With Monzo Plus came the promise of a much higher interest rate on balances, including regular savings pots. } How Much Should You Spend On Rent And Utilities In The UK? As Monzo Plus only costs £5 per month, this extra earned interest for trusting them with your savings can help pay for the other features. When relaunching Monzo Plus, Monzo pushed the open banking integration feature to the forefront, however, only 13 banks are currently included on the list of supported institutions. It’s really not. I’ve been an early Monzo user and crowdfunding investor so I’ve been following them closely. Out of your wallet and into your phone, Monzo Plus gives users the chance to utilize up to five completely digital debit cards from within their account. The ill-received Plus account costs £5 a month, Premium raises this to £15 a month, and includes a six month minimum term. However, everyone loves a trier, and Monzo Plus is back at £5-a-month bundled with features such as the ability to view all your accounts in one app and a brand new blue shiny card. Required fields are marked *. This is a new premium account that offers customers a range of new features in exchange for a £5 monthly fee. Just looking at the perks of the plus account so popped in here to see what folks were saying. Unlike traditional banks, many digital banking platforms (including Monzo) take a small fee from any cash deposit that users put into their bank account. } I had a look at Monzo Plus, as they have started offering travel insurance. And it also includes all of these extra features: See all your bank accounts in one place. Your daily 7am download of all things alternative finance and fintech. For just £5 a month, users are given access to a ton of bonus features aimed to help control spending and increase savings. With Plus, Monzo account holders can place one free cash deposit per month. With Monzo Plus, some user’s financial vanity dreams may be fulfilled with the company’s new holographic cards. Everything You Need To Know. Beyond that, users can even use the variety of accounts in order to compartmentalize and organise spending on utilities, subscriptions, digital purchases and more. As with Monzo Plus, you can get 15% off Patch Plants when you spend £50, and 25% of a FiiT home membership. Now for someone who already uses the double round-up function for both their Starling account and Moneybox ISA, the idea of being able to use the feature was attractive to me. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. In addition, AltFi runs major industry events around the world. I often refer to Humans in the loop, and this proved it - plus worth its weight in gold. Okay, first let’s start with a little bit of background. One of the most noteworthy features of Monzo plus is the 1% interest earned on the first £2000 in your bank account. Connecting my other bank account didn’t go too smoothly either, as neither the balance of my account nor any transactions appeared in my Monzo app for a long while. For example, subscribers can create custom categories for transactions, and can … Unlike most premium cards, Monzo Plus’s holographic blue cards are still made of plastic (rather than metal). Pros and Cons Of Personal Loans. Below, we will break down the extra features that are included if you decide to upgrade to a Monzo Plus account. In addition, Monzo Premium offers discounted access to LoungeKey, which is worth an average of £91. Monzo’s app has always been right at the top for me when it comes to challenger banks. window.mc4wp.listeners.push( Once signed up, a fluttering of confetti appeared on my screen to welcome me into the paid service. This is only for the account holder’s phone. event : evt, What are the Extra Features? Although the reintroduced platform is relatively new, Monzo Plus is already receiving a lot of feedback from around the UK’s financial community. Whereas 20 years ago, most people had a jar at home for their spare change, this feature allows for small bits of money to be saved with each card transaction. I can see why Monzo’s biggest fans will love Monzo Plus, I imagine many will wear the new ‘holographic’ card as a badge of honour, but for someone that can access most of the features for free elsewhere, it doesn’t appeal to me. I see several of you are saying you cancelled after a few months. And, as I mentioned previously, it feels strange not having the iconic hot coral card in my wallet and the shiny new card just seems to blend in with the other cards in my purse, that being said, the colour of the card is pretty, feels nice and is still a talking point. Monzo Plus comes with the same features as the challenger bank’s standard current account, such as savings “pots”, spending review tools and free UK bank transfers and ATM withdrawals. } For the simple fact that Monzo Plus's attractive interest rate is making me consider moving more money into my account, I can’t fault