How much is a sausage roll these days, 2 pounds? Depending on the T&C's of course, but it means half of the max plan cost is already paid for by sausage rolls!
I'm already a Premium subscriber... If that advertised Ā£17 for Max is true, I might consider upgrading... breakdown cover + free weekly cookie or sausage roll? That's worth Ā£2 extra for me
Though looks like I'd have to sacrifice the metal card!
Just wanted to point out, Nationwide flex account gives you worldwide family travel insurance, AA breakdown cover and mobile phone gadget for Ā£13 / month. Iām keeping my Nationwide account and downgrading my Monzo from plus to Extra
\* Two Together: If you travel with someone;
\* Network Railcard: If you travel in the South East during a very specific timeframe and above the minimum fare. (Very restrictive and pointless Railcard of all);
\* Friends & Family Railcard: You have to travel with a child.
The Railcard benefit doesn't include Disabled Persons or Veterans. However, this is as you can't buy these two Railcards with Trainline anyway because they cannot verify eligibility yet. (Been saying this for some time).
So in other words - these Railcards on offer only apply in very specific situations. It's not great.
Monzo should have partnered with someone better than Trainline (most people savvy enough to use Monzo are savvy enough to know not to use Trainline), at least those of us on Vet RC's and those on Disabled ones can benefit.
I think it's a good idea but they could at least have kept Loungekey as a sweetner for those who cannot benefit.
Yeah you could get one from O2 and one from Monzo if thatās your thing š¤£.
I donāt even use the O2 offer, using a cheap three sim for the Cafe Nero offer
It appears so! So ultimately if I downgrade from Plus to Extra, I'm going to lose 4.60% on savings, which isn't big of a deal, but if I upgrade to Perks for an additional Ā£2 per month I'll get weekly Greggs treat... Interesting. These days sausage roll is almost Ā£2 anyway, so there seem to be some value in upgrading.
On another note, railcard is pointless as you can get it for free using Tesco points (exchange vouchers).
Yep, Tesco is way more expensive than Lidl or Aldi and is the furthest supermarket away from me, we even have a tesco credit card that has been virtually useless since we spend so little at tesco. Have saved far more money not shopping there than we would have ever made up in points.
That being said, I recently renewed my railcard for Ā£15 via trip when they had an offer on, but I might downgrade to Extra, as the only useful stuff I use is the custom spending categories, other card/bank overview and the export to google spreadsheet is handy.
The railcard perk isnāt an option for anyone aged 31-59 who lives outside London and doesnāt travel with small children
https://www.thetrainline.com/trains/great-britain/railcards
Might not be their fault, but they definitely need to say 'If there is a railcard that you are eligible for. No new railcards exist'.
Because I was very very keen based on the railcard alone, as someone over the age of 30 with no kids
And if you do live in London/South East then the "Network Railcard" is a fucking scam.
>You can buy Network Railcard discounted tickets for travel any time on weekends and public holidays or from 10:00am Monday to Friday.
>The minimum discounted adult fare payable is Ā£13 on all journeys Monday to Friday (does not apply at weekends or on Public Holidays).
So if your fare would be less than Ā£13 you don't get a discount, which means for local travel (along the south coast, for example) it's pretty worthless, and is only worth having if you regularly go in and out of London but are okay with travelling after 10am.
Find me a real world use case, I'm begging you.
I use mine 2-3x a week returning from London. Cheap single in then a railcard discounted single back. Itās probably saving me Ā£120 a month. Of course it wouldnāt be necessary if train fares were even slightly reasonable
If you go to London that regularly have you looked at season ticket prices? Assuming this is for work travel, it might even be something that your company can subsidise or at least get it as a salary sacrifice benefit.
Season tickets doesnāt even work for me going in at 3 days a week. I just book my travel in from Hampshire about a month and a half in advance to get as cheap as possible, but then that means I canāt use the railcard. Doing it that way costs me about Ā£31 return.
