No Flexible Savings Pots available?

#1

Hi,

I’ve got “Easy Access Savings Pot” available, which have around 1% AER, and “Fixed Savings Pot”, which pay up to 1.71% AER (but you’re not actually getting the 1.71% because AER is computed “as if you get compound interest”, which according to the Monzo help, you don’t on Fixed Savings pots.
However the Monzo help also says there are Flexible Savings pots, where you do get compound interest.

I don’t want to save a 1-time sum, I indeed want to save monthly, so I’m looking for those Flexible Savings pots. But I can’t find them anywhere in the app? The in-app Help says they exist? It wouldn’t make any sense to not have plans where you can save monthly (with interest)…?

Thanks!

#2

I’m pretty sure Easy Access Savings Pots and what were previously known as Flexible Savings Pots are the same thing.

Flexible Savings Pots was a terrible name because Flexible has a special meaning in the context of ISAs, leading to potential confusion. They might have discontinued the use of the term Flexible Savings Pots for that reason.

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#3

My understanding was that we simply renamed “Flexible” to “Easy Access”.

#4

Would it be correct then that the easy access ISAs are not flexible ISAs just regular ones? As they used to be advertised as flexible, I don’t remember if that was previously clarified.

#5

Does this need to be updated in Help if they are still showing as Flexible on there? (I haven’t checked!)

#6

According to the following post they are flexible in the ISA sense of the word.

I’m not really satisfied with the clarity on this though, as I mention in the linked thread.

I really think they need to make terms and conditions available in advance of account opening, since they will have to be clear on the nature of the ISAs

#7

They never gave a clear answer at all last time. The terms also never mentioned ‘flexible ISA’

The did last time I checked mention ‘flexible savings ISA’ which isn’t the same thing. These financial terms are specific and people have been caught out before elsewhere when they use just slightly altered wording to make it look like something it’s not. I’m not saying monzo did that deliberately. But no where did they offer ‘flexible ISAs’

It should be simple. Skipton make it very clear for example. They have ‘is this ISA flexible? Yes/no’

Considering they’ve changed the wording to make it more clear (as in they are not flexible) I’m going to assume they never were flexible.

But unsatisfied with how monzo handed it. I would love for them to have just given a clear and concise answer.

#8

It’s not the same though. “Easy Access” means that you have easy access to the money - i.e. you can take it out on short notice. That’s an orthogonal concept to Fixed/Flexible.
Fixed means you invest one big lump sum, once. Those have low-ish interest rates on Monzo, the max is around 1.1%. No compound interest, as per the Monzo help.
Flexible means that you invest on a regular basis, most often monthly. This can be “easy access” or “committing” (with the former providing lower interest rates, the latter higher ones). Most high-street banks have saving accounts like this, very often with quite a high interest rate (even as high as 3-5%), where you commit to a monthly payment of £50 to £500 each month, and at the end of e.g. a 12 months period, you reap the “reward” (interest).

I don’t think Monzo is covering common use cases by only covering people who either invest one big lump sum once, or people who want “easy access” but at the cost of a low interest rate. There’s a big group of people left out here that want to do monthly, committing saving, at decent interest rates.

#9

I’ve never actually seen a bank use the term Flexible for Regular Savings accounts (which is what I think you’re describing), and I have multiple regular savings accounts.

Monzo’s previous Flexible Savings accounts were also not Regular Savings accounts. They were always simply Easy Access accounts with a non-typical name.

If you’re just suggesting Monzo look to provide Regular Savings accounts (irrespective of what they’re called), then I agree. That would be good to see. Perhaps you can suggest it as an idea for people to vote on.

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#10

Yeah, lots of banks make it clear by employing this Q&A format.

#11

Isn’t that a monthly savings account you’re describing?

#12

I guess so, not sure what these things are called in the UK. But I guess “monthly savings account” sounds like a good name for it. It should be clear from my description what I mean, or is something not too clear? Happy to explain further!

#13

It’s probably a Regular Savings account you are referring to, which you normally put a fixed amount into each month?

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#14

The standard term in the UK for what you’re describing is Regular Savings Account.

Are these called Flexible Savings Account in a different country?