I’m honestly baffled as to why this bothers you so much. :S as apple and Google pay go, they are virtual versions of your card. Keep it the same design makes it in a sense seem like you are still using your card, just a physical version. (this might even be a way to make people feel more at ease using Google and Apple Pay)
It’s the same with Clubcard etc, when you first sign up you have to print off a little paper card. (they could just use a barcode, hell even the app has a virtual Clubcard on it)
As far as Monzo goes, I stand by what I originally said. Your card is your account. Monzo are trying to keep it simple, and if you look at it that way - the UI makes perfect sense.
For me your phones screen is prime real estate. At the moment things like cards are taking up a lot of this real estate when it is not needed. I get what Monzo have done however as Hugo has pointed out this is something they are looking to address soon.
Pots are already savings accounts of a sort without any interest. Someone in another thread has had to get a specific Pot statement because of a mortgage application. When they start to flesh out Pots (maybe with sort codes and account numbers but even with rules or bill payments from them) the card centric view will need to be altered.
Anybody who thinks that pots will get “fleshed out” are looking at them in completely the wrong way
Imagine your Monzo account as an envelope. A pot is a small envelope inside the envelope. They will remain that way. Statements or not
You have a chip shop envelope. A pot is a little envelope inside for curry sauce. No money in your little envelope? No curry sauce. Still get fish and chips though
Even if they had their own sort code and account numbers, and even if direct debits and standing orders get paid from them. They are still accounts within your main account
A sort code and account number just makes it easier to complete transactions to and from the pot. You might have a dedicated pot for money your friends owe you, bang. Here’s the account details, it still goes to your monzo account, card, envelope, it just goes to a dedicated place within your account. Saves you moving it around yourself
I wouldn’t say it “bothers [me] so much”. I just raised the point: Some physical things were designed in a certain way to overcome physical limitations, so it doesn’t always make sense to replicate that physical shape or design in a digital version of that product.
I can see the argument for Apple Pay and Google Pay using the card metaphor to help people who switch feel more comfortable or to drive adoption, but beyond that I can’t see a reason for them to do it.
Digitising things offers the opportunity to think up cool, new designs, animations, and layouts.
An example: Instead of a card, Apple Wallet could show the Monzo ‘M’ pulsing or performing some kind of animation. When paying for something, that logo could transition into another animation that denotes either the cost of the transaction or the fact one’s account balance is now lower.
What I’m basically saying is that if we’d had smartphones before bank cards had been introduced as a concept, I doubt the “card” metaphor would have been used in the UI, so it might be worth teams thinking outside the box on designs that don’t reference that unneeded, outdated construct.
1 card to 1 account is just misconceived, I think.
Uaccount probably has a better approach with multiple accounts.
Revolut now also has disposable cards…
I think it needs to move away from an account to an identity that has lots of accounts.
They’re already different: card can be frozen while the account is not, card transactions list is different than the account’s, card can have zero balance while the account has not, SEPA are coming and they have nothing to do with the card.
Also, when Apple Pay and contactless ATMs land, you will be able to go through weeks without reaching for your card. I would hope that banks like Monzo will be the first to show us a glimpse of a cardless future.
True. Simplicity is one of the things I love about Monzo, I’m just saying that it’s not a given, they have to keep working hard for it as the bank grows.
