Whilst it’s useful to test this sort of thing, we do need to compare like for like.
If you don’t get value in the live Google Sheets export that’s one thing (and totally fine) but let’s not pretend that it’s the same as a manual export from Money Dashboard (or, indeed, the same as the non Plus CSV export).
Not in an easy access account, as far as I can see.
My Marcus account pays 1.15%, there are also other instant access accounts that match or exceed (NS&I Direct Saver)
There are 449 posts talking about the problems people face when depositing cash with certain merchants in this thread alone - let alone the numerous others on the forum. I don’t deposit much cash, but I can’t let my personal situation ‘inform me’ about everyone else’s. I’ll gladly bow out if there are statistics to the contrary…
I don’t have statistics but this is an app based bank, I think it’s safe to say users are not likely to deposit cash every month and thus max out their free deposits.
not everyone will need a taxi every month, or a hire car, or a night at an OFS property.
Correct, I was talking about my personal situation, when taking a product out and deciding wether or not to pay any fees, you should see what you will get out of it realistically. Users are more inclined to use a taxi than pay cash into their account with an app based bank.
And you assumed people would spend £4k on Amex (in addition to their membership fee) just to get 30,000 reward points, netting you £210 in returns.
again based on my circumstances, this £4k needs to spent within 6 months so you would need to spend £666 per month to meet the bonus. This may not be a stretch if you put your daily spend on it and pay bills etc… This is also a premium card if you can’t meet the bonus the card is probably not for you. Those who take out the card are more likely to use the credits and get the welcome bonus as its more appropriate to their circumstances instead of a few random discounts chucked in.
I do feel like we’re comparing totally different leagues here though. It’s a bit like comparing my local private member’s club, to somewhere like The Court in Soho where you’re going to pay ~£600 for membership. You can buy alcohol and food at both, and you also buy the same alcohol and food elsewhere without paying a membership fee. The people that use them, see value in different ways though and expect very different levels of quality (compare Airbnb to OneFineStay).
agreed, but I was asked to elaborate on the card I get good value out of and I did mention that you can’t expect monzo to offer something similar but that more value should be given.
Answers to your questions:
Amex have given us a £100 credit at places you would normally shop m&S Waitrose, Dilveroo and Apple. And if your annual fee is up for renewal or wish to cancel they may give you a reduction on your annual fee or free MR points. But of course I haven’t gotten as much value out the card as I would like, but no one was expecting this…
Yes. I am not paying just to have a fancy card, If I am not making use of the benefits or it is working out to be too expensive than I will downgrade or cancel.
No. I don’t spend more to get a credit that would make no sense… Work reimburses some accommodation expenses and for pleasure I want to stay somewhere nicer. I won’t always book through OneFineStay though hence I only used $400 worth of credits in the last year
Very good. I live in London so acceptance may not be as good in other parts of the country.
I agree they are not the same thing. I’m not trying to mislead anyone, I just don’t use google sheets and so said I have money dashboard as I am perfectly content with that. But yes it’s important to compare like for like.
I don’t.
It’s a small amount and I quite like some of the features so happy to try it out, but not because it makes me money or I need it. If I ever had to budget significantly it’d be one of the first things to go.
The open banking features show promise - I could see with a few updates that starting to feel indispensable to some people.
However personally I think Monzo should focus on making money from things people need (Financial products like ISAs, Credit Cards, Mortgages, Business Accounts), not things people like.
I’m sure they have their reasons to focus on premium accounts though and it’s a good effort for a bundle of features, so if you can afford it why not?
As all the features stand right now though, I would probably say Google Sheets is the one that sealed it for me.
I’d probably pay for that on its own
I think this thread has been very civil with constructive feedback rather than simply going no it’s shit.
It’s always important that people are allowed to voice their opinions both good and bad.
Whether or not Monzo actually will listen to feedback is another thing. The forum is only an insignificant number of customers now.
They could tell the community to GTFO like Starling and shut it down and it wouldn’t affect business.
2 and a half-ish 
If Monzo end up following the same trajectory as Apple I think they’ll do alright
Apple has a moat in the form of exclusive integrations between their devices and services such as iMessage. Monzo’s only advantage was doing a better job that the existing banks did at integrating with existing services such as Faster Payments and MasterCard but other than that they haven’t invented anything new and exclusive (Payments with Friends is new, but irrelevant when Faster Payments is just as good).
The problem is that the others are now catching up.
Even when it comes to fanboyism, it only really works when the product has exclusive advantages you don’t get anywhere else. Monzo used to sell itself just based on the features so it was very easy to make people switch. Nowadays not so much when 1) most banks offer the majority of the functionality and 2) modern competitors such as Starling offer the majority of the perks of Monzo without its drawbacks (no foreign cash withdrawal fees, etc).
Arguably Apple almost never does anything new or first. They just execute better than anyone else most of the time
0.8 of one in London 
Are people really comparing a 170 year old business with billions in revenue to 5 year old start up?
Because it’s my money and I’ll do what I want with it.
So I spend a fiver a month on an app. So what? I’m sure you spend your own money in ways I wouldn’t.
Spend your money however you want. Nobody is saying otherwise.
You’re missing the point of this thread. 
I’m not.
You’re missing the point of my reply.
The live export for me is one of the more exciting things actually, and probably the one I’d be most tempted to bring me to plus
(Open banking probably is, once they get Amex!)
I guess it would be curious how long it takes you to download and upload etc.
I.e. curious if your hourly wage at work means you might be spending more time than needed and would be better spending the money
If you mean how long does it take for changes in the Monzo app to be reflected in the Google Sheet, it’s more or less instant.
The user I was replying to downloaded the CSV from Monzo then uploaded to Money dashboard
I don’t download & upload anything, it uses connected banking to connect my monzo and other accounts. They then all show up in the same place. I can then download everything from there in a CSV format.
The only manual thing I do is “Re authenticate” my accounts every now and again.
I’m also on a salary not an hourly wage, I’m not sure what you meant by that?
I just don’t get this argument. Money dashboards main revenue is from anonymously aggregating your data to show companies trends and patterns. There’s no privacy issue unless you are really paranoid and have every privacy blocking system in place all the time e.g. ad blockers, vpns, no log DNS servers etc.
Secondly, money Dashboard is just one app and will always be better than monzo at this because monzo’s goal isn’t to show you clear finance reports and provide detailed dives into your data. That is money dashboards USP. Monzo, at best, will always be playing catch-up.