Now, it’s nearly two years later (how did that happen) and we have Flex, which seems to be getting credit card-like
So, it’s time for another poll!
But before I jump in and set one up, what should our polling options be? To make this a bit different, I’m thinking that we should have three questions:
What do you want in a Monzo credit card?
How could a Monzo credit card be a bit different andbring the Monzo magic?
What is it about existing credit cards that you hate, would drive you elsewhere, or you want Monzo to avoid?
Gimme your thoughts in the thread below and we shall poll. And it shall be glorious.
(Oh, and last minute additions to the Big Christmas Poll very much welcome!)
Looking at the suggestions, I think we’ll do two things: firstly we’ll vote for the things that a Monzo credit card must have - the table stakes without which you wouldn’t even consider a Monzo credit card.
Then we’ll vote on the things that we’d like it to have - the extra things that would bring the Monzo magic that would make you more likely to sign up.
Ready, steady, poll!
Vote 1: The Basics What are the minimum features a Monzo credit card would need to have?
An interest free period
A standard APR rate to pay off over time (happens automatically)
Balance transfers in / out
Special deals (e.g. 0% spending, low APR balance transfers)
Instant notifications
Instant balance updates
Notes/tags
Categories
Split the bill / shared tabs
Ability to flex credit card transactions
Insights in Trends (Flex is missing)
Tight integration with other parts of the app
Credit card pots: when you make a credit card purchase, that value is moved from your current account to the credit card pot, which is then used to pay the bill.
Separate the Buy Now Pay Later account from the credit card in the app (two different things, two feeds).
Set your associated pot’s goal automatically to match the next credit card bill
Let you tag transactions as holds (and alert you if they haven’t fallen off)
Easily see / filter what is pending and what has cleared
Automagically update Summary/Trends so it knows the value of the upcoming payment
A proper transaction feed that you can search and filter
A master-feed combining the current account and credit card
Work natively with budgeting
No fees
Mastercard/Visa rates for purchases overseas (like the current account)
A plastic card
A metal card
A funky different type of card (eco, wood, something ooh)
A competitive credit limit (anecdotally Flex is much lower than credit cards)
Rewards (points or cash back)
Do something clever so that you can see your future cashflow (given that it could take ~2 months for your account to be debited to actually happen)
One credit line between overdraft, Flex and credit card (same limit/rate, split as you wish).
Visa instead of Mastercard for the credit card
Benefits for Plus/Premium customers (return of Monzo Points? Metal Cards?)
Monzo donates money to charities when you use your card
Easy DD set up and change (flipping between minimum and fixed payments, changing DD date)
Include the credit card in the customer API
Live Google sheets export
CSV export
0voters
Vote 2: The Monzo Magic What are the things you’d want from a credit card from Monzo? What sparks joy?
An interest free period
A standard APR rate to pay off over time (happens automatically)
Balance transfers in / out
Special deals (e.g. 0% spending, low APR balance transfers)
Instant notifications
Instant balance updates
Notes/tags
Categories
Split the bill / shared tabs
Ability to flex credit card transactions
Insights in Trends (Flex is missing)
Tight integration with other parts of the app
Credit card pots: when you make a credit card purchase, that value is moved from your current account to the credit card pot, which is then used to pay the bill.
Separate the Buy Now Pay Later account from the credit card in the app (two different things, two feeds).
Set your associated pot’s goal automatically to match the next credit card bill
Let you tag transactions as holds (and alert you if they haven’t fallen off)
Easily see / filter what is pending and what has cleared
Automagically update Summary/Trends so it knows the value of the upcoming payment
A proper transaction feed that you can search and filter
A master-feed combining the current account and credit card
Work natively with budgeting
No fees
Mastercard/Visa rates for purchases overseas (like the current account)
A plastic card
A metal card
A funky different type of card (eco, wood, something ooh)
A competitive credit limit (anecdotally Flex is much lower than credit cards)
Rewards (points or cash back)
Do something clever so that you can see your future cashflow (given that it could take ~2 months for your account to be debited to actually happen)
One credit line between overdraft, Flex and credit card (same limit/rate, split as you wish).
Visa instead of Mastercard for the credit card
Benefits for Plus/Premium customers (return of Monzo Points? Metal Cards?)
Monzo donates money to charities when you use your card
Easy DD set up and change (flipping between minimum and fixed payments, changing DD date)
Literally all I would personally want from a credit card is to work. Tried to use my MBNA card recently for a deposit for our Airbnb and it wouldn’t work so ended up using our Monzo joint account
If Monzo offered a card with the same good availability plus extra visibility then all good with me, though I mainly use Flex for most things
Instant notifications, balance instantly updates and in a good UI would get me to get one.
But I don’t use my current CC for anything other than safety really. And probably if I was going to buy say, a flight, I’d be better off using my Flex card and having 3 months of interest free.
