How to manage your bills with Monzo

[nickh]

@FirstRulez

I have not yet gone #FullMonzo for a few reasons. I get paid 4 weekly but most of my fixed spending is monthly direct debits. For smooth money management I need to:

1. Set a fixed amount of my salary to go into a “Bills” pot when the salary comes in
2. set Direct Debits to be paid out of the “Bills” pot

Feels like we are nearly there but not quite yet.

Does your existing bank do this?

I’m assuming they don’t (unless I’m out of touch these days).

Is there anything your existing bank DOES do that you don’t think Monzo is as good as?

[aslater (Andy Slater)]

This is a retrospective solution but can’t you exclude those transactions from your spending so they don’t affect your left to spend summary?

[aslater (Andy Slater)]

Can’t answer for FirstRulez but if we are to have Monzo manage our bills as well as daily spending it needs to cater for this. My other bank not doing this is why i have a bills bank account (joint) and my own personal bank account with a different bank (now monzo) for my own daily spending.

[nickh]

I can see the use for that.

Most of our bills come out of the Monzo joint.

[ThomasHutchins]

Yes. I was hoping for an automatic solution really but looks like excluding this money from my budget and then excluding the transactions manually is the best solution.

Also, I agree, there needs to be a way to create a “Bills Pot” and have bills come directly out of it. I know many people who also use a second account for bills and I think it’s a nice way to keep things separate, Pots would be perfect for controlling this all from one account.

Merging the two points… Imagine being able to assign a merchant to a pot so that all transactions through them leave the designated pot. i.e Any transactions at a fuel station come out of my fuel pot…

[Rickynos]

@thebaron1974

My ideal would be to have a pot set up called Bills and assign all my regular payments to come from this pot. Then my wages can be paid in…

This!!! Monzo are pushing summary all the way. Personally it doesn’t work for me and I don’t care for it. I love the idea of managing my own money, putting it where I want to put it. I don’t need or want something to tell me otherwise.

[Rat_au_van (Em)]

Committed bills pot is coming

[Rickynos]

Is a options to turn summary off coming also?

[Rat_au_van (Em)]

No. But you could always just not look at summary and just use the home tab

[FirstRulez (David I)]

@nickh
My existing bank allows me to have 2 accounts; I receive my salary into one; Standing order sufficient money into the second account to cover fixed(ish) bills throughout the year and all Direct Debits (bills) are paid out of the second account.
This means that I have the effective behaviour of assigning bills to come from a specific pot in Monzo but there is also one additional step.
In Monzo creating a sceduled transfer into a pot can only be set on a Every Day/Week/Month/Year schedule. Can I request more options be added to that? My current bank (HSBC) allows stading orders to be scheduled:

• Weekly
• Fortnightly
• Monthly
• Last day of the month
• Quarterly
• Last working day of the month
• Four Weekly
• Annually

Clearly my personal use would be four weekly starting the day after I get paid to move money into a pot.

[FirstRulez (David I)]

@ThomasHutchins

Merging the two points… Imagine being able to assign a merchant to a pot so that all transactions through them leave the designated pot. i.e Any transactions at a fuel station come out of my fuel pot…

I can see a use for that. I am starting to think about more ways of using pots (such as my BeerFund ) and being able to assign Wetherspoons (yes I’m that classy) to spend from that pot would be great.

[hdwrng]

I get paid weekly. Five paydays this month.

The Summary tab doesn’t have a clue what to do.

[nickh]

Yep, completely get the need there.

I’m surprised so many people have an account solely for bills etc.

The “bills from Pots” feature will be a biggie for a lot of people!

[neovo]

This this this

[cazzzac (Zac)]

I’ve mentioned this on a previous thread, but as the main bill payer for the house (my housemates pay me every month), summary’s estimate of my monthly outgoings is wildly inflated. We should be able to select incoming payments as regular, so they’re factored in (or cancel out the overestimate).

[Frankiejr (Frank)]

One solution to this would be for your bills pot to be included in your main account balance for any payment classed as a bill. So there is no chance of a bill being declined because it sees the bills pot as available money.

[Rat_au_van (Em)]

It’s going to automagically take the money out of a pot into main just in time to pay the committed spending item

(Possibly)

[awjdean]

@Frankiejr

One solution to this would be for your bills pot to be included in your main account balance for any payment classed as a bill. So there is no chance of a bill being declined because it sees the bills pot as available money

Isn’t this the same as paying bills from a pot or are you suggesting that any extra required after depleting the bills pot would come out of the main account, and therefore overdraft (if you have one)?

[Frankiejr (Frank)]

Hopefully yes. But at the minute you need the funds in the main account for the presented payment to be fulfilled (not declined). I don’t know how this bills pot is going to work (any more info I have missed?) but I can only think it needs to see the pot as available for the bills to be paid, and then money transferrred to cover.

[awjdean]

@Rat_au_van

It’s going to automagically take the money out of a pot into main just in time to pay the committed spending item

If this is the case, I really hope the feed items for removing money from the bills pot is merged with the transaction out so there aren’t loads of extra feed items.