Monzo have shaken up the market, it’s great and not having a branch for the most part isn’t an issue for me personally.
However their customer support hasn’t grown in relation to their customer base. Plus the way it works is flawed. Legacy banks are way behind on many aspects but you can normally get hold of someone either on the phone or via live chat.
I know there was huge waiting times the other week when the new nav, bills pots, salary sorter and plus refunds all happened in the same week but people were getting replies in 3 minutes before Watchdog (which probably caused an increase in support chats)
I don’t think Plus was their only revenue stream they had planned
The long waiting times are not new. There have been reports of issues for some time. I know they did improve at one point, but it definitely hasn’t been as reliable as many of us would like.
I don’t think so either, and they’ve clearly taken big steps forward in generating some income through interchange fees and referrals to some third-party products, but the latter haven’t yet been as regular as I’d been expecting.
I know the statistics about savings. That doesn’t change the fact that most people could try start to save something, even if it’s just £10 a month, and should try to have emergency funds.
Even so, my point is still a valid point that you should have savings external to your current account and a second current account in case something happens to your main account.
Personally I never had savings until I turned 26 and lived on about a £12,000 per year salary. Even with that I decided to save £200 per month into a Help to Buy ISA because I wanted savings. It wasn’t easy but I luckily retrained as a teacher at that point and my salary did rise. I then when I was 30 I decided to cut right back in order to save up for a house deposit saving more and doing less. I am lucky to be in the position I am now but I did start from a very low income and cutting back to gain savings.
Personally, I’m super happy about Monzo. It’s a case of wishing what we haven’t got instead of appreciating what we have! For me I know my wages and DD go out regularly without fail, and I don’t have to stress of faffing about visiting a branch. Monzo not perfect, but are other banks??
Sugar coat it as you will but to many its completely heartless. Also banks can ask questions about transactions. Natwest have asked me before. But once SAR submitted it out their hands. My Natwest account wasn’t froze. Either because my answers were acceptable or because they passed this info on to nca in the SAR who had a fuller picture
It’s a bit like a burglar stealing your TV then coming back round to tell you the second hand shop has the ‘same’ TV for a good price. The sentiment is similiar
Monzo will struggle to survive for one reason: it does not have a sustainable model for monetising customers.
Spending $2 to earn 1 does not work. 3, 5… 10 million customers are pointless if you can’t make money.
Despite misconceptions, building a good looking app with a nice UI isn’t that tough. But legacy banks know how to make money. I don’t believe Monzo do.
Monzo is already making money per customer. Try again.
According to Monzo they lost 33 million in the last year
And they’ll lose more next year.
Fixed costs + scaling up the loan book.
Still profitable per customer.
Monzo is already making money per customer. Try again.
Hmmm. It is allegedly in ‘positive unit economics’ but imo that’s not the same as ‘making money per customer’. Once you take their indirect costs into account they are sill very much loss making.
According to the FT their gross margin is £5 per customer, that’s not going to be enough to cover the net costs, so there’s still a way to go in terms of achieving a profitable business model.
It’s £30+ for those who pay in their salaries (which is 30% of customers, up compared to previous years).
Its also worth noting that per customer, Monzo were previously losing £65. To now be in positive figures for all customers is a fantastic milestone for them.
You can read the full reports: https://monzo.com/annual-report/2019/
And that figure was before the wider roll out of loans and interesting pots
And features that are intended to make it easier to use Monzo as your main account, like Bills Pots and Get Paid Early! 
And salary sorter 
And plus versions 1, 2 and 3…
Let’s focus on 3…