Anyone got a Monzo account?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Do you like it? And has it improved your budgeting?

I'm wondering if it's possible to have an account each for me and dh plus a joint account too? Or is it one per person?

I know they have different pots but I just wondered if it's be easier to keep mine and dhs personal spends separate.

Yes! It’s awesome! Worth a go as you get a bonus just for opening it but it’s great for budgeting and fun to use, you can get a joint account but I haven’t. I do love the pots though, it’s so rewarding to empty them.

We have one each and a joint one. We don't really budget so hasnt helped in that respect but we like that you can see how you spend your money each month and that it updates automatically and that it round up and puts the money in a savings account.

So I get this right- the "pots"

If I want to budget for, say, food shopping £70, fuel £40, family spends £50, do I create three pots with those amounts in?

I really like mine. Don’t know about the joint account but I use mine as a second current account for spending money so I don’t pay bills from it. I have a savings account that needs one day notice to withdraw, and a savings pot to keep money aside. Withdrawals go out instantly so you always know exactly how much money you have, none of this pending rubbish you get with other accounts. And it’s always really easy to do stuff in the app - I’ve never sworn at it once!

Oh it's good that the money disappears as you spend rather than not showing til the Monday or whatever.

You can pay certain bills from pots but also create them for fun stuff, I had one for a spa weekend that I filled up and emptied last weekend!

It also tells you what’s going to be paid in the next day, I love that being self employed. I don’t work for Monzo and will shut up now

So do you pay out of the pots or move the money from the pot to a main pot to then pay on the card?

Or if you pay something with the card do then go in after and allocate some of the pot amount against it?

You can create your own budget and allocate yourself so much each month for petrol, eating out, groceries, bills etc and then when you spend on your card Monzo knows which category to allocate that payment to so it tells you "you've spent x amount of your eating out budget this month. You have x amount left" but in reality all your money is in one account. I haven't used the 'pots' feature. I've always been rubbish at budgeting but manage waaay more successfully using Monzo. DH and I have an account each for 'spending money' and a joint account for joint things like petrol and food shops and then normal bills and savings accounts with a high street bank.
I'd recommend it

I really want one but I like the points I get from using my credit card. Not sure the fun of pots can make up for vouchers!

Is monzo a bank? What is it, why is it special compared to normal bank, how is your money safe.

What do dh and I need to do to set one up?.. I'm looking for more bank accounts aside from our main one where we can save.

We have Monzo. We have a single account each and a joint account. A family member who works in bank IT recommended them, apparently they have excellent cyber security. We moved to Monzo when our previous bank account was hacked twice in 2 weeks, the second time after we had both been into the branch and changed all our security passcodes etc!

You can’t spend directly from the pots, you would need to move the money back into your ‘main’ account but you can do so instantly.

I’m a big fan of mine - had it since it was just a prepaid card (for the commission free spending overseas). I’m aware I’m not making full use of all the budgeting features though!

I have one and it's great. Particularly when you lose it and some little shit uses it in the pub. Got a notification on the app, froze the card immediately, rang the staff who remembered who had used it (it's bright orange) and then kept an eye on them until the police arrived and I got my money back plus a fiver from a very scared 18 year old who spent 20 mins in the back of a police car and learnt not to use other people's cards when they 'find' them 😁

It was a prepaid debit card but now it’s a bank and I think they’ve started to turn a profit at last. I’ve been using Monzo for ages and it’s really helped me to actually save some money.

I don’t think you can pay straight out of the pots, things just come out of the main one, the main savings pot pays a little interest but you have to give notice to withdraw (a couple of days) and the other pots are instant access. I don’t remember setting up budgets but over the past couple of years I think it’s learned how much I need for various things, it’s quite good at categorising stuff for you.

@Mizzeldrizzle I've just been reading about Monzo on Moneysavingexpert off the back of this thread, and it is an app-based bank that is regulated by the FSCS so your money is protected. More info here: www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/digital-banking/

I'm tempted, but I already use Revolut (app-based, can convert to any currency instantly) which has a debit card and some of the same features like instantly showing transactions. I use Plum to save automatically. I don't know what Monzo would really add, unless I completely give up my 'normal' bank accounts which I don't feel ready to do.

Oh I like that it categorised the main pot so I can say "40 for petrol this week" and it will say how much I've spent on petrol that week.

What if it doesn't recognise what to put a transaction against? So if I buy a new outfit at the supermarket it'll think it's groceries - can I recategorise it?

I have one.

Don’t use it for budgeting but used it on holiday. App was very user friendly and I could instantly see how much spending money left. Free to use abroad. And it initially didn’t work on holiday and I rang them and they sorted it while I was still in the shop.

Yes you can recategorise payments.

It has a pay someone nearby function so you can give another Monzo user a tenner in the pub or whatever without knowing their bank details

Oh excellent.

Yes you can easily recategorise it.

It's got some great features. I love that you can freeze your card if you mislaid your purse and then unfreeze when you find it..if you need to order a new card because you've lost or had yours stolen, it's literally a touch of a button and it turns up in 2 days. So much better than having to call up a highstreet bank and wait 5 days for a new card and new pin!

I’m not a fan of Revolut because they don’t pay interest on your balance, and they’re very very very difficult to get in touch with if you lose your phone and your card. I’m also not sure your money is protected?

I'm not a big user of Revolut, I got it on a friend's recommendation when I visited them abroad, but I've used it for the odd few things and to save. I doubt my money is protected but I don't mind when it's not large amounts.

Can you convert to different currencies within Monzo?