You can get better rates on savings elsewhere. Monzo can’t be the best at everything.
I’d like to see more savings options than is currently offered but I don’t see this as being a Plus feature. All customers should have free access to a range of products. Things like regular savings accounts and integrations for S&S ISAs (which has been mentioned).
Having just joined monzo plus I was expecting the ability to be able to add extra features as explained in the faq’s. Was hoping for at least what all other banks are currently offering , travel insurance , mobile phone insurance and breakdown cover. These bundles are a huge step backwards . Not at the cost of having to have more than 1 bundle and not using half the products 
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#mis-sold #nextppiscandel
Another wondering idea like the one above @naomiaustin @Sheri.
I understand that the offering interest this early on would have cost to much money, considering the cost of the original base cost. However could Plus adopt a feature like paid early?
What I mean by this is that Plus customers still keep their savings in easy access saving pots (the ones that take one business day to get the money out) but Monzo let the money out early from your end because you know the money is coming out of the savings pot anyway (absorbing the cost for one business day) so Plus customers can get the “interest on their normal account” feeling and the instant access feeling - yet Monzo still makes the profit from having people use Savings pots.
So:
- Plus customer puts money in easy access savings pot
- This gathers interest monthly like they normally do
- When a Plus customer wants to take the money out, they click withdraw and Monzo can see how much money they’re wanting to take out.
- Monzo takes the hit and gives the money out from their side one business day early
- Then when the actual money from the Savings pot company (Shawbrook etc that aren’t ISA accounts) was due to originally go into the customer’s account it gets put back into Monzo’s side to balance out what they let out early to the Plus customer
This way,
- Plus customers can still get instant access interest based savings that a regular customer cannot.
- It can be part of every bundle (if bundles are the long term idea - which is fine).
- Monzo can still make the usual percentage cut they do from customers using Savings Pots.
Now along with my original idea of semi customisable Plus offerings I do not know how feasible it is, so please correct me if I’m wrong 
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I’ve just finished reading this thread, and like most people I’m baffled. This new Plus offering couldn’t be further from the initial vision that we all bought into, and for the first time I actually feel somewhat concerned about the direction Monzo are heading in by cutting corners to reach profitability, rather than pushing through and releasing something truly innovative. 
One thing that I feel is missing from this discussion is how Monzo seem to be forgetting what got them to this point. If the original vision for Plus was followed through to completion, we would most likely be marketing it for them by telling our friends, coworkers, and families about the benefits it brings. Especially because of the way it differs from the approach of legacy banks.
We may be a small collection of somewhat (previously) dedicated Monzo supporters in comparison to the 2.8 million customers they now have, but Monzo’s growth has always been attributed to word of mouth marketing. This new offering is nothing to shout about, does nothing differently to any legacy bank, and for that reason I simply can’t see it doing well (even if the metrics are inevitably presented in a biased way to prove otherwise - such as the removal of interest).
For context, I’m currently on the £3/month early bird subscription which I signed up for in anticipation of adding some phone insurance after a small waiting period. Now, I will be waiting for the email to see what cancellation options are available, or simply waiting for it to expire after the 12 months of interest have ended.
Hats off to @tristan for seemingly being the only staff member to genuinely empathise with us all. We may only have spent a few pounds each on our subscriptions so far, but let’s not forget many of us have invested hundreds if not thousands of pounds in Monzo because we believed in their vision. This thread is the biggest disconnect I have seen between Monzo and it’s supporters so far.
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Agreed with a lot of your points - nice post, very civil compared to some other long posts ()
I agree that for you since you’re we’re wanting just the phone insurance now it’s the whole bundle that it’ll make sense to either cancel/wait out to make something out of the interest. But I’d argue that it’ll be interesting to see how the bundles pan out and grown before I give my final judgement
A lack of bundled services was cited as a common reason for people not switching to Monzo.
We shouldn’t be surprised, therefore, that Monzo Plus is starting to look a lot like the premium accounts offered by other banks.
The only surprise was that Monzo ever thought they could do it differently. Bundled services have never made much sense with bank accounts, and the vast majority of people - whether or not they’re with Monzo - are better off buying insurance services separately.
(Also, the advertising campaigns have been credited with much of the recent growth, but I suppose that’s by the by)
I love it 
Although since they’re doing this for BACS payments now, I wonder if they could just do it anyway for everyone.
