I had to sit through a video explaining all the things the current account wouldn’t do before signing up… didn’t everyone?
It’s beta. Using it now is something of a risk (I wouldn’t be too surprised if it want down a few times before release). OTOH instant notifications mean it’s already better than what I was using before.
Having taken part in quite a few computer game Quality Assurance phases from an early point, usually, features of a product increase during an alpha/beta phase. That could be the reason some people feel underwhelmed, the expectations of continuous innovation not materialising. Monzo clearly want to stress test the system before introducing any changes at this phase.
You’re finding a preview account underwhelming? Because youre not getting free stuff such as cash back.
What about the stuff you don’t think about. Instantly freeze and unfreeze your card, development API, location based security, instant transaction notifications, transparency, free withdrawals, active social media, active and friendly support, community driven, hot coral, spending targets, and many future ideas that will be coming but are not ready yet.
It annoys me when people are using a preview account and saying they’re disappointed. What did you expect. They state MANY times that this is in no way a finished product.@anon70107404 wrote a good section about people signing up expecting a finished product not understanding what they’re signing up for 
My wife and I also have both a Santander 123 and Lloyds (Club not Platinum like @jeff2001) current account. We will be keeping the Santander 123 for the short term savings interest on our balance and the cashback on a subset of our direct debits offsets their account fee. I plan to ditch Lloyds though as I don’t use any of the Club benefits and it is only the credit interest that really benefits me (leaving joint account issues aside).
User experience-wise, the Lloyds app is OK (it has touch ID login now) and makes online banking a little easier than just using a normal web browser, but no instant notifications so you have to regularly poll it. The Santander app is annoying to log into (3 of 5 digits from a pin number…) and is not as nice to use as Lloyds once you are in, but I can do the basics of viewing balances and transferring funds which is all I really need to do. Again I have to poll it for my current balance or wait for my weekly (!) text message giving my balance.
In terms of loss benefits with Lloyds Platinum, it is worth checking that you are really getting the best value from the benefits for your monthly fee. After being a member of their older Silver account for a few years I decided that I would rather choose the specific insurances I need separately after scanning the market (and maybe getting some cashback while I am at it) rather than trusting my bank that I have the best deal for my personal circumstances. That said, I think in the future, Monzo are planning to offer some extras like this through third parties, but as others have said they are currently focused on making sure the basis of the current account are stable and ready for 400,000+ customers.
I am personally looking forward to watching the current account evolve over the next few months and quarters and am happy to be part of an exciting journey. 
Honestly people are just taking this thread the wrong way, they asked for feedback on a product and I gave it whilst trying to find out what other people with it like so that I can get excited and try other things out and provide more feedback. No I do not expect them to offer cash back but at the same time people will need other reasons to switch so that they can make profit. I get its alpha but that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t give feedback (In fact the whole point in an alpha ), I am a dev myself and so perfectly understand this. There have been some very helpful replies so far but I also get a sense that there are many who seem to take any feedback that isn’t 100% positive as a personal attack on their love of Monzo (Its rather annoying), constructive criticism makes better products.
I think you are right in the cashback scenario that it will certainly be a draw to the legacy banks. I’m sitting here looking up prices for mobile phone insurance and reading T&Cs of my house insurance to see if that provides enough cover for me etc.
They will need a competitive edge and I think that will come as they get into the fuller product they wish to offer which has been spoken about before as a finance control centre, so offering us the best deals on insurance products maybe such as mobile phone insurance. Mortgages are already on the road map along with gas & electric so that dream is already being realised in certain areas.
We’re not seeing the full fat bank account for sure so there is plenty more interesting stuff in the pipeline…
Often with these things the more you put in the more you get out…
Maybe build yourself something to work with the API…
I found the mobile phone insurance good from the prescriptive of not affecting premiums. I damaged my phone a good while back and just paid the 50 excess no fuss. More recently my son broke his, aviva wanted £100 excess and basically said my premiums would go up next year, I ended up not claiming and feel cheated especially with how much the premiums are already.
Hmmm yer that’s not a good product at all! See I’ve been looking at protect my bubble and that’s unlimited claims but does come with a provision for having to have purchased the device in the last 12 months (not a massive problem since we both do Apple upgrade and my kids are at the eldest 2 so doesn’t yet have a mobile!)
Although I have no idea what the effect on the premiums would be next year! Maybe this is where Monzo will play their part in offering up those products within their service to ensure we do get that value for money
I have found this, too.
I agree with you that the Monzo CA is underwhelming. It’s not able to replace First Direct (for me). I signed up because I can see the potential and I want to contribute and be part of the journey.
