I would like to start by saying that I am not pleased with Monzo’s Joint Account.
It is very annoying how features aren’t thought through to fit all users in the bank.
It is a lack of respect to JA users who put both of their main income on the CC but don’t have access to overdrafts, monzo labs, credit cards sync, amongst other features.
It makes us (JA power users) feel like we’re on a special type of account and somehow it is less worthy than personal accounts (which we have but practically don’t use).
What is so difficult about checking how much overdraft each one has on their personal accounts and show a sum of both overdrafts on the JA. And when the OD is used, take equal parts from both.
Also, what’s up with not having features being released at the same time for Android + iOS + Joint Accounts. Why prioritise some users over others . . .
I’m also a JA customer. The feature parity issue between personal and JA is frustrating but, for me at least, not a deal breaker. I don’t need an overdraft and currently the ‘plus’ offering is (IMO) not worth £6 and not fully developed as both a feature or the offering.
With regards platform parity (eg iOS v Android) there are other posts in other threads that explain Monzo’s aim for platform parity but they are constrained by having two very small development teams.
Edit due to wrong info: features for each platform are developed by different teams and those teams can be different sizes hence those features being delivered at different times. For example, for the new nav feature, the android team is two strong I believe and the iOS team is one developer.
They will not add overdrafts together, rather they may offer the same as whoever has the lower limit in case one of you get into financial difficulty. My account is still showing this as coming soon, even though Monzo have posted that it is now live for everyone, so this may be an issue.
As for credit cards, this is on hold until open banking has properly started (there is a thread somewhere with lots more details). Also there is no such thing as a joint credit card, there can be a secondary holder, but the primary account holder is liable for everything spent (excl. fraud) so I think that may be another issue?
The teams are way bigger than this unless people have left recently.
There is basically major feature parity between Android and iOS right now AFAIK.
Things will be released when they’re ready to be released, that will be at different points for iOS and Android because they’re different implementations by different teams that operate to their own schedules. The only way to release things simultaneously is to suppress releasing features built on one until they’re built on the other.
What is so difficult about anything? What’s do difficult about operating a bank? The difficulty is that it requires additional code, that has to be written and tested and that adds complexity.
If you think Joint Accounts are bad, just wait until you hear about Monzo’s plans to not open branches. It’s completely inaccessible to people without smart phones.
Joking aside, Monzo haven’t been particularly focused on people using JA instead of individual accounts, they’ve been more focused on those using JA alongside individual accounts.
Have to say i think this hits the nail on the head - The JA is i think to simplify things where there are joint expenses, not to be used as the primary, driver/ power account.
Unfortunately Monzo are still a challenger and need to suss out exactly what their plans are for things like CAs and JAs - it will take time, just like all developments.
The pool of developers get assigned to projects so it could be a project you were reading about, the new UI for example, only has one iOS engineer assigned. There are others elsewhere working on other things though.
I’m not sure what you expect from any of this though?
I understand that the priorities they’ve set for themselves don’t work for everyone but I don’t imagine that changing. They’re very careful in their sifting of feedback and I’ve not seen any evidence of the ‘vision’ being swayed by these sorts of comments in the past.
In a sense I’m happy about that because it means that the company has an idea it wants to pursue and has continued to head in that direction rather than being derailed by customer requests but the downside is that this sort of thing is then the casualty of that approach.
I didn’t even want a personal account but that’s where I’ve ended up because joint didn’t exist back then.
What I am expecting from a topic such as this one is to engage the community and assess how many people actually have the same opinion regarding JA.
With the possibility that if there are a lot of people, maybe the bank can take better care and possibly assign more resources to this very important (imo) feature of the bank.
This is where you’re mistaken, as Monzo has a big reputation of listening to customers.
Firstly, I’m with you on everything you’ve said. I’m a JA customer, and it’s disappointing to see very little of the new features come to this account.
On the “engaging the community” comment, you’ll find that the pushback from people is that “the community is only a tiny percentage of the user base” - Which is another way of saying it doesn’t really matter what you think.
Given Monzo’s priorities right now, I wouldn’t expect feature parity between sole and joint for many many years.
tobyadams
(#fullmonzo joint account since Aug18)
15
Joint account holders being second class and last to get everything is my single biggest annoyance with Monzo.
Is there a comprehensive list of what features are missing from the Joint Account?
I don’t expect full parity ever because at some point I expect that there’ll be a feature that only makes sense for a single individual (or vice versa).
It sounds like the only significant feature (obviously significant is entirely subjective) missing is overdrafts? And that’s partly because they need to develop an entire new set of rules to determine joint lending (for what’s presumably quite a small subset of the user base)?
I’m not monzo’s biggest fan - however what they have brought to my iPhone over the last few years has changed mine & my families life - through budgeting & instant notifications.
The JA I see as different than the personal account. I’d love to have everything in a JA as I do in a personal but is it possible? I’m not the most technical so these questions are looking at the technical side.
can you have 2 x monzo.me id’s?
Can you have a JA without a personal account?
Of course other banks do offer JA without personal but Monzo is still quite young.
2006 I didn’t have an iPhone. Let’s give a little time to develop.
When we (the wife & I)opened a joint account I don’t remember it saying it would be exactly the same as a personal account.
Apparently on a recent trip abroad we spent less than £100 - we used the joint account mostly - was it a little annoying? Yes but by selecting each purchase as holiday I could see all the information I needed.
To me it seems like Monzo didn’t anticipate people leaving their current accounts dormant - hense why you can’t have one without the other.
As a JA customer who uses it for joint spending only, and my personal card for everything else, it works great. I’d still love parity but it’s not a big deal for us.
As mentioned it would be good to know how many people solely use their JA to see if it is viable to mirror the two accounts in terms of features. Where possible of course Or… would the solution be to break the connection between CA and JA then it could possibly have all the same features?
My wife and I are JA customers who both leave their personal accounts dormant. I personally see little point in operating both accounts as i can’t see a holistic view of what we are spending against budgets across 3 Monzo accounts.
