No, that wasn’t me.
But credit cards aren’t generally such large minimum monthly payments. I have plenty of high limits with far smaller payments required.
Ahh I think I just saw you posting screenshots.
Monzo is only high monthly if you want to pay without interest, other credit cards are REALLY high monthly payments if you want to avoid interest of basically the full balance and they certainly dont make it easy to see whats going on unless you get a good into offer and tighly manage things and dont forget while paying the minimum or keep balance transfering.
I dont think normal credit cards are better than flex unless you have the credit profile to keep moving around on interest free offers where as flex allows people to at least get 3 payments interest free and based on the comments here monzo has been conservative with the limits roll out in the past. Flex, for me, is far clearer to manage than my other cards and know whats going on but I dont have Amex so it may be better. The RBS card I have for example is kinda terrible to manage even though their app isnt bad although I dont use that card often.
I dont see many credit card companies pushing low limits and the folks getting chase seem to be getting high limits and could easily have a monthly problem without factoring interest.
I also dont recall anyone saying about Chase’s limited being problematic for people even though its arguably less flexible and easier to end up trapped after the intro period.
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To be fair to everyone else it’s just me saying it’s problematic.
I accept nobody else sees it this way, but I do think fixed payments like Flex are worse with higher limits than normal credit cards. Just my opinion.
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I am just curious why you see it that way to understand if I am missing a beat with normal cards as I dont make heavy use other than when traveling/buying a tv etc and thats more for s75 than anything else. I also tend not to close/open and rotate cards like I suspect a fair few people.
My RBS for example, when I go to amend next months DD in app I can either take full amount, minimum payment or fixed payment in that order, if I pick fixed or minimum it doesnt tell me how much it will cost me in interest by not clearing the balance nor how long it will take (caveat, it might do on the next screen but I dont think it will and I dont want to roll that dice. I think it will apply the change as the checkbox implies it will)
Flex, I can pick a flexed item, or the full balance and adjust the payment period or fixed amount across flex balance I want to pay per month and it will show me the potential interest from the change as well as how long it will take to clear before I confirm it.
That to me gives me far more information and control on what I would be facing. If you know something about other credit cards/amex for example that I have not seen that makes things clearer to the debtor I would welcome the information because as I said before I dont make heavy use of the credit cards I have besides flexing the odd thing.
This does preclude the postive of intro interest free periods but even with that, the lack of interformation presented in RBS for example would make keep track of debt that much more predatory. It will be interesting to see if chase does something different.
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I think I’ve explained a lot in previous posts but in essence I think minimum payments are too high for a “pay in instalments” card. It is great for smaller purchase but I think it is problematic for higher purchases.
It really is just that 
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Christ discourse can be glitchy for me with READ position tracking when I use the app then go on the desktop, I have missed some of your replies above for some reason.
I can see what you are getting at based on what you have seen from an unnamed person.
You said you dont use flex but have you had it or do you have it but dont use or have you never had it?
I just find the management part so much clearer and I would have welcomed in my student days to manage things.
My RBS card is by far a lot less clear and a lot easier to stay in debt paying a fortune though.
I have Flex but I don’t use it.
If I do use it, and when I did, it was always for products I know I can afford in 3 monthly payments. I worked out my maximum amount to have on it, and made my limit around that amount.
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I use mine rarely. But I tend to use it as a free overdraft as I have most of my money squirreled away into specific pots.
I can temporarily Flex something until my next weekly pay without having to worry about accruing 38p interest. Works for me.
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Just checked mine, they are being responsible as I’ve only got the State Pension (for now)
Think I might double it with Xmas coming up.
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Hmm yeah mine won’t go above 5k which is interesting based on salary, credit usage etc. etc. but Monzo are free to lend to whoever they like, and if I’m honest I don’t really care. Flex only gets used when I’m abroad and need to deal with a hotel/car hire place etc. that needs a credit card for a hold so 5k is plenty for me. Thanks for reading my ramble…
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Been trying to follow this discussion, this has always been my feeling too but I can’t think how to articulate why. I don’t know if it’s just because I haven’t used the product (I have PayPal Credit which is somewhat similar with 4 month 0%) but to me there’s something about the fact that it’s specifically designed to be paid in instalments that feels like it’s more prone to having the monthly payments run away from you as it feels like it’s a small payment, but if you have multiple instalment plans then those small payments add up. But again I’ve not used the product.