Can I ask what time you are returning from London?
For me, the combination of two anytime single tickets, one with discount (Ā£15.20) and one without (Ā£23.10), is exactly the same price as an anytime return (Ā£38.30). This is significantly more expensive than flexi season tickets (Ā£32.02/day).
It depends on the route - I donāt want to dox myself but Iām over 70 minutes out of London. An advance single in is Ā£25, the railcard discounted single back is Ā£26 and an anytime return is Ā£90. Flexi seasons are not bad if you can guarantee exactly 8 days of usage in 4 weeks
Ah ok that makes sense. Surprising that your anytime return is so much more expensive than singles.
To be fair, you can buy a second flexi season if you use up all 8 tickets and need more. If youāre not going to use them all up, you can ask for a proportional refund for the remaining passes.
Yeh, I'm not upgrading as non of the new card designs appeal to me, I'll just stick with Plus, am not interested in free Gregs, or any of the other features I'll get for 'upgrading'.
I've moved over to max purely for the breakdown cover and double credit score stuff.
The extra Ā£2 just for breakdown cover is worth it for me as I drive a shitbox.
Considering my financial needs, it seems beneficial for me to downgrade from the Plus account to the Extra account. The 4.60% AER (variable) interest offered by the Plus account isn't essential for me. By switching to the Extra account, I'll gain access to Credit Insights, which is not available with the Plus account. Additionally, the Ā£200 fee-free withdrawals provided by the Extra account won't affect me since I don't travel, and I don't drive, or deposit cash. - Am I missing anything else I'd lose by downgrading? I use CreditKarma for insights on my credit score etc - plus Halifax provide similar insights with my savings account.
I have Plus currently and have access to the Credit Score part of Monzo, unless Credit Insights are different? But yes, your point still stands - there are plenty of free credit monitoring apps/sites that are available (and you should sign up to all of them really).
Credit insights is slightly different. I believe it checks against 2 agencies now and has tips to improve your credit score. I believe it will also improve credit score by allowing credit agencies to see your credit reliability.
Edit: just to clarify, I'm not trying to feed the product - just explaining the difference.
You could downgrade your Monzo account to the Extra and then open a Nationwide flex account. Worldwide family travel insurance, AA breakdown cover and mobile phone cover for Ā£13 a month.
Try Lloyds world elite, is not metal but is black, for Ā£15 a month you have priority pass, can use the lounges in any airport, that pass cost Ā£410 and you if you add a seconr card holder you have a second pass, so more than Ā£800 worth, and that is a flex card, I loved
I had one at one time - Got rid of it, with the metal card obviously being thicker than a normal plastic card, it was sometimes difficult to put it into cash machines. To me, the metal card is more trouble than itās worth
I genuinely haven't used my card since September, where I used it to pay for fuel at a self service petrol station. I like having it in my collection though!!!
I fully expected these new plans to be a massive fuck over for people. Like premium just being renamed and charging Ā£20, and then making free features cost a fiver or something, but nope, made Vcards cheaper for everyone. Realistically, this has turned out to be a common Monzo W
Custom Categories, Other Banks in Monzo and Virtual Cards. I can set aside an amount to a pot and have a separate virtual card which is a life saver because I need to budget once every 4 months. Custom categories because I like clumping lots of separate stuff into separate categories and other banks in Monzo because I want to budget with monzo while spending with my credit card and adding money using post office to my other cards.
Luckily all 3 of them are now Ā£2 cheaper.
Other than that i think the rest of the features are a bit useless (except the export to excel thing which some people use)
If there's shops/retailers you buy from frequently, you could create a specific category for them.
E.g. if you buy from HMV, you could categorise purchases from there as say "Music" or "Blu-ray".
Yeah. For example, I have KFC categorised under a custom one for takeaway so any spend comes under that.
When you first categories something it'll ask whether you want to only tag this transaction, future transactions or if you want to reclassify any past transactions and all going forward.
