Why would this be against banking regulations to give a user something for free?
I think it’s a cool idea which shows Monzo are confident in their paid offering. Also great data on whether people do really care about the features in plus or these need refining.
Is your problem that the wording wasn’t clear enough that you wouldn’t be charged? I also got the popup and understood it but know this sort of thing can be hard to get right for everyone.
Thanks for this. So for me I think this is clear enough, i think it should have an option to decline perhaps but equally it’s really clear it’s a trial and there’s no expectation to continue or forced cost.
To me that’s cool
Edit: this is exactly how Emma does it which I think is fine for me.
Thought seen as though twitter’s been mentioned let’s go straight to the source to get the actual factual proof. That’s where the screenshot came from, it’s 
clear, no charge at the end. Not ambiguous in anyway.
Absolutely unrelated but getting people signed up to a paid plan is exactly the sort of thing you would do if you were trying to sell a company and attract investment/IPO
Oh absolutely - as an investor rather than a customer I am all for this sort of scummy move. 
I think in this case, someone’s drunk a bit too much coolaid and hasn’t realised how clearly worded the actual upgrade message is.
I don’t know if that’s referring to my message about acquisition/IPO or not…
But if it was name one other bank that is enrolling people into paid plans (even with the option to cancel after or course)
It’s clearly a way to push people onto plus and boost numbers. Whether they remain is of course up to them.
I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing but if I were an investor/looking to float Monzo getting paid subscribers up is exactly what I would want to be doing.
This is, of course, pure speculation and I’ll leave it at that.
I got this today too and I had poor signal so just closed the app expecting to see the prompt later, but it was gone and I have this trial now without opting in. I’ve never used plus or premium before but do use Monzo as my main account.
What I don’t get is what happens after the 32 days of this trial.
A virtual card for 32 days is pretty pointless and I think the other features are too
I asked in the app chat if the virtual cards would keep working after the 32 days and was told yes, but this is the opposite of the terms you agree to when you enable a virtual card. Those say the card will decline payments after you are no longer a plus member.
Overall if this is a real 32 day trial it seems half baked.
It’s use of human psychology and quite clever really if a little sneaky and tricky.
Once someone has something no matter how small they will want it more if it’s taken back away from them than if they never had it in the first place.
In one study with the DVLA, sending letters to people to pay tax on cars had an increase on payment once a picture of that persons actual car was put on it.
Or, why used car salesmen will often say “I’m glad you’re here, I’ve just had someone else call to say they’re coming to look at it too…”. Same thing - your Brain falls foul of cognative bias and wants that thing more than it did before.
I’m actually quite impressed and it’s quite clever really.
I get that to a point but a 3 month trial would perhaps make that viable.
It’s not like we’re talking 32 days of Netflix or Disney where you can watch loads of cool shows.
I have to update my payment method at any place I want to use a virtual card, knowing it won’t work beyond one monthly payment.
All I really want is my monthly Apple subscription to come out of a pot…
You’de be surprised how many people will just get to the end of the month and go ah well it’s only a fiver and why not.
My wife got this today and was really pissed off, and for once (
) I agree with her. (I’m a Plus user by choice BTW).
The fact that there’s no obligation at the end of the trial is irrelevant to me.
I think that “Opt in to try this for free if you wish, without having to opt out to avoid being charged at the end of your trial” would be a refreshing change. But opting someone in without asking or warning them, even if without action on their part they’ll be opted back out (and apparently not giving them the option to cancel it in the meantime) is not on.
Call me old fashioned but…
It’s not that deep, free trial of Monzo features. When it expires you’ll either think yeah it’s worth the money to upgrade or you’ll find that it was rather useless and won’t bother.
I’ve just been signed up for it
But instead of going on about something free which I didn’t want or need …I cancelled it immediately. Because Monzo allows you to just end the trial without using it.
Happy Saturday everyone
Where did you find that? Didn’t seem to be anywhere obvious yesterday morning.
Go to the plus tab which appears down the bottom of the screen with all the other navigation buttons, then navigate to the section to cancel plus. Can’t really describe it, as I’ve gotten rid of it now. But it was in that general area.
Thanks for that. So just the normal cancel option, not something they offered as part of the auto opt-in (“if you’d rather not have this, click here to cancel”).
Yep after you’re in the trial there’s a settings option at the bottom of the plus tab that has a cancel option.
I got this free upgrade to Plus yesterday. It makes it very clear that you’ll be automatically downgraded after the trial without any payment being taken.
I’m not using Monzo as my main account at the moment so I just cancelled the free trial. Job done - no need for any fuss or complaints.
