I regret going full Monzo

I think whilst I agree with you - Summary can only do so much and shouldn’t be touted as the be all and end all budgeting features. It is Monzo’s aim to be each user’s “Financial Hub” so I would expect Summary to become a much more powerful tool if that aim is to be achieved.

The underlying problem (which I think Monzo may now be realising) is that every individual customer has very individual needs/ wants/ desires for how their bank should function - there may be no real way in satisfying (not just making happy) all of its customers.

Well… It’s the same thing is it not?

It is useless if you don’t keep everything in Monzo - That isn’t being harsh, it’s just a fact.

I’m not saying Summary is useless… It’s 100% my decision to keep stuff elsewhere rendering it unusable. But I’m sure people may have tried to make it work, whilst still keeping money in other accounts, and they’ve ended up frustrated.

It’s certainly an “all or nothing” feature, and there is nothing wrong with that.

no I dont think it is useless , its a guide - plain and simple - to your finances in Monzo, if you choose not to use Monzo for all your monetary transactions the app will never know your monetary history so cannot “predict” your future

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How do you use it?

I have all my DD’s in Natwest and my summary works pretty well. I also use a credit card for every day spending and savings accounts elsewhere?

:man_shrugging: Agree to disagree on this one.

I don’t. I tried to set it up once, but never found a system that was working how I wanted, so ignored it for ever more.

If you have multiple accounts, savings in other places, daily spend on credit cards… I find summary only gives you a really small snapshot of your financial situation (which is expected).

That just doesn’t work for me, and I like to see a much broader overview of everything (hence… spreadsheet).

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lol I thought we were agreeing , if you dont include all your finances in monzo it won’t work for all your finances

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Ha. Yes. We can agree on that!

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Same for me and I’m #fullMonzo :speak_no_evil:

If they had custom categories then it would possibly work for me but as it stands I do what I’ve always done. Have all my direct debits come out on the 1st (near payday) then whatever is left I can spend on what ever I like.

If I had custom categories and the ability to split a “grocery” (for example) purchase across multiple categories I could probably cut down on things - which would be nice.

I truly believe a full supported IFTTT could solve the majority of people’s issues.

Been reading this and it seems that in this instance Monzo falls short in offering a functionality that traditional banks are able to provide through a second account.

The 2 main work arounds that have been given are:

  1. Set up all direct debits to the beginning of the month
  2. The summary balance takes account of committed spending to give you a balance that reflects your available spending.

The problem with the first is that I want my bank account to manage my finances, not organise my finances to manage my bank account.

The second is useful, but requires monitoring to ensure I don’t chip into my committed spend money. The idea of a 2nd account or direct debit pot, is that it allows me to manage my committed spend without having to monitor it.

In both examples the problem is that I want my bank account to manage it so I don’t have to.

Sounds to me like you just want to use a spreadsheet. :wink:

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I feel the exact same way.

There are a lot of ‘workarounds’ as evidenced in the previous replies but it’s just not convenient or simple.

I used to have one account for my bills/salary would go in and then a standing order to Monzo for my spending money. WHY I went Full Monzo is beyond me, because that worked pretty well.

Until we get Pots that direct debits can come out of, I won’t be happy :frowning:

Anyone know if you switch away from Monzo, do you have to close the account?

Feel I need to create a poll

Was I the only person who had only one bank account before delving into fintech?

I’ve talked to friends since joining this forum last year and it turns out they’ve all had three current accounts with Lloyds Bank and the like

Not for the first time in my life I wonder if I was totally missing what everyone else was up to

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I believe you can do a partial switch away from Monzo.

No no I’m the same. I had a current account, savings (who am I kidding I had moths and lint in there :joy:) with MetroBank. Plus a 0% credit card.

I’m currently transitioning #FullMonzo and not sure how this is such a problem. Monzo notifies me of upcoming scheduled transactions that are going to overdraw me. Plus a combination of IFTTT triggers and in-app scheduling will see me through :blush:

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I’m with you - I only had one current account before joining Monzo. And even now I only have two because I’m using a Starling account as a bills pot.

My girlfriend has various accounts and shuffles money around to get some benefits but I find the whole system inscrutable and a lot of effort for little gain.

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Thinking about the original post - I share this sentiment - I’d love to be able to have multiple Monzo accounts (e.g. one for incoming rent payments, others for bills etc)

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I’m curious about how this set-up works. Do you get your salary in Account 1, and then transfer everything for bills to Account 2?

I’ve only ever had one account before my Fintech adventures started, never really occurred to me to have more!

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That’s exactly what I do. Salary comes into my Monzo every Friday early morning, and before I wake up a chunk of it (Roughly 1/4 of my monthly bills total) flies off to my Starling account which has all my direct debits and standing orders - and another chunk flies off to a savings account.

When I wake up Friday I know that whatever is in my main account is mine to do as I want. The only manual shuffling about of money I have to do is to cater for a 5-Friday month where I get a little bonus.

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Ah ok, interesting. Might give that a go, if I can persuade the wife to let me mess around with everything!