Since my, let’s call it a return for now, I’ve noticed that there’s been a bunch of folks saying they’ve outgrown Monzo, or that it no longer meets their needs. This, by @coffeemadman seems to summarise a lot of what I’ve read:
And yes, I’m also not immune to this sort of thinking, having said something similar:
I thought that I’d open it up for discussion - is Monzo keeping pace with you as you age? What services or changes would you like to see as you get older?
But first, a quick question: does the notion of Monzo being less a good fit for you as time passes resonate?
Yes, I’m finding that Monzo isn’t keeping pace with my needs
And then it’s a great thing for others to jump on. Most of the people that say it also give a different reason why they won’t bank with Monzo each time.
That’s the beauty of discussions like this. We try and make it less tribal and instead dig down into wants and needs. It’s the sort of things that Monzo used to find invaluable back in the day (and hopefully still do). Still, it requires a bit of sifting, and the ability to critically evaluate and appreciate each other’s needs, but I hope it provides more light than heat…
We’re both with Monzo for personal and joint account, and some personal and joint savings. We both have Flex but my wife’s never used it as far as I know. Pots and budgeting are great, and I use Extra to link in other accounts.
Only low value day to day spend, plus groceries and fuel are on Monzo cards, though all bills are currently paid from Monzo.
Larger spend is on Amex or other credit cards.
More substantial longer term savings are elsewhere.
Monzo pension is completely unsuitable for our needs as we approach retirement.
I have more serious concerns about what happens in the case of incapacity or death of one of us, and at 60 (next week) and 50+, this is becoming more of a consideration.
Joint bills will move to a new Nationwide joint account during Q1 due to the Monzo insistence on closing the joint account in the event of the death of one account holder.
I’m also very worried about what would happen if one needed power of attorney over the other’s account given the limitations on logging on to accounts on a specific device. This is a question I intend to ask Monzo support, but given the other concern I have - shocking customer service levels which often fail to even understand the question being asked - wonder what response I might get.
In an ideal world, but sadly we aren’t in one of those.
It just gives yet another thread for the moaners. There’s nothing to Monzo to look at or action because there’s nothing of substance from the half a dozen usual suspects that love another chance to say the same again.
That’s your opinion and that’s okay. But can I humbly ask that we don’t turn every thread into a meta discussion of whether it’s a good topic to have or not?
Monzo inadvertently created a monster. From early upstart to mid-life, it was insanely agile, delivering killer feature after killer feature after killer feature. And all with direct engagement with the interested community.
Then as it began maturity into an inevitable & unavoidable ‘bank’, it still had the killer tech but the agile had gone, the killer features slowed and the engagement dropped off. Those clammering for more likely got bored waiting and so tried other things. A sub-par Customer Service reputation certainly helped with migration elsewhere.
Ultimately, it created BADD™️ - Banking Attention Deficit Disorder.
EDIT: Apologies - I didn’t actually answer the question. Yes, I do think that Monzo is keeping pace as I age. And that’s a biggie as I’m well into my financial life-cycle and so have no need for mortgages and pensions - but a better investment offering would be welcome.
I can only go off me personally. So the below is a reflection on me, not on others.
For me it happened around 2020. A full Monzo customer I started to feel I just didn’t need to be paying for something (plus) I could get for free with NatWest, which sufficed for my needs so I left.
I moved slightly around trying to find a free account that gave me what I needed (Security of larger bank, web, better CS) and landed on HSBC Premier.
Does it make it better than Monzo. For me yes. It suits my needs and my family needs. And Monzo hasn’t shown me anything, personally, that would make me change it.
Others will have different reasons and staying with Monzo at any age is a fair and reasonable choice.
Acknowledged. Me too - the issues I’ve had over the years (far from simple ones) have been sorted out very quickly - often using this very community as the vehicle to report & diagnose issues directly to Monzo.
But hiding the Chat button and literally not answering the phone are inexcusable - and people picked up on this. The community then stepped in to help as hundreds asked ‘how do I get help’ - but as @Peter_G recently said, this is outsourcing support.
I just feel like bold colours, emoji everywhere, layout and something about the transaction history screen I can’t enjoy any more.
It’s less challenging when I had my white monzo card as it changed the view of the app Home Screen entirely. These coral versions are not for me.
Trends is great, split payments is also great (though been doing this on revolut a bit recently and works just as good).
I like pots but I don’t want them on the Home Screen, trends would be better on the Home Screen (but then just moves me to revolut and the Home Screen widgets you can have).
Is outgrown the right word? Probably not, but I can’t click with it in its current form. Maybe the gods will listen and tweak a few bits.
I think the font doesn’t help anything for me personally.
Sometimes I wonder how open I can actually be but…
Monzo is still my day to day banking app. I’ve said before about how it changed my life, allowed to get out of debt and control my spending and that hasn’t changed. I have Monzo Max (staff pay full price!) and take advantage of the benefits, including an ISA.
However that has also made me more savvy and most of my savings are now elsewhere. I’ve always had my mortgage with NatWest (which is not something we currently offer) but also have savings with them, Lloyds and Santander to take advantage of the best rates.
It’s thanks to Monzo that I now have savings(!) but it always pays to shop around.
I’m perfectly content with my Monzo account and don’t think I’ve outgrown it as such.
It receives my income.
It allows me to disseminate said income to over 15 different destinations each month with zero effort.
It allows me to transfer sums in and straight out again to their desired destinations without blocking the transactions or asking additional questions. (Granted rarely to new payees)
All for free
Not required customer service for some years now, so nothing to beef about for me there either.
There’s definitely things that I find hard to combine with Monzo - e.g. using YNAB and Pots methodology don’t gel well, or I’d like budgeting to be more like YNAB, but I think that’s just preference / mindset rather than “outgrowing”.
I do generally think when this general theme comes up it’s down to a few things;
Monzo’s initial approach which was somewhat industry breaking vs the level of innovation possible at this point in the journey
Other banks playing catch up - and so Monzo no longer stands out as highly against the crowd
And the combination meaning it’s now a mainstream bank doing more mainstream things.
I would guess that for many as one grows up and collects more financial complexities - Monzo might not be the bank for you - if you need/have multiple current accounts, multi currency, a complex investment approach etc etc etc.
But for a “main banking” account, I’d say it’s grown up in the way I’ve needed it to, with perhaps the only real gap I may want it to fill being Mortgages.
I think this is the thing I always find hard! There’s the Monzo which was the innovation that changed my life, and there’s the Monzo that needs to be profitable to exist.
Sometimes those two can’t always co-exist, but I genuinely think we’ve done a pretty good job at navigating it!
