Worth a try
Do it and report back
Was bored, so decided to have a play just to see what the flows and experience was like.
Found an eligible transaction. My most recent payment for my YFood subscription. I chose the end of the month for payments because that’s when I’m used to dealing with credit bills. Credit at the end of a month, bills at the start. That’s my approach.
Chose the 3 instalment (obvs) so there’s no interest. I don’t need to flex so why would I wanna pay interest?
Interesting thing happens next though. First they take your first instalment, and then refund the full amount of the purchase. Makes sense, likely easier accounting for most people. Though I’m illogical and was expecting just a pro rata refund less £12.
Question though, given the order of the approach. What would have happened had I not had enough to cover the cost of the first instalment and didn’t have an overdraft? Perhaps refund first, then take the first payment?
Here’s what the transaction looks like on the Flex feed:
Small complaint here. It would be nice to see how much of that £35.60 is remaining somewhere on the transaction to glance at. Perhaps replace the paid back bit with how much is left would be my suggestion. I feel it’s more valuable information over how much has been paid, and it might get a little confusing when there’s a bunch of things on here you’re paying over different periods.
This is what you see when you tap edit. Great. Everything I need to know. Left to pay is still the more important glanceable information to me that should be on the actual feed, but nice that it’s on here.
Finally, here’s a gif of me playing with the slider you get when you tap edit. Also nice. Fun slider.
And here’s the nice congratulatory screen you get when you’ve paid it all off:
The entire thing feels very polished and well executed. It’s a nice experience to credit. Just wish this approach could get section 75 protections too, rather than just paying with the virtual card.
Now I don’t mean to put a dampener on things, but I do have some (hopefully constructive) criticism with the offering, which can be construed as more of my own personal wish list for how I’d like to see this evolve in the future.
-
When the first payment is taken. Normally with credit, I’m not used to making the first payment straight away, and I don’t much like that I have to here. It makes the concept of paying in 3 instalments a little misleading, because if you’re like me, you assume it’s 3 months of interest free payments, but it’s actually only two (or a little over depending on your payment date). This makes the product, compared to PayPal quite a bit poorer in value than i was initially expecting it to be. (Two months interest free vs four). I’d rather the first payment be taken either on the chosen day of the current month, or to take one of the better components of traditional credit cards, the chosen day of the following month.
-
Small niggle, but refund the transaction first, and then take the first payment. The feed doesn’t feel right when the payment is taken first, and then the purchase is refunded.
-
Another small niggle, but make the left to pay on individual transactions a bit easier to see at a glance. It’s one of the more important pieces of information to show to a user, in my opinion.
The next few are more hopes and wishes for future functionality than criticisms of the current product.
-
The ability to not have to pay in instalments would be nice. Like traditional credit. With these BNPL schemes, I’m a much bigger fan of short interest free periods (a la PayPal’s 4 months) than actual instalments. Would be nice to choose between either approach down the line, and receive some kind of interest free offer for transactions regardless of whether it’s instalments or more traditional use of credit.
-
(Technically 4.5 because it builds off the former wish) I’d love to see a slick interface/approach to being able to move all spending outside of bills to Flex, and Monzo automatically take it all, in full, at the end of the following month.
-
Some Plus/Premium only promotions would be nice. I think they’re great value products in their own right already, but something as simple as offering an additional interest free month/instalment or two could likely go a long way to adding even more value. Possibly wind up up-selling Flex to plus customers, and Plus to Flex customers.
-
Merchant specific deals. One of my favourite features about the other players in this space are their merchant specific deals. They’re often fantastic, great value, and better/cheaper than buying outright. When done responsibly, every party involved in the transaction benefits. Give me 6 months interest-free instalments if I spend at Apple in September? I’ll most likely buy my iPhone with Flex rather than a competitor. Stuff like that.
To summarise, Monzo has done a really good job at bringing the benefits of BNPL and integrating into something that feels more like a credit card. I’d just like to see it embrace more of the credit card use cases down the line rather than just be a BNPL platform with a card. It feels like a diet Apple Card right now, and I’d love to see this grow into both a great UK equivalent of that product and a competitor to it for when it eventually launches here.