it. Image source: Monzo Plus. But I again ask the question of why would I pay for something that I get for free with my Starling account already? This is twice the amount available to ordinary Monzo customers (which is also fee free). Woke Still as easy-to-use as before and the new subscription comes with a great interest rate and a shiny new card. To start, the platform allows for purchases to be sorted into custom categories, that allow account holders to see precisely where they are spending their money in a completely user-friendly way. (function() { Even if you already love Monzo, you won’t get anything here that’s worth the £60 annual fee. The features on offer with a Monzo Premium account are similar to those offered by other high street bank accounts but the … Broke  Nearly everything offered with Monzo Plus can be accessed *for free* with other digital banking services. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Monzo is an app-based bank that was formed in the UK during 2015. Monzo has relaunched it's paid for premium current account - Monzo Plus. Whilst that might seem pretty steep, Monzo claims that the account benefits are worth up to £256 a year. There are several Monzo Plus features that I know I won’t use. The 1% matches (or slightly beats) most of the top paying easy access savings accounts available right now. Monzo Plus – Monzo’s premium account. Aside from an exclusive holographic card design, it offers a set of features catering mostly to Monzo power users who want to make the most of the app to manage their money. Monzo originally launched an account called Monzo Plus in April 2019 before scrapping it in September of the same year following poor customer feedback. As soon as you sign up for the subscription service, the card in the app changes to the new ‘holographic’ blue, as does Apple Pay, and the new features appear in the app, but that’s it. With its relaunch, Monzo Plus’s largest changes were created to help users budget and save money. And, again, fee-free withdrawals up to £400 just isn’t as good as the limitless withdrawals I get with Starling, and I can even open a Euro account to make my life even easier when travelling to the continent. However Monzo Premium only offers 1.5% interest up to £2,000 and so the maximum return would be £3 per month. In fact, we’ve covered a few alternatives before. As soon as my new account was ready, I created a category for coffee and set about going through my past transactions and sorting them into the new category. Now, having been a Monzo customer for coming up two years now, I can’t quite remember if this occurs when you sign up for a regular account, but it’s a nice gimmick nevertheless. The answer is clear, if I wasn’t doing a review I probably wouldn’t. Monzo Plus allows account holders to experience a significant upgrade from the company’s base-level platform. callback: cb For instance, premium users get a monthly credit check, but, as someone who is not too focused on their credit score and gets theirs elsewhere (like most people I imagine) I don’t see the point. Although the company previously released a limited version of the app to US customers, Monzo Plus is not currently available to Americans. Also, unlike physical cards, Monzo’s virtual cards last for five years, instead of the normal three. Monzo Plus is back, this time with new features, a new-look holographic bank card and a new price of £5 a month. Broke Nearly everything offered with Monzo Plus can be accessed *for free* with other digital banking services. Three generations of Monzo. I’m sure that lots of die-hard Monzo fans will have been eagerly anticipating the launch of this function, but for someone who can do it for free elsewhere, I wasn’t so keen. With Monzo Plus you get a blue holographic Monzo card, the variable interest rate on the first £2,000 in your account is a bit lower (1%), and fee-free withdrawals abroad drops to £400. With Monzo Plus, users can also make one free cash deposit a month, a perk that really isn’t designed for someone like me who is still yet to hold a new £20 note. Currently Monzo Plus is limited to UK residents. Monzo Premium’s rate is an eye-popping 1.5% annually — up from 1% with Monzo Plus — but it’s only offered on up to £2,000 of your balance. What about the cost? Monzo Plus is no doubt an attempt to challenge rival high street banks as well as the likes of Revolut, however, I feel like it needs to offer more original features to make it worth the £5 monthly charge. Our core focus is on disruption to lending, banking and investing, including alternative lending, challenger banks and digital wealth management. Your email address will not be published. No. Is Monzo plus worth it? In April of 2019, Monzo launched “Monzo Plus” to extremely mixed reviews. For travelers, Monzo Plus can be a valuable thing to have that may very likely pay for itself in the long run. Fully qualified CISI Investment