How do you justify paying for Monzo Plus?

Monzo Chat Monzo Plus
1

I personally have not jumped on board the Plus Hype train as I cannot justify paying for it.

Walk me through you thought process when deciding to pay £5 per month, I will do so below:

  • Other accounts, in Monzo I use money dashboard which also incorporates Amex, whilst it would be great to have something similar in the Monzo app, Money Dashboard is free, has better budgeting and has access to more accounts - only downside is not being able to transfer money between accounts however it still doesn’t justify things.

  • 1.00% AER/Gross (variable) interest up to £2,000 - I get a better interest on my Marcus account and TSB accounts (Virgin also offer a better deal for free)

  • Holographic card - this is gimmicky, and I place no value on it especially now that I hardly use my physical cards for anything with Apple Pay being around

  • Custom categories - This should be included as standard, Again though I use Money Dashboard so I am already getting this for free already.

  • Virtual cards - Free with revolut (although they are a horrid company)

  • Advanced roundups - This should come as standard, although this would veer me to justify paying for it

  • Credit Tracker - Credit Karma is free to use and gives you more detail

  • Offers - Amex Offers are free and far superior

  • Fee-free withdrawals abroad - I use an alternative card that is free for unlimited cash withdrawals so why would I pay to increase the limit by £200?

  • Auto-export transaction - Very handy but I use money dashboard

  • 1 free cash deposit a month - I don’t use cash and if I did I would just deposit it with my high street bank free of charge

I can get most of this for free and none of it really I can justify paying for monthly and committing 3 months to, I guess there is the added feature of connivence with it all being under one app but some apps just do what they’re offering better a lot of features should really come as standard as they are basic.

The only other reason I can think somebody would pay for it would be to support Monzo? I already support Monzo every time I use my debit card and hold funds with them that the use to lend to other customers (except for me because I’m deemed too much of a credit risk…).

To me Monzo Plus doesn’t make much financial sense. I would like to hear others thoughts though about justifying paying for it.

(Edited)

23 Likes
3

I think you make some good arguments. If you think about the long term vision that Monzo will be a financial hub then some of the other features become relevant. Maybe not in their current iteration.

Value will be subjective to the user. For me personally I don’t think the value is there as I can’t see any tangible benefits. But others will find value.

1 Like
4

£5 a month (less with interest on my money) is such a small amount that I don’t really need to justify it that strongly.

At the start I was “meh, nothing really appeals” but when I saw how the google sheets info updates in real time etc, I was sold.

Maybe some people don’t value that at £5, maybe some think it should be free, but for me and how I manage my money, that is a worth investment.

9 Likes
5

When my credit card is supported I may go for it for the ease of having everything in one very nice app.

The interest would reduce the cost. (Just keep £2k in a regular pot to max it out)

The free cash deposit is another perk that is nice.

4 Likes
6

A packed account is rarely going to be desirable to someone willing to combine features from multiple suppliers.

Packaged accounts sell convenience.

12 Likes
7

This has been mentioned plenty in other threads, but…

(a) there’s no such thing as ‘free’. You’re trading your data, in exchange for access. Your data is then used to make money for money dashboard through targeted ads and aggregated consumer info.

(b) for me, the £5 fee is way less than the amount of time and hassle it saves me maintaining multiple apps. People often forget that your own time has a value, and this package is just providing that time saving/convenience.

30 Likes
8

I agree with what you say. I signed up for the initial two week free period (as long as you don’t order a new card), with the intention of reassessing a two weeks and again at three months.

I tried Money Dashboard, but the accounts didn’t update for me, so I gave up.

The 1% interest is just a tiny little bonus every month for the money which would be in Monzo anyway in my case.

The Open Banking is fun, but not important at the moment, but we’ll see if that gets developed further on down the line.

I’m having great fun with the Google Sheets integration, though! I’m by no means an expert, but I’m learning loads.

The other stuff is of no interest to me.

All in all, I think I’ll keep it going for three months, but there’s no progress, I’ll probably knock it on the head by Christmas.

7 Likes
9

Or maybe different people place value in different features? You said:

You can do that for free with IFTTT. But clearly you place some value in it. I don’t.

