Agreed, but by having one or more account number/sort codes associated it is accessible from anywhere. As a pot doesn’t I don’t see it as an account in its own right and part of the account with which my sort code/account number/ card number gets me access to it.
As does my mattress, my wallet, the hole I put in the ground … 
I think the reason Pots balances do not count towards your overall account balance is because the mid-term goal with these is for the vessel behinds pots to be a third party savings account, like Nutmeg.
The balances you hold there will not be counted towards your balance, either. The way I see Pots are that they’re a placeholder whilst the third-party integrations that Monzo have described are realised.
Edit: So to clarify, I’m implying they won’t want to change the way balances/negative balances are calculated, for people to get used to them, then to have to change it at a later date and everybody be in uproar/have to relearn the new way.
I was of the opinion that when those integrations are in place that the money is now with the third party(e.g. nutmeg), and therefore no longer in your account at all.
Me too. I think Monzo treat pots like this now because that is how the third party integrations will work.
No.
Bunq for example have separate account numbers for each pot so that clearly an account and should not be taken into account if they offered interest or overdrafts on their main account.
With Monzo the pots are Not separate accounts and do not have separate account numbers nor debit cards nor direct debit or standing order functionality. They are part if the main account, just ring fenced, and should count to any overall balance on that account for overdraft purposes (and for interest on the account if ever introduced).
Our competitor Starling understand this commonsense so their customers benefit from paying less for their overdrafts (less days and lower amounts) and earn more interest (on their account balance) than they otherwise would.
So do Monzo charge you an overdraft fee if you’re over your ‘main’ balance even if you have more than you’ve used available in a pot?
Yep, at least for now.
Yes…which is crazy, as the pots are not separate accounts.
That’s really bad. It is one account and the funds are all within one account. How would that work on statements because pots don’t show? Your account would appear in credit despite being charged overdraft fees.
That does seem insane because the money in your pots would presumable be in the Monzo BoE account earning interest whilst Monzo are also claiming overdraft usage charges from the customer despite the customer being in credit.
Other banks I can understand doing it because the accounts are completely separate but this seems insane.
It is, but they probably thought it thru and decided it was a good revenue earner by stealth.
Based on the company culture I would totally come to that conclusion too
/s 
Well, until a few months ago I would’ve agreed with you. But with the recent very forceful push towards (very expensive) overdrafts, and gymnastics such as “a pot isn’t an account until we can charge you overdraft fees, at which point it is”, I have to say my goodwill and “benefit of the doubt” is starting to run low.
What forceful push? I haven’t had a push. Have you got an example?
That’s the topic we’re currently discussing.
You aren’t serious, are you?
I would say it was more of a shortcut for a better user experience, not having to figure out a way to tell users why in some cases they get overdraft charges and in other cases they don’t.
At the moment it’s simple, main account balance below -20£ (the free buffer) means overdraft charges. If they were to take pots into account, some users might go below -20£ and still not get charged anything, and start getting charged once they go below a seemingly random amount (the total amount of their pots combined), leading to extra support queries, etc.
Deadly serious. How has it been forceful?
I haven’t felt any pressure to take an overdraft.
Edit: In fact, I remember asking to be considered for one in like Oct 2017 and didn’t hear anything for almost 6 months. Hardly pressure.
are two examples.
Also, I used to get weekly notifications to apply for one, because my balance was constantly low. That’s beyond forceful, and led me to withdraw notification permission for Monzo from Android.
I said “recent”. Oct 2017 is ancient history
I feel like Monzo wouldn’t have a flood of users questioning why they weren’t charged overdraft fees if they handled overdraft charges based on the account balance like any other provider would.
That’s literally everyone’s excuse for shady behaviour these days, though …