I think you’ve had a narrow escape…
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You’re probably best buying these products direct from specialists.
Any bank account that bundles things like this needs to be taking some of the margin in return for referring your business.
These bundles are not always the best deal.
Nationwide flex direct & flex regular saver give you 5% interest up too 2.5k on each account. Current account interest is paid monthly, Reg saver Annually. So I keep all my Money there& just feed my Monzo account as needed. Obviously Monzo has some superb features & Systems so it my everyday bank. But I 
my 5%!!!
Sorry but this seems more complicated than before. I loved the customisation options of Plus - that I could choose to add travel insurance if I needed it or potentially add on things like breakdown cover, metal card, home contents, etc.
This just seems worse than before.
Some things I’m unsure about:
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I loved interest and it’s a shame it’s being removed. If it’s not economically viable for Monzo, then fine, I’ll stick my money back into a cash ISA from OakNorth… But I loved the idea that I could earn interest on my salary without having to do much.
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Contents insurance is limited. £20k is an inflexible amount. Buildings cover also not included which would be nice for people who want buildings and contents in the same bundle.
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Still no option for a metal card? Just a chance to win one?
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How often is the supporter bundle going to receive swag? If its a minimum term of 6 months, you’d expect once every 3 months?
As others have noted, the pricing is all off too. Halifax for example will offer you loads for their premium account, which I think is about £15 total for all included? Phone insurance, breakdown cover, travel insurance - and more!
It’s not the FOS you worry about it’s the FCA.
But part of this is that you don’t need to go an search on compare the market or site like that.
Edit: not everything on sites like compare the market are good quality services.
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@Sheri @anon50039658 Can I suggest that Monzo pause some of the things they are working on and just return to getting the basics right first? When I think about why I joined Monzo there were a number of features that really changed my day to day banking:
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Instant Notifications
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Summary / Budgeting tools
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Fee free travel
Since then Monzo has introduced some great products. Lending is really coming along well and looks like it’ll be a success. Interest bearing pots are also a good addition. Energy switching looks to be in its early stages but the design is good.
But then there are some things that just don’t seem to fit the Monzo brand. I am a Product Manager for a large organisation and if I was in this situation I would immediately do the following:
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Pause Plus for now. It isn’t quite there yet. Instead I would come back to it at a later date with some testing in a controlled environment after some of the things below have been completed.
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Scarp all card colours other than Hot Coral. Monzo is the hot coral card brand. Plain and simple. Blue cards look good but are just not necessary. Instead allow people to perhaps chose between a vertical or horizontal Coral card.
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Discontinue with gimmicks like Metal Cards. This just doesn’t feel like a Monzo thing. Sounds like these as going to be expensive and I still don’t see the attraction or necessity (I know lots of people will disagree on this point). People would want benefits attached to the card and given the situation with Plus I’m not sure resources should be directed onto this.
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Focus resources on budgeting tools & making summary even more intuitive by recognising multiple pay days/incomes and deploying the bills pot currently in testing. These should be the core Monzo feature that draws in customers as these are the sort of things that really help people change thir finances of for the better.
Monzo is still young but i feel that it is losing its way. Plus/Points/Metal Cards cannot have been in the Monzo vision. Making banking easier for everyone was a vision. A Marketplace for all your finances has great potential. But from the integrations I’ve seen so far there doesn’t seem to be any incentive to not going direct. Energy switching is limited to 2 companies and the interest bearing pot providers offer better rates by going direct.
But as I said before Monzo need to go back to basics. Finish off the core products and make them the best of the rest. Then and only then start to look at some of these other things such as Plus and Points etc.
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Out of curiosity, the people who’re saying that they’re going to close their monzo account or switch back - why? Like yes this isn’t the most ideal situation but why such a drastic move ? I get that people who are already on it wanting to cancel it the feel the new options aren’t for them, that’s fair enough because you signed up for something in which now it’s different but to close your account or switch? That’s a bit drastic for this one service issue ?
