Fu is acting up.

When the limit is reached, it starts adding to the tab and notifies both user and bartender.

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

That would probably be a little bit too effective for my liking! I’d rather not have someone else policing my drinking…or kicking me out because they think I’ve drunk too much & there could be confusion due to rounds being bought.

Totaling up the evening’s spend, from multiple merchants would be important though, in order for this feature to be effective.