I’ve written a few comprehensive posts about setting up Payees and Payments on the Starling app. Now that has greater functionality than Monzo but is most underwhelming. Monzo needs to do a lot in this area …but I know this.
It was only after signing up for Starling, and seeing all the problems with their app, that I found out Starling is in beta. They don’t publicise it until you contact heir customer service with an issue or query. They are not the fully functioning app-only legacy bank alternative they currently purport to be.
Conversely, Monzo has gone to great efforts to ensure people understand theirs is not a finished product.
I’m no Monzo fanboy. Nor do I have anything against Starling. For me, I am interested in new ideas, new tech and the potential there is with both. Monzo has a long way to go but given @Tom’s background (I signed up to GoCardless when it launched), I believe that he has big ideas. And that they’re good ideas. Time will tell.
The potential with both is huge. Monzo has further to go but, I sense, has a clearer vision than Starling.
The Monzo app looks more the part and I only have the pre paid. I like the ideas Monzo have, but would on the surface been beaten to a current account by Starling. However when you use the Starling app, as Johnny has said it’s very underwhelming, and still very much a work in progress.
The Starling app is far from being a First Direct killer. Although in beta they’re encouraging people to switch, which seems odd as it’s still in beta. I wouldn’t swap for sometime yet.
I see Monzo as polishing their current account ready for a proper launch, which I would expect. Give me a stable near finished app, which will have the odd few tweaks. Starling have launched a sub par app which is wholly disappointing. I’m trusting Monzo not to do the same.
I think you’re right, I do recall something like that. It also this:
To me, it makes sense for feedback to be direct in this way.
I have santander 123, it’s the Bain of my life. At one stage I tried to keep my current account balance at near max in order to actually reap the rewards of the monthly cost as all my direct debits cash back pretty much only cancel out the £5 monthly account fee. But it’s a nightmare trying to do that, guess that’s why savings accounts were invented.
It’s not just you. My expectation was that the CA test flight app would slowly be evolving into the final app and we’d get to test the new features ahead of release.
The current app is ok but I was really looking forward to getting try out the new Breakdown section.
There are far too many people here who seem to think they’re board members of Monzo, or it’s single biggest investor. Stop taking it personally, and lighten up. At the end of the day, it’s a bank account. Surely the point of a forum like this is for people to express their views and provide feedback on the product?
The title of the post: "Is it just me or is the current account underwhelming"
Content compares Monzo to FULLY ACTIVE Banks such as Santander and Loyds
The point I was making, was Monzo “is” and “has stated” many times it’s only preview, so for it to be underwhelming makes no sense to myself as your standards seem to be set too high.
@richardgrey I’ve no issue with people expressing their opinions, sorry if I came across that way.
I also have a right to my own opinion too, and I was simply stating some benefits you might not think of. To say that people are acting like Board Members is silly, you’re basically saying you’re only entitled to an opinion if you’re a topic starter and anyone who responds is wrong and acting of higher authority.
Maybe an analogy would help:
say a dev team has been working on a new game (FPS, platform, what have you). They give a test build to a limited number of people for initial QA testing and tell them, “This is an early build to test level design, you can move around and navigate the level but there are no enemies yet”. Say then the testers report that it’s a bit boring and other games are more exciting because they have enemies to shoot or jump on, etc.
This is effectively where we are with the current account. Monzo have been very, very clear about the limitations of the preview, and about what they’re looking for from it, and some of your comments - while not necessarily ‘wrong’ in themselves - fall outside the scope of the preview.
I hope that clears things up some. I myself refrained from signing up to the preview until yesterday, actually, as initially the limitations had put me off but I eventually reached a place where I felt I would be happy to try using it. I’ll also still be keeping my legacy bank account for the forseeable future mainly because of the linked savings account, as I won’t be able to judge Monzo on the sort of savings accounts they would help provide until not only is the CA fully live but their marketplace starts being populated too. So I can understand keeping legacy accounts for the benefits, but I think it’s too early to criticise Monzo for their (lack of offer) because they’ve said all along that their intention is not to compete directly with banks on their special offers and that they’ll be building a marketplace solution instead.
We’ll have some Android related updates really soon to coincide with the next Open Office event, so keep an eye out 
@SheaLavington Dude, chill. My comment wasn’t aimed at you. Had it been, I would’ve tagged you in it! My comment was aimed at others whom I’ve had previous interactions with!
Totally agree with this. But disagreement is good too.
I notice that often the words “fan” or “fanboy” are used to try and discredit someone’s opinion. It might simply be a valid counter argument, but when using these terms, it can make a differing opinion immediately less valid. I dislike it much in the same way I hate the term “fake news”.