5 Likes
10

For me it’s the virtual cards and custom categories.

I’m not sure if it’s a plus only feature or I just never noticed, but being able to split a transaction into multiple categories is very useful.

I do hope virtual cards are improved to support funding from a pot (per card) at some point in the future.

I also don’t mind £5 either just to support / show appreciation to Monzo. I do a bunch of open source and always appreciate a donation no matter how small.

1 Like
12

Keeping the same format as the OP here’s mine

  • Other accounts, in Monzo meh not fussed
  • 1.00% AER/Gross (variable) interest up to £2,000 - better elsewhere
  • Holographic card - don’t use my card only phone
  • Custom categories - This should be free imo
  • Virtual cards - no use for them
  • Advanced roundups - standard roundup is all I need
  • Credit Tracker - Credit Karma does it better. Also you should never have to pay to see your own data. This I strongly disagree that they put behind a paywall as a ‘feature’. Very cheaky and desperate
  • Offers - Amex Offers are free and far superior. This
  • Fee-free withdrawals abroad - Starling
  • Auto-export transaction - no use
  • 1 free cash deposit a month - shouldn’t have to pay to deposit my own money. Starling does it free and without any stupid limits.

So although £5 isn’t much I’m not getting £5 worth of features.

Harsh but 5p is about right atm

12 Likes
13

Alot of people using this as a point but i think we have to remember that if youre having to move money from other accounts that are earning interest to max the £2k/1% then its really defeating the purpose.

For these people you arent really getting the benefit unless you were the sort of person to have £2k in your current account not previously earning interest before

3 Likes
14

As has been said above already, I guess you pay for it all being in one place.

I haven’t signed up either as I don’t agree with adding better functionality for a separate tier of users.

I’d be happy to support Monzo by paying £5 a month no problem, but haven’t as am concerned this will create a gulf between the plus platform and the regular platform and I don’t think Monzo should follow that route. I think the plus offering should only include extra benefits - not functionality (custom categories and other account visibility).

Sorry for repeating that as I’ve said the same in another thread.

4 Likes
15

That’s an argument for paying for it when it becomes that - not now.

7 Likes
16

What’s an ad? :wink:

1 Like
17

Personally, I don’t see the value in Monzo Plus. I disagree with what is being charged for, particularly those features previously mentioned as coming but now Plus only. I also don’t see the benefit in paying a bank simply because I want to support them, even as an investor.

That said, I’m not opposed to paying for software or quality features, and increasingly do so with services that I find useful. However, the current Plus account doesn’t even enter this realm.

Edit: I’ll note that many ‘premium’ packaged accounts at the moment tend to offer significantly more value than the upfront cost, for those who will use those features. I cannot imagine saying the same for the current Monzo offering.

3 Likes
18

What would you want for it to be in the realm?

If you say you are happy to pay for software model

1 Like
19

I’d be looking for something that significantly changes the way I manages my finances, which the current offering does not due to the limitations on open banking partners and limitations on virtual cards. I’d also like to feel comfortable centralising my banking with that company, but Monzo is lacking in some basic areas.

As a comparison, I pay around £5 per month for a password manager which I use everyday and is being developed with new features added regularly.

2 Likes
20

Open banking will definitely include more banks; I believe a lot of use none standard APIs

Is custom categories not better way to manage finance?

What limits are there on virtual cards? I believe assigning to pots is coming soonish

What would you actually like?

21

For me it’s only £5.

£5 can easily be wasted on random stuff it’s only like £1~~ a week which isn’t bad

1 Like
22

First, personally, no. I don’t spend time categorising my transactions and tend to have an overview of my spending anyway.

Second. there can be only 5 active cards and 100 per year, and they cannot be linked to a pot. The use case I personally see is a card per retailer, or disposable per transaction, and that’s not currently possible.

I’d like a disposable virtual card option, with an option to link card to pot without limitations, along with open banking connecting to all banks I use. I’m not going to subscribe for future possible features. This is beyond the point of certain features like open banking and credit score viewing initially being proposed as future features without any mention of a fee.