Monzo Plus has completely changed how I see Monzo

I’ve been an enthusiastic Monzo user since early 2017. I invested and have recently moved both current and savings account to Monzo.

However since the announcement of Monzo Plus has included a number of features I was expecting to be made as free updates to all users (custom categories, payment splitting) I’ve found that almost everything they do is either irritating me or just not interesting.

I’ve gone from looking for ways to actively support Monzo, to hoping Plus fails and they have to revamp it again. If they announced tomorrow that they were making custom categories and payment splitting universal but not adding anything else to Plus, I would sign up for it there and then.

Does anyone else feel as though the ethos you thought was there has in fact been a mask this whole time and they’re actually not that interested in “Making Money Work for Everyone”?

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Not that, but times and circumstances change…

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You want Plus to fail because it’s not for you and you want features created for it to be free.

Okay then.

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And also to then sign up for it

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I think they have found the “full” monzo ethos, although laudable, doesnt actually make them any money so they have had to scale it back to a more sustainable level, half Monzo ethos if you like.

Monzo from the very outset, for me, seemed to be a copy of the sort of google work ethic of, nice chat areas, lets get the community to name our boardroom, table tennis tables , pizza and beer nights , a great place to attend , which is great for a cash generative business, unfortunately without the google income some very tough decisions have had to be taken, and will continue to need to be taken to keep the business running .

Having said all that, it has generated 4.5 million customers with around a third of them using it as their main bank account with salaries paid in , which do generate profit for Monzo , unfortunately the other 3 million customers haven’t been tempted yet

I seem to recall Tom saying as much 6 or 9 months ago that they had lost the importance of making money to keep the business afloat which had to change, quickly if they wanted to continue to make the changes that helped customers manage their money .

If customers want everything for free it is unsustainable , unless something else is paying for the “freeness”

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I think everything should be free too but sadly that’s not how the world works.

Perhaps you could elaborate on why you believe these features should be free and why that would then make you sign up and pay?

Bear in mind that we’ve already had a discussion around this where other banks offer a mixture of these things for free but none of them all under one roof.

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The latest iteration of plus was a big decision in me leaving Monzo, a decision I didn’t think I’d ever take.

When I first joined a lot of the features were exciting and a radical change from my legacy bank. Then came along Bills Pots, savings pots, and I was like ‘oh cool - this is SO much better than before’

So what changed. Well, like you Plus V3 was the trigger. I no longer saw them as a revolutionary bank but one that had lost it’s way. Many of the paid for features are available for free elsewhere, and it just didn’t feel like there was a clear direction for what they were working on next or how they were aiming to obtain profitability/make the next revolution. It started to feel like monzo was being left behind to be honest.

I understand that they have to make money somehow, and cover development costs, but it felt like charging for features available for free elsewhere made the appetite for Monzo less for me.

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But a number are not far off and that for Monzo should be a key priority - how do we make the next big revolution?

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No. I think that Monzo (Mondo) really did start out thinking that they’d be a financial hub that would make money work for everyone whilst monetising from referrals for energy switches etc (like a thousand and one other websites).

I believe that they were genuine, if rather naîve (some might say arrogant?), in their outlook.

It appears that, with the numerous rounds of investment and the departure of Blomfield, now the investors are making the decisions on the direction of Monzo. They desperately need to find a way of making a profit.

I don’t think it was “a mask” at all.

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Such as?

I can see where youre coming from monzo have done a few things to rub me up the wrong way also.

  • Lack of outlook or communication since plus Launch about where its going
  • Lack of assurances from monzo after annual report
  • Incorrect loan refusal reason
  • Chat now have service hours
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I think they knew that from the start (would be crazy if they didn’t), but it generated nice marketing hype for them, it worked really well.

I see this figure thrown about, but it isn’t quite true. I’m pretty sure Monzo define anyone paying in £1000 or a more a month are using it as their main account. Certainly doesn’t mean they use Monzo exclusively, or as their main account. There will certainly be correlation, but it is mainly just making stats sound good.

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I suppose it’s because they are “better” versions of the base features and not additional extra ones. The budgeting features available for free at the moment aren’t great if you can’t add categories for things you want to monitor, or split a £100 supermarket bill into Groceries, Entertaining, Family etc.

Having used the features there at the moment I felt as though these were natural progressions to expect and then seeing them as paid options is really disappointing.

I don’t use the budget much myself as I’m fortunate enough to be able to get through month to month without worrying about it, but what made Monzo the most exciting for me is that it seemed to be genuinely trying to offer opportunities for people to get easy help with managing it all.

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  • It’s been a month. Do you want daily updates to say no news?

  • Pandering to bad press isn’t needed. They aren’t going anywhere and there’s no need to say anything.

  • incorrect to you

  • chat is still 24/7 for anything important

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It’s more that I want the app to be great and stand alone, and then I want a Plus that adds extras (not improvements). I would then happily get plus to help them make money and continue to supply everyone with a great app regardless of whether they can afford to pay for it or not.

I think you’re right.

I would think most “challenger banks” use the same terminology, or they would say - ah but our primary accounts are people that have x paid in, unlike your class of x paid in , or their whole salary is paid in, and they use it for everything they spend … unless Ive missed others determining what they class as primary accounts. I feel they would certainly make the point if there was a difference .

I have Starling and I would think Im one of their “customers” , which I am , but I dont use the card , but I will be included in their figures , and the same can be said of some Starling customers on the Monzo forum, and other Monzo account holders.

Im not sure Ive seen anything from Starling relating to customers who have the statistical £1000 paid in , Monzo say a third or there abouts

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Of course there is always a choice! To stay, leave, support, moan, wish! Ect ect… Maybe it’s just me, but a bank is a place where you wages go in, bills go out! Plus others bits included. After that…Not sure what else I need a bank for?

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To be honest, I’m surprised at how seriously some appear to take the Making Money Work for Everyone phrase.

I’ve always assumed that it was just marketing tagline like the ones listed here - perhaps it’s a generational thing.

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Starling publish some figures based on the number of “active customers” they have which will be there way of not including unused accounts - though I don’t know quite how they define this

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lol is it Barclays that seem to be using a similar tag line as she steps over the lilo in the pool another one to be added to the list for the generational thing - “make money work for you”

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