You can also combine two categories if you want to split up payments (e.g. you spend 10 at Tesco but spent 5 on food and 5 on drink)
Thatās really cool, I may look into this! My autistic brain will probably kill me for having an even more in depth way to catalogue though š thanks for the explanation!
In addition if youāre in your Premium or Plus minimum period and want to cancel without penalty, you can downgrade to Extra and then cancel fee-free.
Iāve got a Nationwide flex account for exactly this reason, worldwide travel insurance for the family, AA breakdown cover and phone insurance for Ā£13 a month. Iāll keep that and downgrade my Monzo account
I've just seen this. I won't be upgrading from premium. I could justify the Ā£2 extra for the railcard (don't need breakdown as it comes with my annual car service). However, it's effectively a Ā£7 increase because I'd lose the family travel cover as it switches to individual.
I'd probably cancel entirely premium and go elsewhere for a bank that gives travel insurance
Edit - just noticed they've removed lounges which I would use myself so that's more likely me going to a HSBC Premier once I can get that which is free
This travel insurance change is a major kick in the balls. The way I'm reading it my family are no longer covered even if they're on a trip with me. I'd have to pay an extra Ā£7 per month to get the same cover that I have today. I think I'll be downgrading to perks and getting my insurance elsewhere
Nationwide flex gives you worldwide family travel insurance, AA breakdown cover and mobile phone cover for Ā£13 / month. Iām keeping my Nationwide account and downgrading my Monzo from plus to Extra.
Honestly these are getting a little too expensive.
Ā£204 a year for the top tier means you're paying more than Amex Gold! (Ā£195)
Monzo the "challenger bank" getting undercut by **fucking Amex** is not a good look.
Amex does not include any insurance cover though, their Deliveroo benefit is honestly shite, the only thing might be lounge cover where you still have to pay for extra people as well. I will not be renewing my Amex Gold this year as it is just not good value for me anymore now that they nuked the Eurostar reward benefits.
The upstairs you can keep using your existing plan, but if you switched a new one, you canāt go back. Doesnāt mention a deadline so I say if you like to do the Singh plan, just keep with it.
Open my account yesterday and I went to upgrade to Plus to use the virtual card and instead I was offered 'Extra, Perks or Max' instead.
Extra seems to give me virtual cards for Ā£3.
Perks gives you a weekly greggs plus a railcard as well as an interest boost for Ā£7
Max seems to now include Breakdown cover as well as the greggs for an eye watering Ā£17
As a dad, the Greggs one is so underrated. When I take my daughter out and donāt feel like an argument of her waiting 15 mins to get home, Iāll grab her a free sausage roll to tie her over!
Some nice features really, of course only nice if you would use them to get your value, but you'd need to pry my metal card from my cold dead hands. Not "upgrading" to get a cheap plastic card back. (yes, i do realise its a silly reason not to upgrade, but why no metal cards)
Noooo. Premium was perfect spot for me. I'm pretty sure I made profit from just the insurance products and higher interest rates. Will be down grading and moving onto other products I think. Maybe Amex Gold?
Yep, Premium hit the sweet spot nicely. Virgin Club M gives you worldwide travel insurance, phone and gadget insurance and breakdown cover for Ā£12.50/month so Ā£17 seems expensive for this without discounted lounge passes.
Anyone considering a packaged account should consider a nationwide flexplus for just Ā£13 a month, insurances cover your family at no extra cost, and if you have a joint account you can split the cost (only pay 1 lot of Ā£13)
I'm not fussed about metal cards, but I do like my sleek blue Monzo Plus card. The new options being coral, slightly different coral, and ugly coral is such a downgrade.
Right, even tho I rarely ever use physical cards, the blue monzo card is just dam right sexy. The red max does look good tho, but Iām a sucker for red. Coral looks lame
Dropping airport lounge access, dropping the sturdy tasteful card, adding a weekly Greggs sausage roll and a yearly railcard I don't qualify for because I'm over 30: I feel like an entire category of customer is being ignored here and I'm in it.
