The 2026 Saving Challenge - New year, new levels, plus a new rate for Extra, Perks and Max

UK Monzo Chat
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Hey everyone :wave:

I’m Liz from the Subscriptions team, and I’ve got some exciting news about Monzo’s Saving Challenge. It’s back, and it’s bigger and better than ever.

After the overwhelming love we saw for the 1p Saving Challenge in 2025, we knew we had to bring it back – but with some shiny new upgrades :sparkles:

How the Saving Challenge works

Join the challenge and we’ll move 1p from your personal account to your Challenge Pot on day one. Then 2p on day two, 3p on day three, and so on. On day 30, you’ll have £4.65. Halfway through, you’ll have £168.36.

Make it to day 365 of your challenge and you’ll have saved £667.95 and be in with a chance to win £10,000. You can find the full prize draw rules below.

Your challenge will last for 365 days from the day you save your first penny. You can withdraw your savings, pause or stop your challenge anytime.

If you’ve still got a Saving Challenge running from 2025, you can start the 2026 challenge alongside it, or end it early and dive into the 2026 challenge for a fresh start.

New year, new levels – plus a new rate for Extra, Perks and Max customers

This year, you get even more as a Monzo Extra, Perks and Max customer:

A new rate for your Challenge Pot:
Earn 5.0% AER (variable) interest on Challenge Pot savings (paid monthly into your Challenge Pot). That’s higher than your existing boosted rate of 3.50% AER (variable), which is still the rate on our Instant Access Savings Pots and an Instant Access Cash ISA.

More monthly prizes:
Get the chance to win one of one hundred £100 prizes every month (that’s 10x more prizes than 2025, and on top of the £10,000 prize draw).You can find the full prize draw rules below.

2x or 4x your challenge:
You can 2x your daily savings to reach £1,334.90. Or 4x your daily savings to reach a huge £2,671.80.

You can switch levels at any time and your new level will start from the next day. So if you switch to the 2x level on day 10, you’ll save 22p on day 11.

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Prize draw rules:

For a chance to win £10,000, start by 11:59:59pm on 31 January 2026. You’ll need to have at least £667.95 (excluding interest) in your Challenge Pot and have caught up on all your daily savings at 11:59pm on day 365 of your challenge. If you’re saving 2x or 4x, your saving goal will be higher. The prize draw will be on 1 Feb 2027.

For a chance to win the monthly prize draw, start by 11:59:59pm on 31 January 2026. You must have Monzo Extra, Perks or Max (excluding free trials). No matter your saving level, you’ll need to have caught up on all your daily savings by the end of the month.

For both draws: UK residents • Aged 18+ • One entry per person • You must have a Monzo personal account • Paid plans from £3 a month • Challenge and prize Ts&Cs apply

We’d love to hear your thoughts! If you’ll be taking part this year, what are you saving up for?

Happy Saving,
Liz

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Our NEW 1p Saving Challenge - It's here - Join by 31 January 2025 🪙 🪙 🪙
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I’ve enjoyed doing the 2025 Challenge, and have a decent chunk saved for a holiday next year :greece:

These new additions sound exciting - I’m in! :tada:

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(Consolidating some comments from the other thread)

I wasn’t going to do the challenge again, instead I was planning on putting £100/month into premium bonds instead (effectively continuing the Nov-Dec amount). But 5% is pretty damn good…

My math is showing a total of £2,716.67 earned in this new challenge, assuming you 4x the whole way and the rate stays at 5% the whole year (which it probably won’t, but I believe the BoE did say something about this latest rate drop likely being the last for a while…). If my wife and I both do it that is £5,433.35 saved throughout the year, earning 5% interest along the way. That is definitely making me rethink my plan to not do the challenge again this year…

We will need to set aside some decent amounts if the wife and I both 4x it though…

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Calculation sheet updated to show (normal) 2026 values, 2026 X2 values and 2026 x4 values:

The sheet doesn’t take into account the ability to shift between normal, X2 and X4 plans - nor does it apply any interest to the manual/IFTTT calculations

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I’ll be doing it, for sure. It’s been a big help funding Christmas.

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Pretty sure the team at Monzo has done all the math to ensure Monzo gains more from subscription fees than paying out interest to customers. :sweat_smile:

PS: The prize draw is still tempting. They’re so good at gamifying banking.

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You’ll generally be better off saving that amount through other methods.

This challenge isn’t aimed at people who already have the discipline to save consistently and expect large returns.

It’s designed around small, regular deposits you’d barely notice, helping you build the habit of saving.

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I’m going to do it (X1) for the chance of winning the prizes :slightly_smiling_face:

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If you win the million can i have 1% of it please :hugs:

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I’m in too, for a chance to win :1st_place_medal: I’ll likely do 6 months x4, 3 months x2 and 3 months x1 so I’m not busting a gut in the run up to Christmas.

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I save consistently, but I still do the challenge for the chance to win a prize!

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Of course, but if you are already on Extra/Perks/Max then you will earn an extra £15.81 over the course of the year than you would have if you had done this exact same challenge in a 3.25% pot.

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  • On the X2 plan, you’ll save £1,355.90 over the year - and with 5% interest, the total would be £1,423.70 (£67.80 interest)

  • On the X4 plan, you’ll save £2,671.80 over the year - and with 5% interest, the total would be £2,805.39 (£133.59 interest)

Treating the following calculations as isolated, related only to the 5% interest on the 1p Savings challenge figures and disregarding any other benefits given by the paid tiers:

  • If you’re on Extra, you’ll pay £36.00 for the ability to get 5% back on the 1p savings challenge - so, if isolated, you’ll be up by £31.80 on the X2 plan and up by £97.59 on the X4 plan

  • If you’re on Perks, you’ll pay £84.00 for the ability to get 5% back on the 1p savings challenge - so, if isolated, you’ll be down by £16.20 on the X2 plan and up by £49.59 on the X4 plan

  • If you’re on Max, you’ll pay (at least) £204.00 for the ability to get 5% back on the 1p savings challenge - so, if isolated, you’ll be down by (at least) £136.20 on the X2 plan and down by (at least) £70.41 on the X4 plan

So LOTS to consider to get the best return(s) depending on your financial circumstances.

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Oh it definitely isn’t aimed at people like me, but that doesn’t mean it won’t benefit people like me. If I am already maxing out the regular saver accounts I’m willing to open, then earning 5% rather than 3.25% on other savings is beneficial, even on small amounts. I mean, if you are already putting £1k into a Monzo savings pot for X reason, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t 4x the 1p challenge, and balance that £1k/month between the challenge and a regular pot.

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No, because if I do win I’ll need to set aside 35+% of it for taxes… (not taxable here, but it would be considered taxable income by my home country… :sad_but_relieved_face: )

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The reminder button on the challenge doesn’t seem to work. Takes me to the Monzo website about the challenge.

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I’m curious how you got the £2,805.39 total - I came to £2,716.67 on the 4x (calculating interest daily but applying it monthly, which is what Monzo seems to do)

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Thanks for doing all the mental gymnastics, it’s very helpful. :folded_hands:t3: Last year’s 1p challenge lured me into Perks. I’ve not used most of the perks but connected accounts has been a life saver, so I’d still mix and match 4x/2x/1x for the fun of lucky draw.

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I’ve edited the figures, as I got the X2 plan wrong initially. The X4 was OK though?

My calcs were simply based on an annual contribution (excl. interest) of £2,671.80 which then has 5% interest (£133.59) added to it, to total £2,805.39

The GSheet details it on a daily basis of contribution-plus-interest too:

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£350,000 on taxes! That sounds like america land to me

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