By whom? Most of my colleagues have switched to it as a travel card citing cheap(er) spending and foreign currency when they go on holiday. The rest of the time it is a spending card, separate from their main bank account.
(This is use by people outside of London)
But it isn’t. It’s looking poor in comparison. And I agree with your point about packaged accounts not suitable for everyone and better to go direct for the products you actually need. 
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By Monzo. What does Monzo premium / value add mean to you? - #62 by simonb This isn’t the clearest example but it’s something that’s been said several times on this forum.
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I thought about that yea - but that’ll be a lot more extra work on server side/Monzo side so since people are missing the interest on Monzo plus i though “why not make this a plus feature”
Edit: That way its “instant access” for plus members and less people utilising it (less work on the server plus its a “feature for Plus” since not every Monzo user is a Plus user
Although of course we can’t know, it doesnt seem like an intensive task! They did all the work to implement Pay Early just for a marketing gimick.
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Yea, but at least the thought is out there
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I don’t have plus, and I don’t think I’d ever get a bundled account anywhere, so my opinion isn’t really worth much here, but I have been reading the comments here with interest. I do agree the communication during Plus has been poor up to now, but it’s nice to see plenty of communication now at least.
My main question is to the posters in this thread declaring this new model terrible and the worst thing since bread loafs with utter certainty. If (and it’s a big IF I know!) this turns out to be the correct decision, plus subscriptions increase and many more people sign up than with the old model, will you be prepared to admit you were wrong? Just seems like a lot of complete certainty from some people here which I think is pretty crazy. And before people jump on me, I know a lot of people are strictly talking about themselves and their opinion on what they want from Plus, Im just talking to the people who are basically declaring this the end of Monzo and stating as fact that this decision is incorrect.
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I actually don’t think its a bad decision, after all bundles work for all other banks, however Monzo was about being different, not following the crowd. Imagine what a game changer it would be, if people choose what they want in bundles and not be forced to get what the bank decides should have been in a bundle. That is what Monzo originally talked about, but changed because 5 people on the wait list wanted something different.
I know there is more to it than that, but 5 people wanting Plus were all that Monzo invited originally. Not 5 people with no package account, not 5 people who didn’t like the original plus, not 5 people that cancelled plus, but 5 that wanted it so was eagerly waiting for it, who then decided it was too complicated. Anyone waiting for something, given a choice, most of the time will opt for something quicker, that is human nature.
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This is precisely the point, and the problem you’ve described is exactly what Monzo Plus set out to tackle in its initial conception. They wanted to do away with packaged bundles by offering individual add ons at a competitive price. 
To quote the initial blog post from Monzo:
Many banks offer packaged accounts or premium bundles, but you often end up paying for things that you don’t need or want. You might find three out of the five things in that bundle useful to you, but you still have to pay for the two that you don’t. That’s why we’re creating Monzo Plus – to give you an extension of your regular account that you customise to meet your needs.
This is why everyone is so disappointed to learn that the whole vision of Monzo Plus has been abandoned in favour of opting for the easier route, one that has already been traveled, rather than carving out a new path as they originally intended to do. The result is poor value bundles, rather than the ability to buy services separately as and when we need them. 
There was a slight acceleration after the TV advertising campaign, but Monzo was already at approximately ~2million users by this point with little to no paid advertising at all. I still stand by the fact that Monzo’s success up until now been down to recommendations from its customers. I can’t see anyone recommending these new bundles to their friends or family.
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Monzo - please sort plus! On Monday, get all of your plus team to take 4-5 hours out and read through all of the community forums, take the great advice from your plustomers! It’s not like we don’t want you to be profitable - we just want customisation with attractive pricing! Economies of scale will lead to profitability!
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I’d slightly disagree with this. Most packaged accounts have products like breakdown cover, phone insurance and travel insurance. That’s assuming everyone has a car, travels and doesn’t have the phone covered on their house insurance. There’s a lot more chance people will be paying for things they will never use
With the bundles you are going to be signing up for a specific area that you need
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The bundles becoming popular wouldn’t on its own make them a good decision. If Monzo’s goal has switched from being a better bank doing social good to just launching financially successful features that by their own admission are unfair on their customers then what’s the point.
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Me too. And that £13 covers me and the Mrs so in reality it’s only £6.50 each.
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