The only time I’d want a credit card was if I was buying something bigger that I couldn’t afford to Flex in 3 payments and didn’t want to pay interest on.
I could get a new card, 0% for 18/24 months or something and pay it off like that.
But getting a new card because I want a new xbox, office chair or Sonos isn’t practical but I can afford to pay those off in 3.
I will definitely use Flex more than a credit card, but I’ll still want the use of both.
It’s Mastercard credit…
Note - I mostly wrote this before the above replies…
But why if it gives you zero benefit over making the purchase using your debit card? Potential reasons I can think of are:
Note: I’m assuming you don’t actually want to borrow money and will pay off in full with £0 interest - I also haven’t put S75 as a reason because I’m assuming that purchases over £100 can go on Flex…
Flex probably won’t be able to compete with 0% for 18/ 24 months but we’ve thought about if/ how it can cover some of the other points. 
I think there’s a convenience point too, @TheoGibson. With a credit card you can just use it for any value transaction, knowing you’ve got more protection for the more expensive transactions, and knowing that you get an interest free period.
I’m using Flex, but very selectively because I can’t just set it as my default card and on the 0% option and forget about it. (I recognise there’s little commercial benefit for you in allowing me to do that. Unless it was perhaps a Plus perk?)
Very true! This is a good point!
For me it’s 1, 2 and 3 as I prefer to keep my revolving debt low so only spread things if I absolutely have to/makes better financial sense (eg spread car insurance over 12 months at 0% vs the high APR offered by insurers)
Main attraction is cashback really which is why Chase were able to get me to break with my rule of credit cards only for this coming year and will continue to reassess going forward
If I had the option I’d probably always use a monzo credit card over Flex.
One reason is so that I wouldn’t have to pay anything at the time of purchase.
99% of the times that I buy something on credit it’s because I don’t want to be paying anything there and then with my money.
I’m fortunate enough to have savings so if I wanted to pay with my own money now I’d have just done that with my debit card.
Flex requires me to be more “involved”. With a credit card I’ve usually got a month or more before I have to start taking action on the admin to avoid fees or interest.
Finally, what I use a credit card for most, pre auths and holds e.g. when hiring a car.
Flex is good, but a credit card is “easier” and less hassle.
I totally understand that I may not be the target market for this type of product, monzo Flex is my first ever BNPL product (excluding credit cards and loans), I just think it adds complexity to something that is a lot more fluid with a credit card. Some people probably see this more rigid approach in Flex as a plus though that can help stop snowballing debt.
Different strokes for different folks, so with that in mind a credit card will be superior for some users and Flex isn’t a magic bullet that does away with that want or need.
PS. I don’t hate Flex, and everyone who worked on it should be incredibly proud with what they’ve produced. I just don’t think it’s for me.
I forgot this. This is really important!
This is partly why I love the approach to credit that PayPal have taken. I don’t necessarily view these products as different solutions for different people, but rather as different tools for different jobs.
Each has values and drawbacks over the other in some situations. PayPal provides both and more, integrated into the checkout flow, where this admin, if any exist, ought to be done!
sidetrack
Monzo. In the chase thread we discovered recently how Chase take advantage of the 3DS process to provide some useful utility to customers: Change which account you spend from, shows you if the account has enough money and a prompt to transfer it if you don’t. Things you can do before confirming the transaction.
Flex would love to have this sort of functionality. It doesn’t have the advantage of plugging directly into the checkout process, but it can bridge that gap by bringing some of that into the 3DS process. Give me my plan options there before I authenticate the transaction, for instance.
end sidetrack
back to my point. PayPal Credit is both part credit card and part BNPL product, and you can choose how you want to use it. my hope, and expectation to an extent, is that Monzo Flex will evolve in its use cases and become more similar to what PayPal credit offer, with the advantage of having a card. Options. Flex at its heart, is a software solution to the problem of credit. And like all software, it can be updated and improved, and I suspect Flex will be. This is just version 1, and for the niche version 1 fills, it fills it very well. I very much hope future versions evolve to offer more tools for more jobs.
Down the road, I’d like to see flex default to behaving like your typical credit card, with an option to choose instalments later, similar to how you can Flex any debit card transaction from the past two weeks. Throw in interest free periods as standard for the initial few months of a purchase, and they’d be onto a winner I reckon.
PayPal credit is very nearly the perfect solution to credit in my view. It just lacks a card, customer support, and a proper disputes processes. Trying to raise a section 75 claim with them is nigh impossible, and can only be done via snail mail in the uk.
I’m still playing with Flex and getting as much use out of it as I can, by using it the way it’s intended, and I think I’m arriving at the same conclusion. It’s just BNPL with a card, and that’s just not how I like to do things in the vast majority of scenarios. The cool thing for me, which I think has the most utility is being able to go back in time and shift stuff to credit. Just a shame that loses out on section 75.
Tymit works like normal credit card by default.
One can split any payment across the next 3 billing cycles for free. But by default it is pay in full in the next billing cycle.
One can also split into more than 3 billing cycles with interest charges.
But it doesn’t take any amount/payment instantly.
So I can’t see it explicitly stated in the exclusions, would I be able to pay a HMRC tax return bill via flex ? I have a small self employed tax bill to pay which is somewhat unexpected so splitting would be most helpful ha!
the HMRC website says you can’t use a personal credit card, but flex isn’t a credit card per se is it ? and you can use a personal debit card…
I’d be surprised if it worked tbf, only one way to find out though… Give it a go 
It does mention in the eligible transactions that “Tax payments” are not eligible.
It’s got a credit card assignment with MasterCard so it would probably be rejected if you used the card
You’re quite right, missed it at the bottom 🤦🏻
The credit card, which also isn’t a credit card!
If you have the funds to pay it initially with your debit card you should then be able to Flex that transaction.
Nope. Tax payments are exempt from Flex.
Wonder when credit increases will be possible on Flex? It’s a great feature! It says check back soon
It’s on the list…
Personally I’d have thought it would probably be slightly lower down as Flex is so new, not that much is going to have changed from when you originally applied to now to get a different limit.