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Just in case this isn’t something your aware of. Emergency cash is offered as standard and free by all other banks.
I unfortunately don’t count this as a plus. Monzo tool what is a standard feature for all account holders and made it a paid feature on monzo.
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I think it is the final nail in the coffin for some people. Closing an account just because of this would be silly. But when you can get far superior customer service and interest on your balance elsewhere, there is not a particularly compelling reason to stay for many people.
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I haven’t said I’m going to close my account or switch, but have said that it’s definitely something I’m keeping in mind and I could be quite easily swayed. My reasons for this:
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I’m currently watching a bank that I loved for its simplicity and focus on money management, become overly complicated. It’s getting less user friendly.
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I’m watching that same bank, that emphasised making money work for everyone, try out all sorts of random things aimed at getting people to spend MORE money unnecessarily.
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Efforts to make people spend more money make it feel like Monzo is being influenced or pressured - by other parties, or a desperate need for profit. Neither of these possibilities create a sense of long-term trust.
Essentially, it seems like Monzo has strayed off the clear, easy path and wandered into the forest because there were so many pretty flowers to distract them. There are a lot of wolves in that forest, and I want to stay on the clear, easy path. So, if a bank comes along that’s going to go along that path, I’ll take it. I don’t exactly want to stick with a bank that’s lost its direction so much that you have to wonder if it’s crumbling behind the scenes.
So far, another good bank hasn’t come along. And I’ve had far worse experiences with legacy banks than with Monzo, so I don’t pretend that there’s something better to go back to. Monzo is still better. (But is that because I haven’t had problems and so I’ve not experienced the negative side of customer service that other people have recently complained about? Maybe if something DID go wrong, I’d see that Monzo was no better than one of my older banks.) However, if someone could go back to the simplicity of a flexible financial hub that takes all customers into account - with their varying needs - then I’d move on. Frankly, I’m concerned that we’ll all be forced to anyway quite 
, because I do worry that Monzo is going to fail. And I don’t want that. I want it to do well.
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This is my concern.
Monzo have said they need to become profitable and some of their decisions recently have verged on a little desperate / money grabbing.
It makes me wonder how viable they are long term and ultimately if my money is safe as they’re now my main account.
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The most tempting element for me was to be able to earn interest on my balance. Never mind!
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I am new to fintech and have only recently joined Monzo. I love the concept. After joining, I was looking at Plus. Why could I not join Plus and add the individual options as and when they were launched? Why was there no timeline for roll out? I then found Curve, their Curve Metal ticked my boxes so joined them too, so no Plus for me. Maybe Curve will change their plan soon. Still like Monzo but dont think the roll out of Plus was well managed and dont like bundling. Like someone else said, maybe the investors are driving things now.
Wasn’t aiming at you 
Just a general question
- I get your points
I wonder what the monzo offer will be chatting about today
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This
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I wouldn’t usually signup for a paid account but I think the pick and mix approach was going to be a good one.
I signed up during the early bird offer of £3 a month thinking after a couple of months it’ll all start to come together.
I originally skipped the travel insurance because it was a sole insurance but that changed after a few weeks to family cover which I would of signed up for if I had the ability but couldn’t. So I had been holding out hope that the feature to add the addons was going to be released soon.
The interest is good and offsets the cost of plus. So I can’t see how Monzo can say this expensive since we are essentially covering the cost with the monthly subscription payment.
The new bundles are average at best. Nothing ground breaking or even a very competitive price.
The supporter bundle is pretty bad. You are paying £5 for the same broken product we are now but without the interest.
Monzo are slowly becoming just another bank in crowded market that no longer stand out as a great alternative to the high street banks.
I think Monzo really need to go back to basics and work on improving things such as joint accounts etc
If you really want to make money just release a credit card or something.
Having been using Monzo for over 3 years in the early beta days and recommending it to loads of people plus also investing my own money I feel I may start looking for a new main bank account.
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Considering what you’ve said, I’ve updated my original answer 
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No grief here - Monzo cards are and always have been naff.