As Monzo has grown so has it’s loyal fanbase, and the engagement from the team with them has been superb, even when it’s got things wrong.
Features came, features went and plus v1 “happened”. Folk left, folk stayed, some left & came back
But if we took everything that Monzo offered right now - if they were just another legacy bank, would you still support them? Given that a lot of what Plus offers some banks offer for free/features in the main app are being caught up fast by legacy banks. So I guess my question is;
If Monzo was just another legacy bank, would you stay or switch
Yes - I believe the features offered are better than other banks
Maybe - there are enough features for me to remain with them
No - The offerings against other banks are poorer and I would leave
I don’t sign up to a new bank every week to test them out, maybe Starling/Revolut/Latest Challenger are all excellent but coming from Lloyds/Natwest
Far far superior app
Notifications
Google Sheets
Pots
Round-ups
IFTTT
Bills from pots
Some of these things didn’t exist before I moved to Monzo, some of them did and I didn’t know I’d like them.
Maybe there’s another bank that does them all, does a few, does a few more, but I don’t really have the time or inclination to change banks to find out for a small gain. If another bank comes along that does a 50% Apple discount if you transfer your account, then maybe I’ll try them out!
I keep a Barclays account for their Blue rewards and keep one other account that I switch occasionally when there is a Switch offer. I haven’t come across an app/account from a traditional legacy bank that would come close to having features as good as Monzo.
As a day to day ‘cash’ bank it’s been a superior experience, it’s made me pay attention to my daily spending (those instant notifications are also a nice instant confirmation that payment has gone through). Pots have helped me save a little on the side.
I’ve also been toying with, finally, doing a CASS to switch from my ‘bill payment’ account with Bank of Scotland, but need to properly explore Bill Pots tbh.
But regardless, it has, and continues to be, a ‘nicer’ way to manage my money.
Just putting it out there but I adore Bills Pots, Absolutely adore them!
They’re in my opinion the best and most underrated feature of Monzo. I actually only have one Bill Pot but just clicking on it on the first of every month and seeing “Amount Left to Pay” with a list of my DD’s to come out and how much for.
The feeling of depositing that left to pay amount into the pot when I get paid and knowing Monzo takes care of the the rest is just the best.
“they” have you already with this question lol …I dont “support” Lloyds Bank , I use them as a service occasionally, what Monzo have done is set themselves apart from banks , whilst still being a bank that people want to "support " for some strange reason …
It’s going to take a lot for me to switch from Monzo, not so much out of love or loyalty to them, but inertia.
I’ve been with Monzo since the beta days and before that I was with Ulster Bank for over half of my life. The reason I was with Ulster Bank in the first place is because that’s where my parents banked and then inertia kept me there.
Flash forward some years and monzo comes along and their app is leaps ahead of Ulster Bank’s app (for reference it’s pretty much a carbon copy of Natwest’s app) and that prompted me to start using them.
Monzo’s app was so far ahead that it overcame my inertia and I think it’s going to take something that is equally leaps and bounds ahead for me to switch away.
Being just as good or slightly better isn’t enough for me to consider moving.
When I first discovered Monzo the app and community actually made me excited about my finances.
I still don’t think legacy banks have caught up with the app design and community engagement. Things feel clunky in my NatWest app vs Monzo.
Legacy banks still win some things, cheque imagining, international payments, equal features between personal and joint accounts (overdrafts/paid features).
I actually switched to a legacy bank, a knee jerk reaction after the watchdog report, but it wasn’t long before I missed Monzo and came back.
I was referring to brand loyalty with this one - was geninully curious as to how strongly people felt about it being Monzo as oppose to “just another bank”
No real brand loyalty here. I don’t think Monzo staff are fundamentally better people than NatWest staff, Starling staff, etc.
Nor do I think Monzo are trying to achieve anything significantly different from other banks (they all just want profitable customers and increased value for shareholders).
But, if you want a bank account in which to receive your salary, pay bills, use Apple Pay, split bills with friends, etc then Monzo are at least as good as the competition. Their app remains significantly quicker and easier to use than most high street banking apps.
I could find reasons to prefer other banks (mostly around paying in cash and cheques, customer service, offering loans or mortgages, and making high value transfers) but none of them are deal breakers for me and I totally agree with earlier comments about inertia.
Yeah but for me I’d still ‘see’ that money and, I dunno, it’s a very very small piece of friction but having it an entirely separate account, so I don’t see salary coming in and then ‘disappearing’ into a Pot… I dunno, totally psychological I know!
Yeah like I say, it’s very very down to trying to ‘hide’ the money completely. Just seeing the amounts in the transaction list would throw me I think. But maybe that’s cos it’s what I’ve been doing for 20 years or so… time to change?
AHHH subscriptions! I.e. things I pay with by ‘card’ … that’s what is stopping me. I knew there was a reason!
I get where you’re coming from and makes sense to me, id like to be able hide Bills Pots transactions from the feed but I don’t think they’ll ever do it unfortunately.
As for subscriptions, yh that’s an issue until if and when you can set a pot as a source for virtual cards
I don’t know about others but I think I’ve become very used to the more modern Monzo app.
It’s only super occasionally that I need to log into my old Lloyds app and it’s only then that I realise that there are some things I take for granted already. I don’t even think the Lloyds one is the worst banking app out of all of them but Monzo is way, way ahead.
I do think Monzo is making a few missteps here and there but overall, it’s a solid experience and I wouldn’t really think about leaving unless we see more features being paywalled (no matter the price they decide on).
I originally opened a second bank account to keep my bills separate and always have the money there to cover them, so easier just having the single account and everything coming from there