I don’t understand why people seem to want every product they can think of all bundled together.
The more Monzo Plus has in it, the less I’ll probably want it. It’ll become more niche, and less value for money every time.
If you add breakdown cover, it’s instantly overpriced for anyone without a car… if you add travel insurance, it’s unnecessary for probably anyone who doesn’t travel more than once per year.
I have a car that’s never broken down (it did come with free breakdown cover anyway). I wouldn’t ever bother getting cover anyway as it seems to unlikely to happen unless you have an older car (in which case, can you really afford Monzo Plus?). I travel occasionally, and with work so I’m covered on their policy. I’ve also never smashed a phone screen and would likely opt to buy a new phone anyway if I did.
I know the aim isn’t to cater to everyone, but I just don’t want Monzo to limit their market so much by adding so many unnecessary features.
I have an Amex Gold card, which is £140 a year. But the sole reason I don’t mind paying for that, is because I’ve earned £500s worth of points on it in a year, and get the benefit of the free lounge passes etc. If Monzo offer something that allows me to earn back more than the cost of the product, by offering interest or cashback for example I’d be interested. But adding every kind of insurance and cover you can think of, probably not.
They’re not fee–free. You’re still charged a very legacy ‘non–Sterling fee’ on foreign cash withdrawals.
I couldn’t agree less – with the Nationwide bundled account, it’ll cover all the family’s smartphones for £13 a month. You’d only pay slightly less to cover just one handset elsewhere. So in effect you’re getting vehicle breakdown (valid for any car you’re in, not just vehicles you own) and worldwide family travel insurance for free. It makes no difference if you use these products or not, because you’d still be hard pressed to get a better deal on phone insurance (on the same terms as Nationwide, which are extremely generous) alone.
I guess it works out if you/you’re family are prone to breaking smartphones, didn’t realise it costs close to £13 for one device. As far as I can remember, no one in my family (or friends for that matter) have actually smashed their phone, I know it’s common but just hasn’t affected me just yet I suppose!
My main issue is I don’t currently spend anywhere near £13 a month or £156 a year for anything included, as I mentioned I’ve not broken a phone, or had a breakdown. So it would’ve been a waste for me personally, if I’d spent that in a year and not had any benefit from it. Yes I have purchased travel insurance, but in the past year I went to Vegas which was covered on my work policy and Barbados which I think I paid something like £20 for.
I just feel like for anyone to benefit from this, you’d need to have broken at least one phone, or at least one breakdown etc. a year and in my life I’d never have used any of the above.
Anarchist
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That’s how insurance works. Those who don’t claim subsidise those who do.
All I’m staying is it’s probably not worth it for a significant amount of the population, and you wouldn’t want to limit the market like that by bundling too many things in and increasing the price because of it.
Monzo, why not simply offer 5 or 6 benefits attach a value to each one. Customer can choose any 1 or all. Discount for multiple benefits.
Release to everyone and see what sells. Slow sellers, discontinue and replace or discount. Top sellers… You know you’ve done it right.
People will say all they want. They will or won’t pay for this and that. When it comes to it in reality it’s very different. Your trials imo need to be public trials. Get a better sense of what the public will actually pay for. Not what they would pay for.
I would love to see Monzo plus be a thing, but I do share the feeling of most people here that the offering is too much for too little (though I am aware this is based on what is offered and what the cost is). Personally, I’d love to see a “pick and mix” of perks to choose from which adjust the price that you pay monthly. I would also think that if you chose a custom card, this is something that could just be paid for upfront instead of it being a feature that comes at an extra premium over, say, 12 months.
No problem with me being locked in to 6/12 month commitment especially for certain perks, but I would love the ability to choose how I pay - if I could get a discount for paying quarterly, semi-annually or annually then this would be amazing!
Some things I’d love to see in a premium product like Monzo Plus would be:
Metal (100% recycled material?) cards
Phone/device insurance
Contents insurance
Breakdown cover
More colour options (I think and black card & white logo would look great)
I would say that while the above is a list of what I personally as an individual would want in such a product, it of course doesn’t say much for the rest of the public - I second ideas to at least ask people what they would want rather than open the feature to people who are active or fanatic about the bank more than your average Joe.
I’d also like to mention that metal cards are VERY attractive, if the other things alone don’t make people spend 18 pounds a month or so, then the metal card + with the things @megubyte listed will IMO. Aesthetics goes a long way. Sadly I have no numbers to back what I’ve said up, just anecdotal evidence (Curve started offering metal cards and it seemed their popularity went up significantly… they charge 13 pounds a month, I think?)
Curve at least uses WireCard Card Solutions Ltd (UK-based) for the metal cards, according to the back of the card I have, I don’t know about Revolut though.
@megubyte Agreed 1 time charge for different colour or metal cards. Personally I’d be happy to pay anything upto £30 for a metal card as long as it had at least 2 years to expiry.
Also personally I would expect to have to pay for every replacement if I’d lost it etc.
Pick and mix product would be great (and unique as far as I can tell), but difficult for Monzo to put together I would assume.
If not an option what I would like to see is something equivalent to Nationwide’s bundle (Breakdown cover, phone insurance, and travel insurance) but with a two-tier pricing model; one price for those who don’t need family cover (perhaps around £10/month) and a different price for those who do (perhaps around £13/month, like Nationwide).
Because, stupidly, when I went full monzo I did a full switch instead of a partial switch. I thought it was the best thing at the time as I prefer to keep and use only one account but later regretted not keeping the Nationwide account for the benefits. I could open a new one but I will have lost the 20 or so years of history which can be useful for credit/loan applications. Now, I guess I’m waiting to see what Monzo Plus does.
Monzo’s created the kind of change that’s really unique in the industry. There are three companies I’m fanatical about. Monzo, Spotify and JetBrains. The latter two I already pay for gladly and I’d be happy to pay for Monzo for a worthwhile service that they offer. These companies have done more for me than any other in terms of the impact they’ve had on my life. And I’m more than happy to contribute back in whatever way I can. Good causes need not be only charitable. They can be a force for good in the community.
Sadly I have no numbers to back what I’ve said up, just anecdotal evidence (Curve started offering metal cards and it seemed their popularity went up significantly… they charge 13 pounds a month, I think?)
