True, I was trying to avoid falling foul of incorrect terminology when talking about different balances.
My point was, if the money held in my personal account more than covers the amount I’m “overdrawn” by, I don’t believe that monzo has actually lent me anything and therefore shouldn’t be charging me a fee or interest.
Sure the app might be displaying a negative figure but that doesn’t actually mean monzo has given me anything.
That’s true. If Monzo assigned a separate account number to a “Pots Account,” irrespective of the number of pots held, I guess it would be a bit clearer that pots weren’t part of the Current Account.
But.
Monzo have previously suggested that pots were part of the current account. Even though they now show them as a separate total. No wonder there is some confusion!
Fair enough if you were at the meets at the time! Just always how I understood it when they came in. To me the image shows a separate nutmeg integration and then a normal pot with money in it saving up for a holiday. But again, each to their own, everyone views and uses Monzo features differently hense the difficulties with Summary e.t.c.
Totally agree. Pots should be part of overall balance used to decide whether overdrawn.
Monzo are not lending any money to anyone with a positive overall balance so should not charge.
I have to agree, which is why I use Starling. (The other reason being the shocking mess Monzo made of my Plus account.)
So the answer is - when you are notified by Monzo to add funds to your current account because you are going overdrawn if the bill tied to your current account is honoured by Monzo, to transfer funds from the positive balance in your pots to your current account negative balance - job done no overdraft fees - its not really that complicated to understand is it - you have debt , you have funds in other places , either pay off the debt with your positive funds or pay interest on the money that Monzo have told you you are borrowing from them ? , what you want is for the funds that you have earmarked to spend on other things to be counted on your current account balance to honour the debts you have accrued and are now due to be paid - 
without committing your funds to the debt.
Why is so hard to transfer money from a pot to your current account - its like - two or three taps - what could be simpler ??? …so you don’t accrue interest which you fundamentally object to…I really dont understand the mentality ???
I suppose the answer is that Monzo bounce the debt you are going in to, so you dont have overdraft fees to pay , while still keeping your funds in your pots that you have allocated personally to pay for other things that you want , whilst Monzo decline your debt , so trashing your credit history 
This is I believe what Monzo is all about - Its about personal financial responsibility - honour your debts , better financial management. Take control of your finances. Sleep well at night
I think Starling with their approach seem to be offering more funding to the customer living beyond their means , they encourage you to have goals in your savings to buy things you want, or need, when that bill comes ie Car / house insurance etc etc and then count this ‘balance’ against your overspending in your current account, because you, after all have a positive balance , so everything is tickety boo , keep on living the life you want…
but if you are happy with controlling your finances in that way …go for it personally I think it is encouraging you to be overdrawn which is where they will make their money , almost like legacy banking
Perhaps. But at 43 I know that when I borrow money, I’m really borrowing it from my future self, and that if I borrow now I’ll have less of it for myself in the future.
I have savings set aside for specific things, and sometimes spend a little over my ‘spending’ budget and use my overdraft (without being charged) and sometimes spend less. I’m comfortable with my overdraft use, and don’t use it to buy stuff I can’t afford “living the life I want” (indeed, when I spent out of my Monzo account I’d still use the Starling overdraft if I needed extra money because it was free).
If Starling is designed to nudge me into debt, they’re not making debit interest off me, and I couldn’t really care about anyone else’s borrowing – you can only give advice so much but people really need to understand debt for themselves. I observe how much Monzo customers seem to obsess about their credit rating, and the way they do suggests to me a great many Monzo customers don’t really understand how debt affects everyday life.
As you say its fine for you Jamie , and if it works for you that’s great, you understand finances , the ‘gripe’ I have is some dont understand finances and see ’ free ’ money ( because you have it in a goal ) with committed debts ignored until its time to pay them and then find themselves in all kinds of financial trouble because of the way Starling offers the facility of counting committed spending as potentially money you can use to offset your overspending on your current account - it really is a gripe for me
If you are financially astute and everything pans out as you expect - its great, if everything in life was so simple people would be very happy
This is where the two different perspectives are.