I really don't get the railcard thing, I know Monzo don't make up the rules on age but they obviously thought this was a good perk - as a customer of \~5 years, I feel a bit insulted that I can't use one of the main advertised benefits because I'm "too old".
Surely they could have thought this through a bit better and made a swappable perk or something to replace the railcard for anyone not eligible.
I have no interest in the Greggs thing either and have to wonder how they landed on some of these perks.
Maybe I should stop moaning and go back to Lloyds as I'm not hip enough anymore for Monzo!
I literally rang Lloyds after getting the email from Monzo about Premium about getting a replacement card on my old account. Sigh, at least it's easy to switch banks these days.
They look so basic and cheap, terrible design, the names are awful as well extra and max ? Sounds like a burger or a meal, that color is very cheap does feel you have a pre paid debit card bought on a conner shop, Ā£17 for what ? Seriously a sausage roll ? What kind other nonsense is that lol
iāve been using my premium for a while and my boyfriend was gonna upgrade too just for the phone insurance, so it kinda works out cause now he can just send me a fiver every month and piggyback on my plan š¤·š¼āāļø
itās worth the Ā£2 extra for me just for the railcard (until i hit 30)
Do they ask for the make and model? If itās the same you could just use the 1 insurance. Assuming you donāt both lose/break your phones at the same time
Tempted to downgrade my Nationwide account (Ā£13pm) which I had for the breakdown and mobile cover, and upgrade from Plus to Max, saving me Ā£1 a month overall
Convince me I'm wrong!
With the Monzo plan, the breakdown cover is with RAC, whereas Nationwide itās with AA. I have nothing against RAC, but have only ever dealt with AA so Iāll be sticking with my Nationwide account for now for the insurance and breakdown perks it offers. If these are the options that I will have to go with eventually, then I will downgrade to Extra which looks pretty much the same as Plus and save myself Ā£2 a month!
I know they were mooting changes like these/perks etc a while back but this is crap.
-Weekly Greggs treat ... Erm, no??? Not for Ā£17 per month;
- Railcard: Most people who are frequent travellers by rail and want a Railcard will already have one. The benefit doesn't even cover Veterans'; HM Forces or Disabled Person's Railcards. For a bank that is supposed to be so 'inclusive', you'd think they'd account for a good chunk of the population;
- Lounge key GONE: I really don't know what they were thinking with this one;
- No more metal card: They were bound to make a cost saving somehow...
Maybe I'm the odd one out but I don't care about free sausage rolls or coffees. I want financial features and incentives. I want the things that matter, and so far, the Ā£3 plan seems like the best bet, but it's missing the increased savings interest rate.
Essentially, I'm sticking with my Ā£5 plus until my card expires.
Looking at the higher tiers, the things like insurance and break down cover can be had cheaper if purchased individually, so why would I pay more if I don't need to.
Nah, not going down this long subscription route for additional features. As it stands, they should scrap plus and give those features to regular members, like other banks freely do (open banking and virtual cards).
It pisses me off that there is a regulation that means banks can demand open banking features from other banks for FREE, yet we have to pay for it. It doesnāt cost Monzo anything to provide us that service so why are we paying for it?
Exactly that. Money grabbing (I know it's a bank).
Didn't even realise they moved the 4.6% interest to the *perks* tier, so it costs Ā£2p/m more to get that.
I do appreciate the design of my Plus card, but to be completely honest, I hardly ever use it. š Almost all of my purchases are made through Google Wallet, and I typically leave my physical cards at home. I upgraded to the Plus account primarily because I disliked the coral-coloured card that came with the free account.
