No, it starts from the day you start, not Jan 1st.
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Cool, cheers!
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I have a premier account and am doing it - just a bit of fun.
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yeah I noticed the same - but I guess it cannot be 1p Saving Challenge (2026) because it might not be 1p but 4p…
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@davidwalton good for putting it up numbers. needs one correction here -
- For upside calculation - You are applying 5% interest rate to the total balance saved (e.g. £1,355.90 over the year for X2 plan) but it doesn’t work like that. Monzo pays interest on monthly basis (i.e 5%/12 = 0.41% each month on average monthly balance) so you needs to calculate accordingly and it will come our actually less
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Yeah, my calcs were quick and rough (indication only - not accurate)
I did include the same calcs in my off-site spreadsheet showing the amounts and saw they were wrong, so rather than updating them, I took the lazy option and just removed them 
Pretty sure the 5% (AER) interest is calculated daily and paid monthly.
You are correct, it is calculated daily and paid on the first of every month. The math on that (4.89% interest calculated daily and paid monthly) gives the following figures for one challenge pot at the end:
The absolute max interest one couple can earn, if you and your partner each 4x the challenge and the interest rate stays at 5% equivalent, is £87.75. Between the two of you you’ll have paid in £5,343.60 and you’ll have £5,431.35 between your pots.
Interestingly (pun intended), if you just take the average monthly amount on a two-person 4p challenge (£455.30) and put that in a regular savings pot earning 3.25% AER (3.2% Gross), you’d end up with a total of £5,437.07, slightly more than the challenge, even with a lower interest rate.
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Given that December is typically a hard month for expenses, I found last year’s challenge quite frustrating at the end. I would love it if there was an option to randomise the day number so that on average a more even amount would be added each month. Or, to have some pattern like: day 1: 1p, day 2: 365p, day 3: 2p, day 4: 364p, etc.
I think making it random makes it unpredictable and so more challenging than it is now. Loads of people have asked for the reverse challenge but didn’t happen this year.
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Thought since the draw for 2025 has finished, continuing the discussion here would be more appropriate. 
I’m still on the 4p challenge but getting a bit tired with the mental gymnastics of spinning many plates at once to max out benefits/avoid fees. 
Has anyone here already given up, or does the prospect of winning £10k still keep you going?
I closed it after a few weeks, the faff of trying to maximize the interest was not worth the stress for me.
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Hope the more people dropping out of this the sooner they stop the gimmicky 
and give us something with proper value. 
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I’m still going strong on day 44 at x4. Currently at £39.62 saved as of this morning which includes 2p interest from Jan.
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Still going strong myself on this. Not really noticing at the moment but I know that will change.
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Also still doing the savings challenge. It’s not really a hassle with Monzo being my main bank at the moment.
It’s handy that Trends tells you how much the challenge is going to cost you during your monthly budgeting period - jut ensure you have that much available in your Monzo current account.
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I hope the more people dropping out of this the more chances I have of winning a prize 
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Yes, your chance of winning has doubled from 0.000001% to 0.000002%! 
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