Issue:
With the new interface there is not way to see the remaining amount (account balance) after a transaction or at a certain day. That makes it practically impossible to do accounting in any external app because once there’s a mismatch you have to scroll through all the history in order to pinpoint it. The old interface used to have a sum per day (even if it was wrong sometimes)
Details to reproduce:
See your transaction history. It doesn’t show the account balance at any time other the current and at the end of the last month.
It was pointed out to me that you can find the running balance in “export & bank statements” (second icon from the right at the top right (stats) -> scroll to the bottom). That solves my problem but it would be nice if that was shown in the list just like other banks do.
I am not quite sure what point you are illustrating in your screenshot?
The new app already shows current balance. What it used to also show, and what I need, is the running balance. In the second screenshot below, instead of showing the current balance of £58.33, it would show the running balance at 23rd September, which was £162.99. The old app did that, which was immensely helpful in reconciling my bank accounts.
I will also add that both Nationwide and CoOp bank apps also show running balances. Challenger banks, like Monzo are generally expected to provide more functionality, rather than less. Which makes the removal of a piece of functionality look rather odd.
Running balance (after every transaction) is a basic bank features. People have been asking Monzo to do this for years. I can’t believe I have to export a statement when I need to see it.
In the old app, there was a form of running balance, in the sense that as you scrolled down, the account balance at top of screen would change.
My grievance is that Monzo took an active decision to remove it. And that action is at odds with “As above, it may be coming soon” from Anarchist above.
For the record, Starling have told me they don’t have a running balance, either. I don’t know about challenger banks.
The change means that where it used to take me 5 minutes to balance my account with my budget app (YNAB) now runs to 10 to 15 minutes.
It is a significant issue for me and when I can create a space in my day, I shall be looking at alternatives. And yeah, exporting a statement really doesn’t cut it.
Whilst I follow the feature request thinking here, I’m genuinely not sure why it is so critical? I’m not the best at budgeting mind you, but how does having a running balance help?
I agree, I need to stick to a budget. But knowing a old balance is no help to me.
Now as Monzo dose it showing what I have actually spent everyday is far more helpful. And if you do use a good budgeting app you still should not need to reconcile it. It should just import the data.
I do not wish to sound negative. But am loving all the new Monzo stuff and it works great for me, maybe it’s just me but I do not wish to know what my balances where it’s irrelevant. I just want to know where I am in this month’s budget and how much I can spend now.
Yes. I mentioned this over two years ago. It’s a fundamental feature of banking or accounting. I just can not believe that something that is required, something so simple, has been done away with.
It’s astonishing.
The balance of the account shows how much money you have at any given moment.
This is an interesting view. But one that I fear has a false sense of security.
It’s placing too much faith in the bank to get it right as, by having a running balance, it’s easier to catch errors.
You may think that this is nonsense. But it’s not.
Virgin Money maintains savings accounts for my kids. The passbook has the traditional approach of credit, debit and balance columns. It makes it easy to see the state of affairs.
But they couldn’t add up and there was hundreds of pounds missing as the balance did not correctly reflect the credit sums. I caught this.
Without the balance column reflecting the change from the credit and debit transactions, it’s easy to lose sight of the true balance.
OK, an exception, but it can happen and it did.
Virgin said there was no problem until I showed them how they couldn’t add up!
So, whilst you might not find the running balance of any use, it is of use and it is desired by many people.
Credit, debit and balance columns is a basic need for any accounting.
You mentioned in a reply to me ‘budgeting’. How does having an active balance help with that?
I know my monthly (bills) outlay, and how much I have to spend on food etc, and I plan for that (plan ahead). How does knowing what my balance was a week past Tuesday help me today? I can see the current balance every time I open the app so I know how much I have left to spend, and that doesn’t change if I scroll back to see that I have a little less because I bought a nice bottle of wine (for example).
Maybe I’m just not doing things properly, but I still don’t see (aside from your example of catching an erroneous amount) how it helps with budgeting.
I look at the balance and I think, Ooh, it’s a bit higher than I expected so now I can afford to buy x, or maybe, Ooh, it’s a bit lower than I expected so now I can’t afford to buy x.
That’s how it helps me. I’m not really sure why I’m having to justify to anyone the value of the basic of banking or accounting. If something else works for you then that’s fine but don’t dismiss a banking basic that so many people find useful or helpful.
Let me rephrase: Why does looking back at the balance from a week ago help me budget?
Genuinely learning a lot this past few months on managing my money better, so forgive me if this is all obvious to you, you must’ve learned it at some point in the past though.