adviser for 5 year. Now as someone who initially turned their nose up at the thought of using a virtual card because I’d never personally had a card cloned, I’ve slightly changed my tune. Also, even a connected bank’s feed (in my case HSBC), doesn’t look like the Monzo account’s feed, which is a big thumbs down from me. Managed UK private client portfolios. They say this also includes cracked screens. Moving forward, the company, which is known for its transparency, welcomed feedback from the platform’s early adopters in order to create a better user experience. Monzo Plus subscribers also can withdraw up to £400 fee-free abroad, but (unsurprisingly) I haven’t left the country recently and don’t exactly plan to any time soon. Fee-free cash withdrawals. Unfortunately, adding outside bank accounts is currently limited to a select amount of verified institutions and users report difficulty and excess lag-time in seeing all of their information within the Monzo Plus app. We built Monzo Plus to help you get a grip on your finances with features like other bank accounts, credit cards and your credit score in Monzo, custom categories for all of your spending, and virtual cards for safer online shopping. In an ordinary Monzo account with the roundup feature can be activated, a £2.50 transaction will automatically deposit the remaining 50p into your savings account. Automation and technological advancements opened up new possibilities in the finance industry. Log … It very much feels like Monzo Plus wasn’t built for the everyday Monzo user, rather it's for diehard Monzo fans who are willing to pay the £5/month fee now in the hopes that the digital bank will expand the subscription in the future. I must admit I really like the ability to create my own spending categories with Monzo Plus. For someone that doesn’t hold much money in their Monzo account, I earned a £0.09 in the past month—which is miles ahead of my HSBC savings account that currently only gives me 0.01 per cent AER. Monthly credit score updates. 50% Upvoted. This service is also available with Monzo Plus. What Are The Fees & Charges when Banking with Monzo Plus? save hide report. Any purchase made on a virtual card does have a little icon on the transaction to show that it was made using the virtual card. I’ve always liked the simple and easy-to-navigate app, with one of my favourite features being able to see both my card and savings pot balances with just a quick swipe. The whole signing up process was as easy and straightforward as one would expect—I’m pretty sure it took me all of two minutes to complete the process and become a fully-fledged premium member of Monzo. They’ll either repair or replace damaged phones, and replace lost or stolen phones. As a bonus, transactions can even be split between each of the custom categories. Image source: Monzo Plus. If I don’t happen to have my card on me at the exact moment I’m trying to buy something and can’t remember my details, I can simply log into the Monzo app and see all the details I need to make my purchase. However, to each their own, as you may feel differently. on: function(evt, cb) { (A Simple Guide), How Much Should You Have in Your Emergency Fund? Monzo Plus subscribers now receive one per cent AER on their account balance up to £2,000, an interest rate considerably higher than most savings accounts on the market at the moment. Share. Monzo Plus is back. This service is also available with Monzo Plus. Is Monzo Premium worth it? Importantly, however, this interest is only applied with a verified credit score. Fintech and alternative finance headlines with an exclusive Editor's Note each week. Find out more, 6th Floor, City Place House So whereas they are a bit flashy, in the end, Monzo’s new cards aren’t reason enough to upgrade to the premium platform. However, fans of Monzo’s ordinary platform are sure to enjoy the new features if an extra £5 isn’t too much each to ask for each month. In order to help people save money, Monzo Plus also offers a great roundup feature for users to automate the process of stowing extra cash away. A spokesperson for the bank told AltFi that this is down to which banks support the Open Banking Standard. Whereas many of these features can be found on other competing platforms, Monzo makes it easy for their existing customers to upgrade to a premium account. Delivered Monday at midday. Much like their initial “hot coral” offerings, Monzo’s new holographic blue cards are sure to turn a few heads next time whenever they are used. How Does Monzo Plus Work? With Monzo Plus, this “spare change” can be automatically doubled or multiplied by five or ten. After several hours, (and many refreshes), the transactions showed up, but overall I was unimpressed with Monzo’s open banking offering. That’s £180 a year, or £90 if you only keep the account the minimum term. July 29, 2020. 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