So I just noticed this, I got a notification that my phone bill due out tomorrow will be £12 cheaper than normal which is great. This usually comes out from my bill pot.
Went into my Bills Pot and can still see the old amount reflected rather than the new expected one thats due tomorrow.
It makes sense to me that these two places should really communicate together and update to show a true reflection if possible.
Haven’t tested it yet also but im going to assume that my next months Bills Pot will also be out of line now because it will assume my new bill will be cheaper when it wont (this was a credit added from Airtime Rewards).
It will assume the bill in £1 for next month until it gets the notification from the company stating it will be £x amount, I have it every month with the lottery as it changes by £2.50 every month.
Would be nice if the “scheduled” payments updated once a change is noticed, but as the DD’s generally come out the next working day not really an issue.
I agree in part with this, timeframes to make a difference are quite small.
This is the part i think can be improved upon, assumptions can lead to mistakes unfortunately.
Monzo will have the relevant data… be it the true expected payment amount or a trend of how much this bill usually is (for anomalies). It would be fantastic if they could trigger things off the back of this to improve bills pot.
For example:
If updated amount for bill makes now leaves not enough in bill pot to cover other bills then notify person day before so that they can top up (not sure if this is done already).
Monzo, granted will have the data for the previous months, but again they would be making assumptions that the change is only for one month, prefect example as to why this won’t work without the assumptions is Credit Cards, I pay one credit card off full monthly via DD and the amount can change month to month, I use another credit card that I pay weekly same amount via standing order, the CC company still sends the amount they expect to take, but as I am always paying weekly they never actually take the “planned” amount as I have cleared it.
My idea was more to get the two talking together and have a more educated Bills Pot summary which could then lead to perhaps more educated notifications.
Your example whilst a valid one works well for what im suggesting… bill to be updated in bills pot summary once known and a notification to be generated of the back of it stating if an action needs to be taken.
"Bill less than expected… your bills pot is in surplus "
“Bill higher than expected… add to bills pot or this will come out of your main balance”
I might try and test the second condition next month by purposefully leaving not enough in bills pot for the increased bill
It’s a nice idea in theory, but I can’t see it working unless customer’s have all their DD’s set to be taken at the same date every month.
"Bill less than expected… your bills pot is in surplus " assuming all other bills same
“Bill higher than expected… add to bills pot or this will come out of your main balance” assuming all other bills the same
Re the bill higher, I run my main balance at £0 as everything is in a “bill” pot, I believe I still get a notification stating that there is not enough money to cover it even though all DD’s & SO come out of “bill” pot
I am now at the point where I would like say 7 days prior or last DD taken from the bills pot to give me the estimated amount for the following month, so I can either have a surplus in that account or move it to a rainy day pot.
Completely agree that the amount in the Bills Pot should update when Monzo know about it.
I believe that the big “headline” features (eg: Bills Pots) bring people to Monzo, but it’s these sort of little things which make people enjoy using Monzo and keep them using it.
I meant this to be more like a running commentary. For each bill that differs from that as predicted in bill pot summary you should get a notification like I’ve mentioned above for good or bad (due to have a surplus, you should adjust amount in bills pot)
I have to agree. Started using Monzo fully this month, so have my first DD cycle this month.
Some of the bills are higher, some lower than usual, so I know that the ‘predicted’ spent next month will be skewed.
And as you mentioned, though DD is registered to be taken out tomorrow for £X it’s still not registered under my Bills Pot (i.e. not in sync)
I have also set myself up for Emma, as I have subscriptions and DD running on Amex and Monzo, and would like to have a quick overview of all of them (along with other summarised details for both accounts).
Though not perfect AI i.e. my Vodafone bill appears three times (but it’s the only one not accurate), it does allow me to change the ‘predictions’, so I can adjust the amount if I know it’s a ‘one-off’ high/low or when it comes to Amex bill, I can set it to the exact amount that I’ll know at the 1st every mount, but they don’t deduct until 11th. I can also see historical data and change charge date.
As mentioned, just started using Monzo, so I don’t know if they provide historical DD amount view, but at least the prediction should be based on some sort of smartly calculated average and not just the last amount charged AND even better if they would allow you to adjust beforehand, and decide whether Monzo should keep the adjusted amount going forward or use a ‘smart average’ It won’t have any impact to allow this customisation, as they anyway don’t know what the exact amount will be before receiving it from DD service, so it’s all just estimates until then.
These are some screenshots from ‘Emma’; hope it’s allowed to give an idea of how it could be done.
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