I did. It doesn’t answer most of the questions I have. And I’m now almost certainly not going to take advantage of a Monzo current account when it becomes available, which is a real shame.
My understanding was that Monzo planned to make money by charging for credit facilities, not by inserting promotional material into my transaction feed. I also didn’t realise (my fault probably for not reading the Ts&Cs properly) that my transactions would be analysed and used to push ads and marketing to me. I’m very, very uncomfortable with this, it feels creepy. Plus, the way this has been rolled out was clearly not well communicated at the outset - it seems like it was just ‘done to people’ in order to see how they reacted. Maybe that’s not the case. But that’s how it feels.
It’s great that many have found this useful, and clearly don’t mind the approach. I’m not in that camp though, I don’t like the idea that my transactions are being used in this manner, for me what I do with my money should be private to a certain extent. And I know the only way you can have true privacy is by not using electronic payments - I’m not after anonymity though, just some respect for my data, and that what I do with my money won’t be converted into promotional ‘opportunities’. This isn’t Facebook.
Even if there’s an opt out for this, I’m now nervous about what Monzo considers to be acceptable behaviour, and what they will feel they can get away with in future. This has crossed a massive line for me, it smacks of a lack of respect for customers’ data, it lacks empathy, and I don’t even have a current account yet.
I’m sorry to sound so negative about it all, but that’s just how I feel. Literally everything about Monzo has been positive for me so far, I tell people about it, and a few people I know have signed up as a result.
Good for those who think this is a great idea. I’m sorry I can’t be one of those people. I hope in some way this feedback is useful.