I’ve been thinking about the recent change to Flex, where the 3-month 0% option now requires a purchase of £100 or more.
Rather than asking Monzo to simply remove the £100 minimum, I wondered whether there could be another solution:
Flex Multi-Merchant Basket
The idea would be to allow customers to combine several smaller purchases from different retailers into one Flex plan, provided the combined value reaches £100.
For example, imagine I want to buy:
• Argos — £35
• Amazon — £40
• Currys — £30
Total: £105
At the moment, none of those individual purchases would meet the £100 threshold.
Instead, Monzo could allow me to create a temporary Flex Basket with a minimum value of £100.
I could then make those purchases separately, and Monzo would group the eligible transactions together into one Flex plan:
£35 + £40 + £30 = £105
The whole £105 could then be repaid over 3 months at 0% interest.
How it could work
A customer could select something like:
Create Flex Basket
Choose a maximum amount, for example £150.
Monzo temporarily reserves that amount of available Flex credit.
The customer then shops normally at different retailers.
Once the qualifying purchases reach £100, the transactions are grouped into one 3-month 0% Flex plan.
Any unused reserved credit is released.
The basket could expire after 24 hours, or perhaps at the end of the day.
Why I think this could be useful
I completely understand why Monzo might want a £100 minimum for 0% Flex.
But £100 doesn’t necessarily mean that someone wants to spend £100 at one retailer.
Someone might need £40 of something from Argos, £35 from Amazon and £30 from Currys.
They’re still spending more than £100 overall, but they’re being prevented from using the 0% option simply because their spending happens to be split between different merchants.
This would give Monzo a way of keeping the £100 minimum while making Flex considerably more flexible.
It could also work particularly well for things like:
• Buying several items for a home
• Christmas shopping
• Back-to-school shopping
• Preparing for a holiday
• Buying computer/gaming equipment from different retailers
• Replacing several household items
• Comparing prices between retailers and buying from the cheapest one
An even simpler version
It wouldn’t necessarily have to involve pre-authorising individual purchases.
Monzo could potentially allow customers to select several recent eligible transactions and say:
“Flex these purchases together”
As long as the combined amount is £100 or more, they could become one 3-month 0% Flex plan.
For example:
Amazon £42
Argos £28
Currys £36
Total £106 → Flex over 3 months at 0%
That might actually be simpler to implement from the customer’s perspective.
I’m not suggesting this as a way of getting around the £100 rule. I’m suggesting it as a way of making the £100 rule work better.
The customer is still borrowing at least £100, and Monzo still gets to maintain the minimum threshold — but the customer gets to choose where that £100 is spent.
I think this could be a really good middle ground between bringing back 0% Flex on every small transaction and keeping the new £100 minimum.
I’d genuinely be interested to hear what the Monzo team and other Flex users think.
[NEW: Flex on Apple Pay!]