It would be nice to have a Monzo Credit card and Flex combined! Pay it off in full every month and if I want to I can flex some transaction and pay them overtime!
I’d like a physical card , the ability to set it to be like a normal credit card (i.e. paid off in full every month), but have the ability to flex transactions as and when.
How could a Monzo credit card be a bit different andbring the Monzo magic?
I think this is all about tight integration with other parts of Monzo:
Put it in Trends (why is Flex not there?!). Give me the choice to look at my Trends so I can see the spend realised either when I made the purchase or when I paid it off.
Realise the ‘credit card pot’ idea that’s been around forever - when you make a credit card purchase put its value in a pot so you are ready to pay it off when the bill comes round.
Separate out the ‘Flex’ account from the ‘credit card’ account - right now I can’t see a feed for my Flex virtual card purchases, just everything I’ve flexed (which is kinda different).
Let me set up a pot with the goal automatically set as the credit card balance / next bill amount
I’d also like to be able to tag transactions as holds - knowing that they’ll fall off. Or be alerted if they haven’t. Actually, I’m not sure that the ‘real true balance’ approach from the current account would work in this circumstance. But maybe it’s the least worst way? Or maybe if we can tag transactions as holds it could do something clever in the balance?
First class citizen for upcoming payments: let Summary/Trends know the amount I’ll be paying and when. And let me change that if I fancy overpaying in a couple of taps - so I change the amount and date that I’m paying off my bill and Monzo automagically takes that into account in the Trends Balance tab / Summary etc.
And then the table stakes: first class Monzo citizen: instant notifications, notes, tags, split the bill, shared tabs etc.
What is it about existing credit cards that you hate, would drive you elsewhere, or you want Monzo to avoid?
It’s never exactly clear to me how the interest free purchase period works - I know it’s like 56 days or something, but that’s always the max amount. It’d be really good to be super clear about that and show on each transaction what bill it’ll be taken from (assuming we’re in pay everything mode).
This for me too. Plus no fees. For anything. Ever. Especially foreign currency payments.
Flex is pretty much already this. And although it’s made some strides that widen the gap between BNPL and closes in on behaving more like a proper credit card, it’s not quite there yet.
That would be great. It wouldn’t replace a credit card for me (happy to get S75 and pay them off each month) but for the odd thing I’d like to spread over a few months (I’ve taken the 6 months interest free offer in the past couple of weeks) it’s great. A pain having to go into the app and find the card details though for an online purchase.
If Flex allowed you to set it to pay back the balance every month automatically (like a credit card) would you swap or would there still be sand in the suntan lotion?
I think there’s an option now to pay an entire purchase on the next payment date, which then allows you to choose whether to pay off or use interest-free 3 months. So that would work.
£3000 limit is too low though. And I’d probably still favour Amex for the reward points and the offers.
So there are lots of people suggesting instant notifications…. One of my problems with credit cards is that they are literally the opposite of instant. People grumbled when pending transactions took 2-3 days to hit their account. Credit card payments are can take nearly 2 months.
So, what would tempt me?
I’d probably cancel my Halifax clarity card if monzo could match the fee free use abroad.
What would make me switch my day to day spending? I’m not sure. Possibly some combination of cash back and good visibility of transactions within the app - ie something to make up for the 2 months it takes for money to really leave my current account.
I agree with most of the suggestions outlined in this thread: If Monzo introduced a credit card, i feel that it should offer cardholders a competitive rewards/benefits system: one that offers either cash back and/or member benefits. This could tie tied in nicely with Monzo and/or Premium. There are countless examples of how a rewards/benefits system could be incorporated (Amex/Barclaycard Rewards) but it would be nice if a completely new approach was introduced for a credit card product.
Sure. (Assumption: I’m approaching this from the point of view of someone who pays off in full)
The point I’m trying to make is that monzo tried to make banking easy. You made a transaction, it appeared in your feed instantly, your balance updated instantly. How could banking get any easier? I love it. It’s the debit card way.
Credit cards are inherently the opposite of that. You make a payment, it goes on your statement, then you have to remember that you’re going to have to pay it off. Some of your balance needs to be paid off at the next payment date (because you’ve already had the statement), whereas some of that figure is new spend and won’t be due until a month or so later. Meanwhile, the money in your current account isn’t all yours, because some of it needs to be earmarked to pay off the credit card.
I suppose what I’m saying is, and I think Tom B used to say this, is that credit cards re fundamentally a clunky product. So when you ask me what I want from a credit card, the answer I think is that I want to to be more like a debit card. Sorry Or, it needs to pay me for the extra faffing about (like Amex do).
bring the Monzo magic 
and/or Premium. There are countless examples of how a rewards/benefits system could be incorporated (Amex/Barclaycard Rewards) but it would be nice if a completely new approach was introduced for a credit card product.
Or, it needs to pay me for the extra faffing about (like Amex do).