Monzo must know who took part in those focus groups, surely? @SamanthaD can you help?
I sent an email to Luba yesterday evening to see if she could follow this up, as I too havenāt received it yet. Hopefully sheāll follow it up for all of us.
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Iād say 183 days (i.e. 26 weeks - half a year) seems like a reasonable amount of cover to me.
Most insurance policies cover a maximum number of days per trip, usually 45 if I remember rightly.
Still donāt like the idea of āpremiumā accounts at all
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Delighted to see this innovation.
Disappointed with the very initial and preliminary offers. Iām sure they will improve as the trial develops.
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Whereas I have never done winter sports, and never will, so I would not want to be paying for that to be included when I could get better cover from them for holidays not involving slopes
They need these options out there so they can begin to unpick whether there is any chance of keeping enough people happy
Not sure this thread will be that encouraging for them thus far!
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The offers are very weak.
You can get an annual worldwide policy for circa Ā£30 (defacto 5*) or for even less. Not to mention its probably next to worthless because most insurance policies have clauses in that invalidate if youāve even been to the doctor about anything for a number of years prior.
Emergency cash is what just accessing your own cash?
And all the card colours do is flip the argument about only providing hot coral cards āwe only give hot coral because thats our brand etcā (though i dont mind hot coral myself).
Monzo always seem to aim low for this type of stuff (examples - interest rates, overdraft fees), feels more like an exercise in how little they can get away with. I also feel itās a strange stance to take of putting forward something pretty rubbish, charging for it whilst pushing it as great/plus/premium. I think that message is way more off brand then none hot coral cards.
This is exactly why i think theyāll run into issues with pushing third party products too - because commercially theyāll need to push whats more attractive to them, not whats best for their customers.
If Monzo wanted to do this why couldnāt they have been best in the market? Look at nationwide for another Ā£2 you get breakdown cover, mobile insurance and travel insurance.
If monzo want to be held in higher esteem and be better then any other bank, then they have to deliver it.
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Letās not forget, they have a Ā£3 pcm option where you get a T shirt and stickers.
Iām interested, would anyone actually wear the T shirt out in public?
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People do buy these:
Soā¦ I suppose, yes.
You have insider knowledge of the sales figures?
Ā£19 for a tee ā¦ ouch.
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I know nothing about fashion. Fact.
Ā£132 a year breaks down to:
- Ā£40 a year travel insurance (roughly, from experience buying annual travel insurance)
- Ā£72 a year for an extra Ā£200 a month international withdrawals, (3% of Ā£200 is maximum Ā£6 of fees each month saved), or nothing if you use a bank or card that doesnāt charge for this.
- Ā£20 a year for a custom card colour (or Ā£92 a year if you use another bank for free cash withdrawals)
Iām good thanks.
Oh, and Ā£3 a month for a custom monzo.me link when youāre refusing to change them for those who use a preferred name other than their legal one is obscene.
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Could you DM me any details about this? The policy is that it must be a reasonable full variant of your legal or preferred name.
Hereās the line from the internal support page on changing Monzo.me links. 
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Did someone say merch? 
^grabby hands^
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Iāll ask the person in question to DM you, I just witnessed the support thread happening.
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A little underwhelming yes - but this is just a small scale trial (akin to how features are tested in Monzo Labs).
I think as a community we have thrown a lot of ideas at the Thread on Monzo Plus and I sincerely hope that Monzo were listening and that those are in the works - we need to remember though that the whole point/ idea of Monzo Plus would you would naturally be paying a premium on getting those things all together in one place (but granted both offerings could do with being tweaked).
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Iād imagine thatās the exact opposite of the point of a bundle. You package them together to offer them at a discount relative to their individual values.
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After participating in the āplusā interviews, Iām surprised this has happened so quickly - Which is a good thing in some ways (speedy movement can be good and bad!)
I also have no problem with the A/B testing.
What I do find strange is the fact that both offerings are so underwhelming/bad value, that they thought this would be a good idea?
I can imagine a few 100 die harders going for the Ā£3 per month option, and then all of a sudden Monzo feel theyāve āgot it rightā, and roll it out to the rest of the world.
If you arenāt going to compete on price, bring something new and innovative to the table.
Right now, the āpremiumā is on the Monzo name (which doesnāt command a premium price tag yet) - Itās not on the features that are offered.
Look forward to seeing how it develops in the hope that it can actually become a useful, viable option!
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I just want to add another caution about the travel insurance. This isnāt slating Pluto because many travel insurers have multiple exclusions butā¦
Pluto look at 5 years of history (Plus any longer term diagnosed conditions).
āconfirm you do not have and have not had any pre-existing medical conditions in the last 5 yearsā
āwill not be covered for any claim arising directly or indirectly from any āpre-existing medical conditionā
So if youāve been to a doctor and mentioned symptoms that in future could be related to something else you might run into trouble. As per the financial ombudsmanā¦
For example, a consumer suffering from headaches is not necessarily āillā - and may not consider themselves to have a āconditionā that needs to be declared. Yet if the consumer subsequently has a brain tumour diagnosed - which gives rise to an insurance claim - the headaches may well be related to this in some way.
So be aware because that is a lot of wiggle room for them.
So if you have seen a doctor in the last five years do your research to see if Pluto really are the best for you as there are policies available which only look at existing plus 1 or 2 years prior. OR at least check that the price is competitive rather then buying and realising you have to declare and be held to ransom OR worse not realising you are possibly under/uninsured.
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So then Monzo just takes the loss? The idea of a bundle from one organisation absolutely - theyāll cut admin time and over the course of the 3/4 options youād get a better deal.
But for Monzo - they will have to source the product and bring it to the customer (alongside other products of course) but they are going to want to have some sort of premium for doing the leg work and allowing it all to be accessible within the App.
Iām unsure (in my opinion) youād get a Bank premium/plus/bundle/package offer that would save you money on the individual insurance rather than going direct to the insurance provider.