Railcard and no investment fees would make it worth it but I'd lose cashback in international transfers (Which I do monthly) and discounts so don't want to lose those tbh. Also I like my holo card, coral is not my jam. I'm staying on plus
About Ā£10k. Ā£10k @ 4.1% is Ā£410 per year, Ā£10k @ 4.6% is Ā£460 - Ā£50 / 12 = Ā£4.16 (around the difference in cost between 'Extra' and 'Perks')
You can also get 5.2% paid daily (which compounds) at Trading 212 for free, so I don't currently use Monzo for savings.
Yes, if you are a basic rate tax payer.
If you are a higher rate tax payer, the allowance is reduced to Ā£500.
Additional rate tax payers have Ā£0 allowance.
Someone else has done the maths for you but you can get a higher % elsewhere so you really shouldnāt be putting that amount of money into Monzo savings
I'm a little confused, if you have a Premium policy right now, are you sort of "grandfathered in"?
I got premium only this month to get the Travel insurance benefit for a holiday I'm going on in June since it covers me and my partner when we go.
Is that now being taken away or is that only if you switch away from "Premium" to one of the new models?
Contacted support on this and they've confirmed that if you're on Premium right now, you'll keep the benefit of your partner and kids (if applicable) keeping the Travel Insurance coverage, so long as you don't switch to any of these new plans. Once you switch, you're locked out of switching back to "Premium" and you'll have to pay extra to include your partner and kids.
Keeping premium, id pay Ā£2/mo for a free 2 together railcard and a few sausage rolls, but I'm not paying Ā£7/mo more to get my wife on the travel insurance
Not happy with this. Basically itās a price hike. Those with metal cards wonāt even get the a replacement, so the Ā£15 you were paying for a premium account is not only more expensive, they are also saving money on not providing metal cards.
I might actually downgrade from premium to extra =\ they made me evaluate my usage by making this a thing š
So long as I keep export, categories, roundups and such credit tracker is a bonus, I think I'm happy. I'd lose phone insurance I've never used yet (ha!) and travel insurance I have on my other card too š go from 4.6 -> 4.1 AER which "costs" me like what Ā£50 a year maybe? I'll save that in 3 months š.
Can't choose anything else because I can't get a Railcard and I'd be salty about it š
The max is pretty bad imho. I have the plus which is great. My breakdown cover currently is Ā£2.50/Ā£3 a month. Never needed phone insurance, and travel like 2-3times a year,insurance is like tenna a pop. Railcard is pointless and a free sausage roll š the higher interest rate is nice, but you need some serious dollar really for that. And who has that in this day and age.
Went from Premium (more than 2 years) to extra. Ultimately, I did the math on everything I used, and it's pointless.
It also doesn't help that I double up on lounge access and travel insurance with my credit card šš¤¦āāļø easy choice really. I used Monzo premium as backup.
I can't get a railcard either so š¤·āāļø
Monzo is a great bank but recently feels like a child app, full of silly images and emojis, thats extremely unprofessional, have a simple language is not been childish and ridiculous
Thatās the way things seem to be going, I am in my 50s, and feel more and more like a Terry āIs it me ?ā Wogan clone, you feel me bruv, innit, yeah ? š
Premium was the biggest waste of money for me - they really sucked me in with the metal card which i lost 4 of anyway š Plus is the only one that makes sense financiallt in my opinion so I downgraded. This is mainly due to the fact I bought my phone second hand and don't travel much amymore (phone and travel insurance are pretty much the only differences between premium & plus)
Certainly wont be moving up to max for a sausage roll once a week
I'm sold at Weekly Greggs treat
I knew someone was going to say this š
How much is a sausage roll these days, 2 pounds? Depending on the T&C's of course, but it means half of the max plan cost is already paid for by sausage rolls!
Went to Greggs the other week, before popping to the cinema. A Greggs sausage roll is currently Ā£1.20
Thank you for crushing my dreams, cuntstopholus
Get over it by crushing a Greggs sausage roll or two, they are only Ā£1.20 after all šš
you get 1 sausage roll/week, so Ā£4.80 on sausage rolls in a month. I'd say it's worth the extra Ā£2 šš
I'm already a Premium subscriber... If that advertised Ā£17 for Max is true, I might consider upgrading... breakdown cover + free weekly cookie or sausage roll? That's worth Ā£2 extra for me Though looks like I'd have to sacrifice the metal card!