All in all. great product. I like it a lot. Might not be the very best offer on the market, but it’s decent and something I’ll use. I hope, and suspect it’ll get better as time goes on. Both in terms of value, and how it can be used. Also, the Plus variant of this card looks far too nice to be restricted to virtual only. Physical? Maybe even, metal? 
Well done, Monzo!
37 Likes
It’s how clearpay takes their payments. Pay the first instalment straight away. At least they do when I use them
1 Like
This is great feedback - thank you 
Quite a few of these things we had thought about (and just need more time to build) but some are different takes on conversations we’ve had and it’s also nice to have some of our thinking and direction confirmed.
to a lot of these things 
23 Likes
Must admit, I’m still a bit of a novice with these things. I haven’t used them much aside from Klarna, and they take the first payment 30 days after your purchase. That’s more what I’m used to, as well as the traditional approach of credit.
PayPal credit is my go to, and whilst they have a pay in 3, I stick religiously to the 4 months interest free, because it’s just a better offer. I do believe they take the first payment with pay in 3 on day 1 though, like Monzo.
I think just a small tweak is needed here from the team. It looks like both transactions are triggered at exactly the same second looking at my Google Sheet, so I have this:
5 Likes
⏏.Now maybe there is more than one PayPal approach, but I have been using what feels like the main PayPal Pay In 3 approach fairly often and they always take the first of three payments immediately as well
Gained access yesterday 
really sweet job, nice one all involved
Be nice to hide/ move to settle transactions once they’re paid off
2 Likes
While I’ve not yet got Flex, I agree with this; left to pay is more important than already paid. The future life of the Flex transaction should be top level, with the past available on the transaction itself.
3 Likes
PayPal’s pay in 3 is quite new. This was their original approach to BNPL and is the one I use regularly.
Simply spend over £99.00 and you get 0% interest for 4 months on that purchase. The great thing is you’ll automatically get 0% for 4 months every time you spend over £99.00. So, if you’re planning a weekend away or fancy splashing out on a new wardrobe, PayPal Credit is the perfect way to spread the cost of those larger purchases.
Is it easy to keep track of how much you have left to pay for each purchase and for how long?
I haven’t used it in years but my recollection is it was a bit tricky, and I think that’s the reason I stopped using it.
Hello can we do flex when we take money out the hole
Thanks
I think so. You get an ordered list, with the one needing paying back first at the top, and the latest at the bottom. It shows you how much is left to pay off each transaction, and any payment gets deducted from the one at the top of the list first.
I have a system for this though, and I buy almost everything costing more than £99 with PayPal credit when it’s an option. I’ll buy what I want, transfer the cost to Marcus, or now I have plus again, leave the first thousand in my PayPal pot. Set up a direct debit for the working day before it needs to be paid off. When the pending payment pops up in Monzo, I withdraw it from Marcus.
Only downside is I can’t schedule withdrawals from Marcus, else I’d do that, making the whole thing virtually automated.
For me, it works out ever so slightly better than Amex rewards.
Edit: attaching a screenshot to demonstrate.
1 Like
Tesco Bank allow scheduled payments, and their Instant Saver rate is 0.59% atm, 0.49% bonus for 12 months.
It’s who I use for scheduled payments. And you are not limited to withdrawing to the one linked current account either.
1 Like
Nope.
Search in the help section of the app and it gives you a list
2 Likes
Thanks you
1 Like
Awesome! I’ll check them out, thank you!
I do remember many years ago, they allowed deposits by direct debit, so wanted to use them to meet the direct debit requirement for switching bonus shenanigans. They declined me. 
I’ve opened a regular savings account with Ecology for that. First payment, bank transfer, subsequent months will be via DD.
It’s old-fashioned, by post, (the DD setup) but pleasant customer service experience so far.
Moneybox is modern savings app that takes direct debits. I use them to generate free direct debits.