Hi, I’m not sure if this has been mentioned before.
Maybe an idea when before purchasing something with Flex online that you could see how much you’ll be paying each month and the interest before you confirm the purchase, kind of the way you do with PayPal.
If you don’t like the payments just not go ahead with it then, stress free?
I’ve changed your post category to Feedback & Ideas. Mostly so I could vote on it, because this would be a wonderful addition to the purchase confirmation flow.
Please vote on it too!
Pretty sure a Flex calculator has been requested a few times.
In the payment authorisation flow though?
I know I’ve asked for something like this in the mega flex thread somewhere. Letting us view and choose our plan during the flow to approve the purchase, but I’m pretty sure this is the first topic which requests it.
That’s not the same idea!
OP wants to know how much it’ll cost to flex a product, so it is a calculator.
It could be in the auth page I guess, with sliders to choose how long etc, but it’s still the same premise to the link above.
Customer has the opportunity to just flex it, choose a plan, if not happy just pay it off.
It’s exactly the same.
That’s not what they want.
Emphasis mine.
You know when you buy something with Monzo, and you have to go to the app to approve the payment?
What they’re asking for is for flex to show you the payment plan options right there, in that flow, before you approve the purchase. It’s not a calculator. It’s replicating what PayPal does when you checkout with PayPal Credit and pay in 3.
I wish I could take screenshots to demonstrate here, but there’s nothing I need to buy with PayPal credit right now, but it’s not a calculator. It’s just showing you the payment options before you hit authorise.
Another example is a bit like how the Chase app shows you the balance of the account your card is linked to and has an interface for changing account during the authorisation flow before you authorise the transaction. Only you’d be seeing the different payment plan options for a purchase you are in the process of making and choosing it before hitting authorise instead.
A calculator, like the one requested in that thread, and the examples referenced therein is just a simple manual calculator, where you go to the app, manually input an amount, and drag the slider. That’s totally different to what’s being asked for here and not something I personally care for. Hence why I voted on this one and not that one.
Not every purchase requires you to go to the app to approve so it wouldn’t work. A simple calculator would and wouldn’t mess around with making the transaction and not approving it if you didn’t like the final numbers.
No, but they’re becoming increasingly common and it adds some very useful utility to that process. It also means only having to go to the Monzo app once to sort the flex stuff out, rather than twice. Anything that respects my time better is a win. I can’t remember the last time I bought something where I didn’t have to authorise the payment with my bank unless I used Apple Pay or PayPal.
A calculator is the total opposite. It’s more friction. More interaction with the Monzo app. Neither of which I want.
It would just cause more problems.
“I didn’t mean to spend £1000 at Amazon, I just wanted to see what it would cost me per month”
A calculator is a far far simpler solution. It’s not friction because you wouldn’t have to use it.
I think you’re misunderstanding. They’re not different solutions to the same problem. They’re different solutions solving different problems for different use cases serving the needs of different users.
The scenario you’re imaging isn’t a realistic scenario, because it’s not solving that problem.
You want the calculator, I don’t. I want to be able to be able to see and choose my flex option during the payment authorisation flow, you don’t. Both can exist, and neither of us have to engage with the feature we don’t want.
I’m not misunderstanding and I don’t care about either of them.
I’m pointing out that choosing a flex plan and seeing the interest during authorisation doesn’t work when you don’t 100% of the time have to make that authorisation.
If you care about working out the interest then a calculator is a better solution, more friction, but won’t result in “accidental” purchases because people wanted to see the interest costs.
Having the option to view the payments in the app in advance, sounds the same as viewing the payments on the website in advance, however you wouldn’t need to go through the checkout process to then reach a calculator and then decide you don’t want it.
Having the solution in the app as and when required, saves a whole bunch of time and IMO makes it more convenient.
Thus, to me, looks the same outcome.
That’s not what I care about. I care about streamlining the checkout process. That’s what this idea does. The calculator is a utility completely separate from that process.
Right now I have to make two trips to the Monzo app when I pay with flex. This turns into a single app visit thats what I want. It works very every payment where I do have to authorisation and that’s cause enough. Because if the website doesn’t offer Apple Pay, or you don’t use it, it’s almost all of em. It’s a mandatory part of the spec now, I believe, and I hate it, so if it’s going to exist, at least make it useful.
The calculator is a solution for a budgeting problem. I don’t care about that. It’s not a problem I want solving.
I really don’t know how else I can put it, but the fact you and Carlo still think the calculator idea produces the same outcome means you’re not understanding my problem, nor the idea that’s been suggested.
I may be wrong, but isn’t PayPal applying for credit at that point of sale? Which understandably would give you options on how to pay.
Opposed to Flex, which you have a credit limit to spend on the card.
Not if you already have PayPal Credit (you have a credit limit with PayPal too, it’s an identical product to Flex in many ways), it still presents you the options and you pick the one you want before checking out.
Not. Every. Single. Time.
That’s my point. Buy anything from Amazon and you only need to go to the app at some point to pick your plan. You don’t even have to do that.
If you had to auth every single payment in the app, then selecting a plan and having the option to say “actually, I don’t want to pay that interest = reject” would be a great improvement. But you don’t. So it’s not.
Not true.
Bought a bookcase 3 months on amazon that I paid with my flex card. Amazon sent me to the Monzo app to authorise my purchase before I could complete the order. I have to do this with every order I make on amazon now, regardless of the card I use, with the exception of subscribe and save.
It’s still great for those times when I have to though. Which is for the majority of purchases for me.