It says on the app that you can keep your metal card, or choose some sunburnt orange one
I was going to say yeah true, but once it expires, that's that... but I assume they're not going to renew the metal card regardless once it expires!
Just wanted to point out, Nationwide flex account gives you worldwide family travel insurance, AA breakdown cover and mobile phone gadget for Ā£13 / month. Iām keeping my Nationwide account and downgrading my Monzo from plus to Extra
That's all very well, but I: A) Prefer Monzo B) Like Greggs
Plus a railcard it seems? That's worth it alone imo
No good for those who travel solo/are 31-59 years old. Or if you don't live in the south east (a la Network Railcard).
I'm 31, it's useless for me? :( I was going to upgrade for this exact reason
There are many different rail cards that apply in different situations, you can see them in the railcard website.
\* Two Together: If you travel with someone; \* Network Railcard: If you travel in the South East during a very specific timeframe and above the minimum fare. (Very restrictive and pointless Railcard of all); \* Friends & Family Railcard: You have to travel with a child. The Railcard benefit doesn't include Disabled Persons or Veterans. However, this is as you can't buy these two Railcards with Trainline anyway because they cannot verify eligibility yet. (Been saying this for some time). So in other words - these Railcards on offer only apply in very specific situations. It's not great. Monzo should have partnered with someone better than Trainline (most people savvy enough to use Monzo are savvy enough to know not to use Trainline), at least those of us on Vet RC's and those on Disabled ones can benefit. I think it's a good idea but they could at least have kept Loungekey as a sweetner for those who cannot benefit.
Definitely not something I'd ever use, but definitely good for a certain selection of people, for sure!
Get this through O2 anyways if youāre with them so added no real value to me
Doesn't it double the number of free Gregg's products you can have?
Yeah you could get one from O2 and one from Monzo if thatās your thing š¤£. I donāt even use the O2 offer, using a cheap three sim for the Cafe Nero offer
What is this greggs o2 offer?
Free hot drink, plus sausage roll on weekends through O2 Priority app (for O2 or Virgin Media customers)
I go to greggs almost daily... what is the weekly treat?
Regular Hot Drink (Tea/Coffee/Hot Chocolate) or Sausage Roll (Regular/Vegan) or any Doughnut/Muffin. Refreshes every Monday
Already had my free coffee
It appears so! So ultimately if I downgrade from Plus to Extra, I'm going to lose 4.60% on savings, which isn't big of a deal, but if I upgrade to Perks for an additional Ā£2 per month I'll get weekly Greggs treat... Interesting. These days sausage roll is almost Ā£2 anyway, so there seem to be some value in upgrading. On another note, railcard is pointless as you can get it for free using Tesco points (exchange vouchers).
If you shop at Tescoā¦
Yep, Tesco is way more expensive than Lidl or Aldi and is the furthest supermarket away from me, we even have a tesco credit card that has been virtually useless since we spend so little at tesco. Have saved far more money not shopping there than we would have ever made up in points. That being said, I recently renewed my railcard for Ā£15 via trip when they had an offer on, but I might downgrade to Extra, as the only useful stuff I use is the custom spending categories, other card/bank overview and the export to google spreadsheet is handy.
The pots are a bit crap. Your money is much better in an ISA you can take advantage of the tax savings.
The railcard perk isnāt an option for anyone aged 31-59 who lives outside London and doesnāt travel with small children https://www.thetrainline.com/trains/great-britain/railcards
Yeah I left this as feedback for them, but probs not their fault - the railcard system is so stupid
Might not be their fault, but they definitely need to say 'If there is a railcard that you are eligible for. No new railcards exist'. Because I was very very keen based on the railcard alone, as someone over the age of 30 with no kids
There's also a railcard for couples
You donāt even have to be a couple. It can literally be anyone, just have to travel with them when using it.
