None of the plans are for me, but then I don’t do packaged accounts.
The annual railcard one caught my eye, until I realised that it was no different to the general railcards available, of which I fit into zero categories.
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It’s a good idea but the offers are totally uncompetitive.
The £36/year option gives you pretty much nothing Starling won’t give you for free.
The £84/year option gives you a £30 (often discounted) railcard, an interest rate which still shouldn’t be good enough to leave significant sums earning and 52 sausage rolls.
The £204/year version is pretty much a weakened version of the offer Nationwide will charge you £156/year for. I suppose if you need this stuff, and the enhancements Nationwide offer wouldn’t improve things for you, then you can net that off then you’re effectively paying £48/year for 52 sausage rolls and a railcard - which is about as close to a good deal as I can see here.
I’ll stick with Nationwide tho.
Starling can do tracking and budgeting which incorporates your non-Starling accounts?
I didn’t think it did this.
Fair - that’s quite a price to pay for such a feature tho IMHO. Especially as in order to benefit you’re giving Monzo access to all your financial data, which is likely to be worth something to them.
Whilst I don’t find the packaged accounts (Perks and Max) appealing I actually think the features account (Extra) is reasonable at £3/month when you consider other options for good quality aggregation. You can get aggregation for free at some traditional banks but I wouldn’t call any of them good quality options (at least it not the ones I have tried). To get similar or better quality to what Monzo have you need to use a non-bank aggregator like Emma or Snoop, and their free tiers are limited in some way (e.g. inability to create custom categories or caps on the number of banks you can connect). Monzo Extra is similar price to Snoop’s paid tier and is a lot cheaper than Emma’s paid tiers.
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Yup, extra is the one I’m really drawn to as well, and where I feel the best value is.
But I’m gonna wait and see how it develops (to see if they keep to the commitment and promises) this time before I go for it. Still too disgruntled over Plus.
The one thing I miss about using Monzo is trends (specifically the balance tab) with connected accounts. That to me, was the epitome of banking in the U.K. the closest we’ve gotten to the realisation of the promise of fintech banking that began with Simple. Had they had Chase supported prior to taking away the Plus interest, I’d have probably stayed for it.
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Not to mention that Emma’s free tier has now been reduced to little more than a restricted trial.
It’s not just sausage rolls You can have a regular hot drink (worth up to £2.50) or muffin or doughnut. The hot drink represents the best potential value.
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They are, you’re right… Greggs coffee is a bit crap IMHO tho.
The bigger problem with calculating these things is how much genuine value they’re actually getting you. If you go to Greggs every day for a coffee, regardless of an offer, it’s a no brainer.
If you nip in on an ad-hoc basis, often go months without a visit or (like us) you just as often get it delivered nowadays then it’s not really genuine value, even if you do use it every week.
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I really like Monzo’s new ad.
To be honest, the whole marketing campaign is really well done.
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I’m not a fan, especially of the speeded up bit from about 30 seconds in.
Have to say, it does nothing for me - wrong audience I guess 
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I think the problem is that it really doesn’t tell you anything about Monzo. It feels like a bit of a waste of 1:01.
The Chase ad is much better.
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Me neither. I wouldn’t stop fast-forwarding through the ads to watch it…
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In a nutshell, that’s the size of it. 
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They’re selling who they are here, not what their product is or what they do. I think it does an exceedingly good job at that. I connect much better with that sort of marketing. Don’t sell me what you do, sell me why you do it. It’s subtle, but that’s exactly what this ad does.
Reminiscent of Apple’s iconic 1984 ad. Pretty sure it’s the same agency behind both ads too. Ridley Scott.
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I like the approach, but I’m blowed if I can see what or why here. Feels self-indulgent and, in my humble estimation, a tad too clever. Would anyone outside the community get what the message is?
Going by my own social circles (none of whom are members of any fintech community), yes. I think it’s pretty clear despite the subtlety.
The community isn’t monolithic either. Most things are met with a mixed reaction. This is one of the few things they’ve done lately that has been universally well received by community members.
Succinctly, money doesn’t feel good to a hell of a lot of people. Now especially more than ever. Monzo make it feel better, good even, or at least they try to. That’s their goal.
And as much as dissenting voices like to make a mockery of their slogan (sometimes it’s justified), they do achieve it for a lot of people.
I think that’s intentional at this stage. It’s designed to make people aware of the brand and, dare I say it, vibe of the bank. Black horses splashing through a river doesn’t tell you much about a bank either. But you know which bank I mean.
I liken it to perfume advertisements. The most important thing to know about a perfume is how it smells. What’s the one thing a perfume advertisement will never tell you? How it smells.
For what it’s worth I suspect that some more flesh will be put on the bones as the campaign develops.
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At least Lloyds tell you they’re ‘by your side’, even if that amounts to being stood behind you with a sharp object, waiting for you to slip up. 
However, they’ve been around long enough that they can get away with it. Monzo, not so much. Tell me why I should care (and not frantically click ‘skip ad’).
“Money never felt like Monzo” could mean anything to someone not familiar with the brand, possibly dismissing it for yet another crypto exchange.
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