Introducing Monzo Flex – a better way to pay later 🚀 [NEW: Flex on Apple Pay!]

UK Monzo Chat News & Updates
4845

Hi everyone :wave:

We’ve been quietly working on some changes for Flex, and I’m excited to give you a sneak peek at the first of them today.

But first - as Flex is a credit product I need to remind you of some of the legal bits:

  • Not everyone will be eligible for Flex. We will run a soft credit search to assess if you’re eligible, and a hard search if you open Flex.
  • As a minimum, you’ll have to be over 18 and a UK resident, and you’ll need a Monzo current account to apply.
  • Flex Build offer representative example: 39% APR representative (variable). £350 credit limit. 39% yearly interest (variable).
  • If you miss a payment this may negatively impact your credit score. Ts&Cs apply.

Some Monzo users have told us they want to use a credit card to build their credit score, but aren’t eligible for Flex today - often because they’re new to the UK, are new to borrowing or have had trouble with credit in the past and need a fresh start.

We’re testing a new offer for these folks that aren’t eligible for Flex, which we’re calling Flex Build.

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Flex Build is a new version of Flex, with a smaller starting credit limit, interest free when paying in full, and the flexibility to spread the cost over 3 to 24 months at 39% APR representative (variable). As borrowing power increases over time, so will Flex Build. We’ll help users unlock things like larger credit limits and lower interest rates as we see them managing their borrowing responsibly.

We’re giving early access to a very small number of users over the coming months. As this is a new account and reliant on eligibility and personal circumstances we unfortunately can’t offer early access to our friends in the community, sorry!

What does this mean for you, and for Flex?

If you already have Flex, nothing changes. We still have one credit card and that’s called ‘Monzo Flex’.

But if you apply for Flex now, you might see we have two starting offers:

  • Flex Purchase: the ‘normal’ Flex account we’re all used to, with the option to spread the cost over 3 monthly payments interest free.
  • Flex Build: the new offer that helps users build their credit score

‘Purchase’ or ‘Build’ won’t appear on cards. Once you’ve signed up - regardless of which offer you signed up with - we’ll drop the offer name and use Monzo Flex.

The offer name in our marketing and in the sign up flow is the only change though, it’s exactly the same credit card as before.

What’s next?

We expect to run this as a small pilot for a number of months before considering rolling it out further, so you might not hear much from us on it for a while. We’ll let you know as soon as we have any updates to share.

In the meantime we’d love to hear from you. Have you used a credit builder card before? What did you like, and what would you change?

32 Likes
Flex transactions showing as multiple credit lending transactions
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4846

Great idea! Hopefully this will allow those declined for Flex to get on the ladder so to speak.

I will only really say (don’t hate me) that I don’t like the name “Flex Purchase”. It doesn’t really say what it is and sounds odd.

Admittedly I don’t have a name other then just Flex to have it as, but something more akin to Barclaycard Forwards vs Barclaycard vs Barclaycard Platinum style names.

6 Likes
4848

I like the name. For me it signifies being flexible with a purchase and I also like the other definition as in gain purchase on (of?) something.

4849

But Flex Build is also being flexible with a purchase.

2 Likes
4853

Not to me :person_shrugging: Naming things is hard :slight_smile:

4854

a 39% interest rate is usury in my view, hitting the most vulnerable and poorest the most.

1 Like
4856

You don’t think Flex Build is being flexible with purchases like the (regular) Flex?

It’s literally the same product with a low limit.

4857

That’s most lenders approach.

4858

Agreed. To me, Flex Build should probably be a completely interest free option: low limit, with either the only option being to fully pay each month OR at the most an option to flex the payments but only to a maximum of 3 months with no interest. Remove any option of longer plans that accrue interest until the customer has the credit background to be able to do so.

1 Like
4859
  • What’s the difference between this and Flex other than the interest rate and lower credit limit?
  • Can a Flex Build account mature into a normal Flex account after sometime?
4860

I was talking about the names rather than the products. If I wasn’t already aware of what they were, Flex Purchase would suggest the ability to make a Flex ible Purchase. I’m not sure I’d know exactly what Flex Build would signify but I’d imagine something was being built up and might make the connection with credit.

4862

I think the issue mostly for me is that if two Flex products exist, only one being called Flex Purchase makes no sense when the other product is identical but for credit limit.

1 Like
4866

True, and to be fair I missed the part where Flex Build had no interest free flex option. I now think it’s even worse for those with bad credit because they don’t actually have a way of enjoying the main part - Flex - without accruing interest.

Flex Build and Flex feels better to me. Flex Build has (admittedly terrible) flex options and “builds” towards regular Flex.

I just can’t get the niggle away from not enjoying “Flex Purchase”.

To me given they both flex a purchase it’s like having “Barclaycard Forward” and “Barclaycard Credit”. They both provide credit so would be a terrible name.

4869

The main differences are that Build starts with lower credit limit, higher interest rate and no interest free over 3 months.

But they also get a different user experience. We want to help users unlock aspects of ‘normal Flex’ over time, getting things like higher limits, lower APRs and interest free offers. We’ll be transparent about what they need to do to unlock those when available, and they’ll be able to see in the app whether they’re on track or not. We’re still working through exactly how this will work, so we’ll share more details at a later date.

edit: not sure how I managed to respond to you ndrw! was aimed at jon1’s post

10 Likes
4871

On naming - great discussion as always. I should’ve been clearer in my initial post - we still have one credit card and that’s called ‘Monzo Flex’.

What we now have are two starting offers:

  • Flex Purchase: the ‘normal’ Flex account we’re all used to, and interest free over 3 months
  • Flex Build: the new offer that helps users build their credit score

@N26throwaway you’ll be pleased to hear, ‘Purchase’ or ‘Build’ won’t appear on cards. Once you’ve signed up - regardless of which offer you signed up with - we’ll drop the offer name and use Monzo Flex.

12 Likes
4873

Thanks! Answers all of my questions other than it’s still a little unclear if a user signs up for Flex Build can they ever mature to Flex Standard, or can they only unlock higher limits, lower APRs of Flex Build?

4874

That’s actually better; I’d recommend popping that into the first post as it initially looked like two different products.

If once you’re in it’s exactly the same then really there’s barely a need for two names, or at best Flex Build and Flex.

Flex Build :arrow_right: Flex

7 Likes
4875

So hang on.

Monzo has released a credit builder card?

4877

Is the card any different?

1 Like
4879

I’ll stick with normal flex then