Monzo Labs: Bills Pots šŸÆ

Yeah does this on Android.

If you pop to the pot you want to pay from, youā€™ll have the button to set it up there.

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For a first iteration it works really smoothly and brilliantly. Glad it now takes out of the summary and left to spend.

The only thing wanted now for me personally is pot total. Like how much is predicted to need in the pot to cover bills and cover subscription costs like Netflix.

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Finally got to play with this so have a little feedback already! (Iā€™m on iOS and we donā€™t get as much love these days :frowning: )

Firstly, I love this idea and how I can now separate my essential bills from the none essential. A lot of people have different bank accounts for their joint bills, their personal bills, house bills, food bills it goes on so this will hopefully bring more people over to Monzo and grow the bank even more!

So hereā€™s the two things I think would help.

One thing we need to see if how much is projected to come out of the Bill pot for that pay period. By having this info we can easily look at the pot that pays for Netflix, Apple Music, Patreon, Prime, (insert subscription) so when weā€™re in a squeeze we can have more of an overview of how much we could save each month cutting down in a certain bill pot.

DDā€™s are usually updated 3 days before so a notification that the DD is less, Monzo could offer to move some money back into your main account. Alternatively, if the DD is more it could suggest topping the pot up. Just to make sure we donā€™t get any unexpected withdrawals from out main account, sending us into our overdraft!

Great work by Monzo again! Itā€™s crazy how you bring out a great feature almost every month. Didnā€™t we only just get ā€˜get paid earlyā€™ and now this?

Keep up the great work!

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I had that but it went away when i created a pot (i only had savings pots before - i think it has to be a regular pot).

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This caught me out too,

Hereā€™s how to use it;

  1. Either create a new pot (letā€™s call it bills) or have a pot that exists you want to use

  2. Select a scheduled payment - it has to be DD it seems

  1. Select ā€œSet Payment from Potā€

  2. Select the Pot ā€œBillsā€ that you want the payment to be taken from

Sidenote: I think this is a great idea, but itā€™s not intuitive. In the same way you can indicate a pot as a roundup when editing it Iā€™d suggest you can also indicate it as the bills pot

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:mag_right: Quick FAQ that might be helpful for new folks finding this thread :mag_right:
Weā€™ll update this as appropriate! :raised_hands:

1. Whatā€™s a Bill Pot?
Bills Pots are our brand new feature that let you set your Direct Debits and Standing Orders to be paid from any Pot!

2. Does it only work with Direct Debits?
For the moment, yes. Weā€™re staff testing Standing Orders, so barring any unforeseen bugs those should be available soon too.

As of 18th Sept, the feature now works with both Standing Orders and Direct Debits! Further down the line, weā€™d like to implement recurring card payments (like Netflix, or Spotify!) but we havenā€™t fully scoped this out yet

3. Is it available on both :android: and :apple:?
Yes!

4. How do I enable it?
Go to your Profile, then Settings, then scroll down to Monzo Labs and youā€™ll be able to enable it in there. Then, simply tap on any Direct Debit in your Scheduled Payments section, and youā€™ll be able to select a Pot for that payment to come from.

5. What happens if thereā€™s not enough money in the Pot?
In that scenario, the payment will simply come from your main balance instead. If thereā€™s not quite enough in the Pot, weā€™ll remove the remainder from the Pot first.

6. Can I lock or enable Round Ups on a Bills Pot?
Yes!

7. Is it just one Pot?
No! Itā€™s up to you which Pot the Bill comes from and different people will use it in different ways. Some people may want all their bills in one Pot, some people may want to separate different bills into different Pots. Have a play with them and find a system that works for you! :blush:

8. Does this work with the third-party interest-bearing Pots?
Unfortunately no, due to the fact that withdrawing from these Pots isnā€™t instant.

9. Does it work on Joint Accounts?
It certainly does! :grinning:

10. Can I set Monzo Loan or Monzo Plus repayments from a Bills Pot?
Not at the moment, but we hope to include these in the future.

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With this, say if you have Ā£20 in your bills pot and your DD is Ā£22, will it take Ā£20 from the pot and Ā£2 from the main balance or the full amount from the main balance?

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Iā€™m sure I read that itā€™ll move the Ā£20 out of your pot, and then take the whole Ā£22 from your balance

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All very helpful thanks!

It would be great to work it with repeating payments too, glad thatā€™s on the list.

Thanks @anon99402360 and @JIMMWX - knew that myself but thought there was a missing introductory screen or something, as thatā€™s what I figured ā€˜find out moreā€™ would suggest! Now to play around with itā€¦

Potential Bugs :bug:
If you spot any, please let us know and weā€™ll update this post.

Editing a standing order amount may remove the Pot connection.
Status: Investigating :female_detective:

Some Direct Debit names on Android may show in red text instead of black
Status: Investigating :male_detective:

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Can you link a sole pot to a joint account and a joint to a sole?

Iā€™ve set up a few bills to come out of different pots and look forward to seeing work out in the coming weeks.

@simonb you mention that payments will be taken from the main balance if there isnā€™t enough in the pot. Do you know if it will be possible in the future for some to be taken from the designated pot and the rest to come from the main balance?

Done & Done. :smiley: Excited for next week when all of them come out.

To remind me how much I have coming out, Iā€™ve set the name of the pot to ā€œBill Pots - Ā£xxā€ so I can easily transfer it in without having to remember. :sweat_smile:

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Great tip!

Another way to do it is to set up a recurring scheduled payment into the pot just after you get paid.
The only thing to consider is if the usual total of D/Dā€™s will differ by an amount which is large enough to cause trouble. If there is, transfer some more into the pot to cover it and adjust the recurring payment so that next time it is correct.

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Or you could also set the amount as a pot goal?

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I did consider doing that, but I get paid on the 15th unless itā€™s a weekend. So this month, I get paid on the 13th, and I just know that Iā€™d rather shift it as soon as I get paidā€¦ā€¦ Be nice to have a scheduled pot transfer trigger for when salary gets paid in :eyes:

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The pot is emptied of what it contains before the DD is taken so the main balance only pays the difference.

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Iā€™ve just set this up to give it a try, although I donā€™t think itā€™s something Iā€™d use permanently going forward.

It means I now have to calculate how much I should have in the pot each month which I canā€™t be bothered to do :joy: (this is because my credit card statement varies a fair bit).
If my DD were fixed it would be easier as Iā€™d setup a reoccurring pot transfer.

I guess now that open banking APIā€™s are a thing it would be good if monzo could move the correct amount for my Amex statement into a bills pot on payday.

For now I find it easier just leaving everything come from the main account, but I can 100% see the benefit of this for people.

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I believe an auto calculator button/rule :crystal_ball: is coming soon to help with that.

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