Two things on this. I agree and disagree, let me explain.
I think the decision on not supporting bills etc is a valid one, for the reasons given. If you think to any other savings account out there none (that I know) of offer this because their prime directive is for you to put savings into it. So In this regard I donāt think Monzo are telling anyone what to do with money, theyāre simply providing a service.
But, as I noted above I think the concept of pots is different to what this is. Or at least I think it is. And this is where I agree. Itās not the same as other pots and thatās confusing.
I think this is meant to be a savings account. Not a pot, not a bills service but a savings account. So Iām in agreement with @Peter_G , it really should be sitting with the accounts as thatās what it is.
Whether you can then create sub pots from it, Iām not too sure but lumping it in with other touchable or service providing pots is for me confusing.
This all seems a bit of a mess. The implementation is half finished with littered references to scheduled withdrawals in the UI.
Whatās more, you CAN actually use IFTTT to schedule a withdrawal from this pot, Iāve just tried it based on time and date. Iām theory then one could use the existing options to say every time I spend at retailer xyz and create it as a spending pot by the back door
I think youāre making it hard on yourselves by this strange decision. Ditch these artificial barriers, or fix the app and make them hard restrictions.
I donāt see the requirement to follow what others are doing. Iād say thereās an opportunity to do something different here.
I kind of get the feeling that this is over-engineering a very simple problem. Paying the interest on the account + pot balance is much simpler.
Moving into the land of speculation, I wonder if the reasons weāve been given donāt paint the full picture.
Iāve got a suspicion that this decision was made so that Monzo would end up paying 3% interest on a smaller amount of cash overall vs paying the interest on the balance. I imagine if they went down the interest on balance route, the amount of interest theyād end up paying across all accounts would be much higher, so theyād balance this out by offering a lower rate. It also makes me wonder if they can change path at this point now theyāve offered 3%ā¦ purely speculation though.
Iām with you on the āmessā bit, at face value. But the statement:
āā¦to begin with.ā induces confidence in the launching of a product for the masses while holding back on the potentially-planned features. Which may - or may not- come later. Letās see!
Oh I agree itāll get resolved, but hide the mess from the public would be good
It just feels like it was rushed out with a āweāll fix that laterā attitude. Nothing against iteration, but this isnāt my idea of iteration by leaving things in that you know donāt work (especially when youāre rolling it out to all customers and not just testing it in labs)
I donāt personally mind if itās simply a saving account with no extra functionality in the end. I just donāt like broken things in a live product
So I have a slightly convoluted way of using monzo which might interest you (and any developers reading):
As a freelancer, I have a Monzo business account primarily because every time Iām paid, it chops 20% off for tax.
I then transfer that 20% over to my personal account to a savings pot with a high interest rate. The tax I will have to pay thus accumulates interest until itās needed.
But recently Iāve started transferring the total balance of my business account in the same way, so interest can be gained on that too. The instant access thing therefore really appeals, because whenever I have to pay myself from my business pot, I donāt have to wait a whole day for it to land in my current account.
The new savings pot is a great idea in theory, but it still makes no sense for me to have separate savings pots with less interest, other than the fact I can visually separate the different piles of money I have for different purposes. I think sub pots is the answer.
People need to chill out a bit. Itās been in labs less than a day and itās being deconstructed to such a degree with āMonzo must do this!!!11!!ā
Itās a savings account, by Monzo, thatās easy access, with a good rate. All things people have been asking for, for a long time.
So you cant pay a bill from it, or use a virtual card but can do you do that from other savings accounts? (Apart from Chase, which probably wonāt work anyway) Zopa was the flavour of the month recently, you canāt do any of that there.
I understand people manage money in different ways but a simple savings pot with good interest is more than enough for most people.
Give it time and maybe the extras you want will come.
My suspicion is that it would just be harder to monetize the customer deposits (via lending) if the volume of customer withdrawals relative to deposits is higher and more variable than with typical savings accounts. This would probably happen if budgeting aids like multiple pots and bill payments were supported.
So maybe those things will never happen on interest bearing pots or maybe Monzo needs more time to figure out how to offer those features and still monetize the deposits effectively.
I agree - and I think itās down to the next stage of growing pains for Monzo. Going from a small company that can rapidly interact and do everything the main customer base (read, forum members) want to using feedback from here to inform, but not direct, future work and also engaging with core strategy and the wider customer base through direct research and feedback too.
Mine is now working, enabled in labs and didnāt show - now working after closing the app and the usual gubbins. Did wait an hour, mainly as busy though