I don’t believe that there is a debt when you have the money to cover it in a pot. A pot isn’t a separate, other place. It’s a part of the account. That money also cannot be spent until it is removed from said Pot so it’s not like there’s any risk to monzo when a customer’s main balance in negative while they have more than that amount in pots. There’s no risk because there’s no real lending going on or debt.
It is a different perspective , and its not a problem at all if you move the money that you overspend in your Current account from your pot , no overdraft fees , no problem, and you learn that what you have saved in your pot for something isn’t available because you have spent it in your current account.
If you think they aren’t separate accounts surely you would be happy for Monzo to take the money from the pot to cover the overspend in the current account once it becomes due - after all its all money in the same account , separated by mere words - Current account / pot - so is available for Monzo to use to cover the debt ? so again no interest would be paid ?
No I wouldn’t be happy.
Again don’t see it as a debt, and don’t see an issue with having a negative number displayed. There’s no need for funds to be moved around as there is no debt, it’s just a choice in how the funds in different parts of the account are displayed.
It’s not the way I personally would manage my finances but I think I should be able to do it if that was my choice. And until money has actually been lent to me and a real debt between the account and monzo exists, I’d appreciate not being charged.
This conversation seems to be becoming somewhat circular now.
it really is simple , Monzo say if you dont have sufficient funds in your current account balance we will do one of three things
the choice is yours , you may not like that you have funds in Monzo elsewhere that you think should count as available balance , until those funds are in your current account balance Monzo dont
Your idea works only if you personally view yours pots as part of your main account or not.
I maybe wrong but I’d guess that the majority of Monzo users don’t view it like that. We have a current account balance and your pot balances individually for a reason.
How you sound like you’d like it to work adds an unnecessary complication, and it needs to work well for everybody.
What’s complicated about moving money from a pot to your account if you get a notification?
How would it work if then you do actually go more negative then you have in Pots? What are Monzo supposed to? Just show two negative numbers, that just seems silly.
It feels like over complicating it for the sake of it in my honest opinion but each to their own.
If Monzo did this I think I’d genuinely think twice about using them, especially if as someone else suggested they just took the money out my pots.
Interesting topic but I can’t say I agree with it and whether Starling do it or not, doesn’t really matter, if all banks were the same then we wouldn’t have so many
I know how it currently works, and how simple it is, but this whole thread was created to discuss and challenge the current approach so I thought I’d share my thinking.
When the pots are displayed as part of the account I’d guess that most customers will think the are a part of the main account. On the main screen they are nested under that accounts card so you know where the pot belongs.
And on the view all screen the amounts they hold contribute to the overall value of that particular account.
I don’t think or would be confusing if charges were only applied when that overall number became negative. You could click on the manage overdraft button to see more of an explanation.
How I’d like it is for monzo to reassess when they charge people. It’s not about the work involved at all.
’ I know how it currently works, and how simple it is, but this whole thread was created to discuss and challenge the current approach so I thought I’d share my thinking. ’
I agree , thats what the forum is for 
Im not saying what Im saying is right , its just my opinion.
And there will be a couple of golden nuggets in this forum somewhere that Monzo staff will hopefully latch on to and develop in to a more magical banking experience. only wish I could think of one
I think that point is debatable. Unless you have a Business or Current Account, It doesn’t really indicate it’s part that account at all. That screen is literally just your Monzo app, i hope that makes sense. The only thing that gives any indication that they’re part of the Current Account is the fact that the Current Account comes first in the list.
I think this point in-particular is validated if you have multiple accounts, but if you just have one then maybe not so much.
Because I only have one account, the overall figure tells me what I have across all my Monzo accounts and pots, that’s how i think of it. Again it’s up for interpretation though as we’re all different.
Your perspective doesn’t reflect what a pot is. All of what you’re saying only makes sense if the pot and the current account are separate things. They’re not. Money in your pot doesn’t leave your current account at any time unless you’ve got a special pot with another provider.
If you have a pot with another provider, it makes sense charges would be there for the overdraft. If you had two current account with Monzo, though not possible, it would make sense to charge. No money is ever leaving your account yet charges are still being made.
If we’re reaching the point of telling each other how to think it’s probably time to can this discussion isn’t it?
