Launching Pots

Why can’t we have all 10? They’re all great ideas and none of them contradict other ideas that I can see. Get to work Monzo!

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Not really. We could change work-flow to spend longer in pre-release states but until we have a larger testing team then one platform’s Beta/TestFlight would still get the release first :disappointed_relieved:

At the moment, Beta/TestFlight get the releases one or two days before they go to the main app store, unless there is some nasty problem we missed in testing :fire: They are more for checking usability rather than behaviour since both have a limited amount of users on them (TestFlight has a restriction that caps the number you can invite) and they are quite a unique bunch :wink:

With TestFlight we’re looking for “tapping this button and then moving money to a pot crashes the app on iOS 10” rather than “I would prefer it if the Pots were easier to find on the screen”. In the first case (crashing), we’d fix it before going live. In the second case we wouldn’t, we’d validate that feedback with the public release and begin to iterate.

So, generally, as soon as we’re satisfied with crash reports, logs, and TestFlight feedback we release to everyone. The key learnings we get from the app being live to everyone completely is huge and incredibly valuable :star:

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Yep! This is correct. @priscila works on testing both the iOS and Android apps and she alternates between each on a weekly basis.

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I’d also really like to be able to customise the amount to transfer in and out of pots. Multiples of £5 doesn’t let me do what I’d like to do with them, and sometimes when you’re on a limited income, the difference between £2.99 and £5 does really make a difference.

I remember having the same issue with the Pre Paid card when I first used Monzo, it very nearly put me off using it. The same interface is used to top up by card. I was told I could use bank transfer for odd amounts, but at the time they didn’t allow transfers of less than £10. At the time I had a few quid sitting in various unused accounts so wanted to move it all onto Monzo just to make it more easily available.

The interface always feels like it should let you tap on the amount to edit it so it’s a bit frustrating you can’t.

Overall, I’m really pleased with Pots as they are, and am looking forward to additional functionality. The original Sneak Peeks post showed Rules and third-party apps being available :raised_hands:

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I’ve tried looking for the form but can’t find it?

Hey Guys - love the idea of pots - but precise amounts is a really big deal for me.

At the moment I have multiple savings accounts linked off my current account. They’ve all got negligible rates so that’s not why they’re in use, they’re effectively just my pots.

One pot is for things I need for the new house - it contains all of the money I’ve set aside for furniture and such. Everytime I buy something, I just transfer the money out of my pot. I was hoping to use Monzo pots for this and transfer all of my accounts over, but it doesn’t work if you can’t transfer exact amounts.

Every time I spent less than a round amount, I’d have to round up to transfer the money from the pot to my card, so it’s really inefficient.

I really like pots and can’t wait to see it evolve.

It would be great to be able to buy or pay for something and then be able associate/label it with a pot so it didn’t go against your normal monthly targets for the month. Having a view of overall spend would be good in case you wanted to see how much you had spent including funds from pots.

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Pots is probably the first piece of Monzo functionality that has left me underwhelmed. Firstly from a UI perspective it is not obvious how to create a pot (at least on an iPhone X). There should be a visual prompt about Pots.

Secondly a savings account pays interest. I see no point in ring fencing savings with Monzo when I can easily flip money between Monzo and another bank’s deposit account. I don’t expect interest on my primary balance but when I move it to a savings ‘account’ I do expect interest. Interested in others’ views here.

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This is where future integrations could come into play. So you could make a pot, and have that pot go to 3rd party savings/investments.

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I think I see pots as simply a way for me to limit the potential for theft/fraud of the card goes missing. I usually keep around £100 only in my PP account and I anticipate keeping any funds over that amount in a pot so that they can be quickly transferred without a need to top up the account in a hurry.

I should say that I doubt that I will be using Monzo as my main account for some time to come, so I am sure others will find uses for pots which suit them better.

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I don’t see a pot as a saviings account but as a budgeting mechnism. I’ll put in £X per month towards servicing the car then take it all out (or as much as I need) when the service s due.

Interest would be a bonus but the primary requirement is to keep the money seperate from my spending.

(When Monzo integrate with 3rd party savings providers, I believe these account might also manifest as ‘pots’ meeting your desire that way.)

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Sounds like a savings account to me.

You could use a savings account to do the job if you wanted to, sure. The last thing I want is a string of savings accounts, some of which will never have more than £60 in.

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Was being a bit pedantic there, not intended. I’m using the goals on Starling at the moment as they are a bit further forward at this point, with the ability to schedule transfers into the pots(saves me doing it manually every pay day), and the 0.5% interest is better than nothing. I use these for short term items where I can’t be bothered to track all the different reasons for the money being in the saving accounts. Bigger longer term items, car, big holidays etc… in an account with a higher interest rate while still being accessible.

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Not much, though! If you’re using this for short-term savings of smaller amounts, you’re unlikely to get more than a few pence in interest. At 0.5%, the interest is a distraction, the functionality is what’s important. Saying that, I can totally understand why you would want the ability to schedule transfers.

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true but something better than nowt. 1p cola bottles are still a thing yeah? :slight_smile: For me the Starling functionality is currently better, they are slightly ahead in this regards, but that can always change.

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mhm, same - I do the one penny challenge every year and these are very precise amounts.

It’s helped me save for things like holiday in little bits.

@sevendotzero - I’m not personally using Pots as a savings account, but to split my money into categories for spending. I use savings accounts for this now, yeah, but the interest is of no interest to me.

Monzo isn’t here to offer savings and investments etc etc, they’re building a bank to help manage money, which is a far better goal than .5% on <£100 or so. In my opinion.

For savings, I have ISA type accounts, much better than any standard savings accounts.

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Yeah, completely agree. I’m not getting any interest on my Pots/Savings but I think it’ll help me manage my money better. Hopefully that’ll be more of a difference to me than a few pennies over a year.

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Interesting idea - you transfer money to a pot and that pot auto transfers to the ‘other bank’ deposit account. Although you could perhaps directly transfer to ‘other bank’ deposit account without the need for a pot.

With proper integration you could also withdraw from a pot linked to your savings account / ISA and track it through monzo