1: I tend to add notes to each transaction describing the thing I bought/paid for.
2: I have started using virtual cards from Monzo Plus for (say) online transactions.
Normally the transaction list for Monzo shows the name of the vendor/retailer on the first line and the notes/tags on the second line in smaller text.
For virtual card transactions, Monzo instead shows the vendor/retailer on the first line and the name of the virtual card on the second line in smaller text.
This is really not helpful. Monzo already adds a small ‘card’ icon overlaid on the vendor/retailer icon indicating a virtual card was used.
I would argue that it would be much more helpful for me when inspecting the list of transactions in the main Monzo transaction list to see the notes/tags in place of the virtual card name.
This would allow me to understand which transaction was which (did I buy socks, a yoghurt, a night in a yurt?) and if then I needed to know which virtual card I used to pay, I could tap into the transaction details view.
I’ve attached a screenshot showing how several transactions appear that were all paid using a virtual card. As you can see, three of the payments were with the same vendor (Apple) using the same virtual card (named: Apple Pay) and are thus very hard to distinguish from each other. Only by tapping into each can I see that one was for a monthly sub, one for an app purchase and one for an NFC store payment.
I think the way Monzo is currently displaying transactions for virtual cards is sub-optimal and hope others may agree - hence this post. I couldn’t find this already logged on the forums after searching for a few key phrases but usual apologies if this topic has been well covered elsewhere.
Anarchist
(Press ‘Help’ search ‘Contact us’ or email help@monzo.com or call 0800 802 1281)
2
This isn’t a bad idea. It’s a bit niche, though. It will appeal to Plus/Premium card holders who use virtual cards and attach a lot of notes, and who don’t want to see which virtual card was used.
I’ve been considering this further since making the suggestion and noticed after reading Anarchist’s response above the following:
1: The fact that a transaction was made by a virtual card instead of the physical card is signified by the additional mini card overlaid onto the transaction icon.
2: The specific virtual card used for the transaction is signified by the colour of the overlaid mini icon. There can only be five virtual cards on a Plus account so as long as five distinct colours have been selected by the user, it should be easy to ID which virtual card was used from the info alone.
It strikes me that the display of a transaction is inconsistent between physical card transactions and virtual card transactions. Printing the name of the virtual card in the space used for the notes/tags on a physical card transaction is superfluous due to the information already being provided via the icon-overlay and loses the notes/tags info as a result.
One can presume that the display of the notes/tags info for a physical card transaction was deemed valuable because it’s made it into the UI on the production app.
If notes/tags info is important, it should be displayed for physical and virtual card transactions. If it is not, then maybe it should not be displayed for physical card transactions - and the words “physical card transaction” perhaps be displayed there instead… or “direct debit” or “standing order” etc.
In other words, if the form of the transaction (physical card, virtual card, DD, SO et-al) is the most important info to surface on the main display, this should be done consistently.
If however it is not so important, then maybe the notes/tags info is a better fit for this UI space and should be displayed for all transactions consistently.
I have my preference clearly - I’d like to see the notes/tags info for all transactions - but I hope by highlighting how there is an inconsistency here and also that the display of the name of the virtual card used is redundant due to the graphical info provided in the icon overlay, there may be some re-evaluation of how best to display a transaction.
I couldn’t state exactly when it happened but you are right that for the past wee while the virtual card entries in the transaction log have been showing the notes in place of the virtual card name which is exactly what I wanted. I think it was probably released for a week before I consciously realised… because I realised I hadn’t been annoyed by the original behaviour for that week!
Hats off to the team that made this change. Has improved my experience with the app greatly.
