Let’s be honest. They’ve been killing it right now for the past two years almost non-stop.
It’s crazy how they just keep going. I hope they can sustain it long term to some degree. It’s what the concept of fintech promised, and that idea of near constant innovation and iteration is exactly what got me excited about this niche segment of the finance industry in the first place.
I just don’t want them to get carried away like Revolut do, where the core experience gets revised almost every couple of months which interferes with muscle memory. A design refresh every now and again couldn’t hurt though. I hate the app, but from what I’ve seen of the web interface, it’s much more pleasant.
Post-pandemic I can see branches making sense for some fintechs. There are still certain things best done in person such as ID verification/account recovery or opening accounts for people without a form of ID that’s verifiable online.
With a branch network they can require someone to visit them if they can’t verify their identity remotely, further cutting down on fraud.
Furthermore these branches don’t need to be anything like typical legacy bank branches - it can be an Argos-style shop with self-service terminals and only staffed with a skeleton crew, somewhat cutting down on staff expenses.
Opened a Starling account today. So far, rather impressed by their offering. The web portal is nice, as is the app. Interest on balances, IBAN numbers, cheque imaging, Post Office cash handling…things that are chargeable extras or just not available on Monzo.
Totally get that, my ideal bank would basically be a mix and match of Starling and Monzo. For me Monzo just clinches it at the moment.
If we get linking virtual cards to pots the margin increases.
No budgeting, just categories and you may also notice the three different ways Starling displays monthly spending…
Personally, I prefer an aggregator for budgeting, as it gives you much, much more across different providers than any one bank does so far
Plus, there’s much less friction if you decide to switch in future (assuming your new bank is supported by your aggregator, which is increasingly likely now)
Honestly, Paying bills from a pot is like the best feature i have ever used with a bank, back in the olden days (pre Monzo) i used to have an instant access savings account for literally each of my bills because i was really bad at budgeting.
Monzo has completely changed my perception of money, i have never missed a direct debit, never overspent, i now save more and invest more. Its just overall brilliant.
What tips me off Monzo is really small silly things like Payee Management, the Money Transfer tab could be cooler and look snazzier. Dark Mode (i know its been mentioned soo much)
Ha! This is so true, every time I think I’ve wrapped my brain around it I get confused again.
At least the web page rings seem to be consistent with the Categories/Merchants screens in the app, which I’ve come to make sense of, so I hope the home screen pulse thing, which in my opinion remains the messiest thing of the app, gets updated/revamped soon.
Speaking of the web portal, I’m positively surprised by how complete and functional it is. For some reason I was expecting a read-only sort of web page. This is not a diss, but I guess my low expectations came from the experience with web.monzo.com.
, leaving this community now 
