I honestly don’t think it’s bias - well not on my part. They were my only account for over a year - but in the end I found they weren’t moving in much of a direction. Understandable with covid - but the moves they made after then weren’t for me (plus, flex etc).
I know people who use those products though - so who knows if they’ll prove a success. A lot of low income individuals where I work have moved to Monzo from high street accts - given poor credit perhaps this is the only way to monetise…
You didn’t list that as a feature of the account though, the features you listed are all features which are considered ‘basic’.
I’m not anti-Monzo btw. It has its uses, most recently when I was doing a whip round for someone’s leaving gift at work.
I’d never use it as a main account tho. Too basic 
Part of me wishes I’d kept it just for that - a lot of my friends use it for this sorta purpose only - splitting dinners etc.
That’s interesting. I feel the same when I look at the high street banks - too basic compared with Monzo.
Perhaps we’re measuring this differently.
Halifax, Natwest and RBS pay me fixed chunks of money for doing stuff.
Santander pay me cashback on most of my direct debits.
Barclays provide access to a high interest, easy access savings account.
Lloyds give freebies and exclusive access to 2 market leading regular savers.
Credit cards sort out cashback which averages out around 1%.
Frankly, where would Monzo fit in with this? Previously I used to have my salary paid there so I could take it out at 4pm, but the additional interest gained from that was pennies. Doesn’t seem worth it.
The same is true with Starling btw, I have it but why would I use? It’d never be the card I used at the till because I’d be forgoing cashback. It’d never be the account I paid bills from because they provide no incentive for doing so. It’d never be the account where I store money between pay days as there’s no interest. It’s limited to being a handy way to split bills/whip round ad-hoc.
I think we are! One of the most important things to me is instant push notifications whenever anything happens with my account. Monzo is the industry leader with this with Starling a close second. The only BAM bank that gets near is HSBC, but it’s not unusual to have delays or absences with their notifications.
As for small amounts of cashback and rewards on debit card purchases, they are of no interest to me. I use credit cards rather than debit cards for all card-based purchases. Same with interest rates - I don’t need my bank to provide me with the best interest rate when I can find it elsewhere (even if it’s a BAM bank).
I also keep the minimum amount required for direct debits in my Monzo account, so current account interest is not a concern for me.
I do think the open banking aggregation and what it brings to Trends is worth paying for, though.
My fiancée and I make £30 a month off these ‘small amounts of cashback and rewards on debit card purchases’, despite the fact we only use our debit cards to pay off our (already cashback earning) credit cards and top up some savings accounts.
Once you add the Santander cashback and the Natwest Group rewards in the total is c£50, or roughly £600/year. That’s not a small amount of money, to me.
Excellent. It’s good to have so many different accounts that we can choose from to find what fits us best. 
Afaik they don’t offer any more push notifications than Revolut or even someone like Monese do.
I don’t think anyone is paying for the aggregation. But rather what Monzo does with the aggregated data to provide powerful oversights and insights through trends that can really empower folks who do their banking with multiple providers.
It turns a basic, somewhat useless aggregation function, which most banks offer (and I don’t use because it offers no benefit and just gives them my data for free), and actually makes it worth using. That’s absolutely worth paying for.
Ive also tested most of them, and Monzo’s is the only one where the setup is easy and just works. Others are fiddly and very hit and miss. Wasn’t like that from the outset though. Whoever took over the guy that went off to build a calendar did a superb job.
They aren’t banks though, and that’s an important distinction. I love Revolut, and if they were a bank I’d have them pegged as the best fintech, but they’re not so I don’t, and often disregard them when comparing. I want my bank to be a bank.
This is essentially what Monzo is at its core though. It might offer these services for those who are eligible later on, but the criteria to open the account as standard is the same as that of a basic account with a high street bank, so it’s a product in the same league as a Barclays basic account or a nationwide flex basic account, not a Barclays current account or a Flex Direct account.
People who aren’t allowed of a proper current account with Barclays but can have a basic account will be eligible for Monzo too, is my point though.
So the core account is basic, but I view that as a positive, not a negative. I like simple.
Fair enough - if I’m honest I was referring more to the virtual cards. This is, for me, the key kind of thing a fintech app should offer. A work around, a security tool. It shouldnt be paid for imo- it should be part of the basic appeal of fintech.
I get with aggregation you may wish for quality & for in house. Personally I wouldn’t pay for it as I can do it on Revolut and it’s more of a gimmick than a genuine budgeting tool for me. But I know other people really rely on it.
I don’t place as much value on this as others. There is still FCA & FOS oversight and you can have FSCS protection with Revolut in a matter of clicks.
Monese I can’t vouch for in the same way on the latter. I’ve stopped using them recently in fact.
Great post - sums up exactly how I feel, too.
If they already hold accounts with the high street banks why would they then need to move due to poor credit history? Are they looking for easy overdrafts and loans?
Probably had an overdraft closed down on them (defaulted), or an account closed due to fraudulent activity.
That or it’s a basic account and they no longer want it but most of these have contactless now. Didn’t about 5 years ago.
I am with Monzo as like instant ntoifications I like the plus part with the account integration. I like I can pay my dds from a pot anr subscriptions and I like virtual cardsm I don’t have an overdraft and I have a starling, nationwide and chase account too.
Monzo are as tough as any other bank on loans, overdrafts and (particularly) BNPL.
You’ve got the wrong end of the stick - I mean they’ve had an overdrawn account closed with another bank due to delinquency - they then move their finances elsewhere. Not necessarily replacing the overdraft.
Yeah the interest rates aren’t thousands of percent anymore, probably just around 50-a few hundred%.
FCA oversight means literally nothing (they did nothing about the en masse account freezing - I don’t even believe there’s public record of them looking into it) and I don’t believe the FoS helps people who’s money is inaccessible until after 8 weeks.
Could many afford to wait 8 weeks + FoS time (which is delayed by several months minimum for urgent cases, my one that I let go through normal channels as I’m not struggling, took over a year and a half and isn’t resolved)