This is what I do and is probably why Flex has never appealed to me. I have a range of credit cards with higher limits that also have low minimum payments (4 of them are 1%) and have frequent/permanent balance and money transfer offers. Instead of using these to consolidate debt on cards that would otherwise be charged at the standard rate, I strategically use them to borrow at the cheapest possible rate.
For example I recently did a money transfer for £5,500 from Barclaycard at 0% for 18 months with a 2.8% fee (fees are 3.2-3.5% now, this was a few months ago). The fee was £154 which over 18 months is £8.50/mo, which over that timeframe is essentially negligible. As I can then only pay back 1% a month I can bank up money every month in a savings account instead and earn a chunk of that fee back.
I would use Flex for smaller purchases, and by small I guess I mean under £1,000 or so, where bouncing balances around may be more hassle than it’s worth. I use PayPal Credit for things that are like £200-£500, and that only has a limit of £4,000. I wouldn’t want to use that for anything that was going to take 9-12+ months to pay back though.
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I will be honest I can see how that approach could really cause problems for people if they lose their job etc and suddenly don’t get new cards/offer.
I know it’s a completely okay thing to do and many do it without issue but just imagine you lost your job at the end of the term and didn’t have the money stoozed. It’s not the credit card companies fault or yours but I can see how people end up suddenly in danger territory if they were not religious with the stooze rules.
I know a few folk that would end up in serious problems if they decided to try this over flex in 3.
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That’s valid sure, but that applies to any large credit card spend surely, regardless of how it’s done. The same would apply if the same amount was spent on Flex over a longer instalment plan and you couldn’t afford say the £318 repayment over 12 months from Revels’ example, or if it was just on a regular card accruing basic interest. If you lost your job you’d struggle with any larger borrowing repayments however they were taken out.
My approach is more about the most cost effective way of making larger purchases working on the basis that income isn’t an issue. If you could clear off a purchase within the 0% 3 months then that would obviously be best, but if it was a £5,000 purchase I would think the vast majority of people would not be paying that off in 3 months. They’d have to go into a longer instalment plan, and that’s kind of my point about higher limits on Flex, as the larger the purchase the more likely you are to have no choice but to go into a longer payment plan. At that point, for me at least, a low fee balance transfer would make more sense. As far as losing your job goes, that £5,000 would have to be repaid somehow even if it was on Flex. But if we’re just talking about the most cost effective way of doing it, Flex makes less sense outside the 3 months of 0%. Which is why I agree with @coffeemadman that higher limits don’t make sense to me personally as the only way you’d realistically be able to pay that back is with a longer instalment plan, and for me personally that’s never an option I’d choose as I have alternatives.
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Nationwide are pretty generous with limits and also fee free.
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Halifax Clarity Credit or Barclaycard Rewards
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Just bear in mind in NZ a lot of places may charge for card usage from overseas regardless, and it’s often more to use contactless than chip and PIN.
Monzo won’t charge but they may still have a charge in some places.
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However much Monzo like to think Flex is a credit card, it isn’t in my opinion.
Your parents would be better off with one of the following:
https://uk.virginmoney.com/cards/products/everyday-cashback-cards
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Apologies if this has already been discussed, but are there any indications Monzo plan on adding Flex purchases to the auto-spreadsheet?
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Close to zero I’d imagine.
The difficulty being you don’t actually spend at point of purchase, so it would skew your balances etc if it was in the usual column. It would need it’s own added to the end for Flex for the amount of the total cost.
Considering the other basics that the sheet doesn’t have that would be simpler to add, I don’t see Flex coming anytime soon.
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I’d love for the paid off flex transactions to dissappear as soon as paid off, currently I am having to wait around 24hrs…