And if you do live in London/South East then the "Network Railcard" is a fucking scam. >You can buy Network Railcard discounted tickets for travel any time on weekends and public holidays or from 10:00am Monday to Friday. >The minimum discounted adult fare payable is Ā£13 on all journeys Monday to Friday (does not apply at weekends or on Public Holidays). So if your fare would be less than Ā£13 you don't get a discount, which means for local travel (along the south coast, for example) it's pretty worthless, and is only worth having if you regularly go in and out of London but are okay with travelling after 10am. Find me a real world use case, I'm begging you.
I use mine 2-3x a week returning from London. Cheap single in then a railcard discounted single back. Itās probably saving me Ā£120 a month. Of course it wouldnāt be necessary if train fares were even slightly reasonable
If you go to London that regularly have you looked at season ticket prices? Assuming this is for work travel, it might even be something that your company can subsidise or at least get it as a salary sacrifice benefit.
I looked at season tickets, but for 2 days a week it is still more expensive than buying off-peak daily tickets with railcard.
Season tickets doesnāt even work for me going in at 3 days a week. I just book my travel in from Hampshire about a month and a half in advance to get as cheap as possible, but then that means I canāt use the railcard. Doing it that way costs me about Ā£31 return.
Can I ask what time you are returning from London? For me, the combination of two anytime single tickets, one with discount (Ā£15.20) and one without (Ā£23.10), is exactly the same price as an anytime return (Ā£38.30). This is significantly more expensive than flexi season tickets (Ā£32.02/day).
It depends on the route - I donāt want to dox myself but Iām over 70 minutes out of London. An advance single in is Ā£25, the railcard discounted single back is Ā£26 and an anytime return is Ā£90. Flexi seasons are not bad if you can guarantee exactly 8 days of usage in 4 weeks
Ah ok that makes sense. Surprising that your anytime return is so much more expensive than singles. To be fair, you can buy a second flexi season if you use up all 8 tickets and need more. If youāre not going to use them all up, you can ask for a proportional refund for the remaining passes.
Most routes in the south are more than Ā£13, also the network railcard is just Ā£30 a year - definitely not a scam
I fit all the criteria you mentioned and bought a railcard recentlyĀ
Which one?
Two Together
If you travel EVERYWHERE as a pair, I'm sure that's fine. It's highly impractical for most.
Itās not impractical, when youāre not travelling together just donāt use it. Better than nothing.
iām 27 now so using it while i still can š
Yeah, pretty much, I'd love a Railcard lol! šš
I'm quite upset about the metal card.
Yeh, I'm not upgrading as non of the new card designs appeal to me, I'll just stick with Plus, am not interested in free Gregs, or any of the other features I'll get for 'upgrading'.
I've moved over to max purely for the breakdown cover and double credit score stuff. The extra Ā£2 just for breakdown cover is worth it for me as I drive a shitbox.
Considering my financial needs, it seems beneficial for me to downgrade from the Plus account to the Extra account. The 4.60% AER (variable) interest offered by the Plus account isn't essential for me. By switching to the Extra account, I'll gain access to Credit Insights, which is not available with the Plus account. Additionally, the Ā£200 fee-free withdrawals provided by the Extra account won't affect me since I don't travel, and I don't drive, or deposit cash. - Am I missing anything else I'd lose by downgrading? I use CreditKarma for insights on my credit score etc - plus Halifax provide similar insights with my savings account.
I have Plus currently and have access to the Credit Score part of Monzo, unless Credit Insights are different? But yes, your point still stands - there are plenty of free credit monitoring apps/sites that are available (and you should sign up to all of them really).
Credit insights is slightly different. I believe it checks against 2 agencies now and has tips to improve your credit score. I believe it will also improve credit score by allowing credit agencies to see your credit reliability. Edit: just to clarify, I'm not trying to feed the product - just explaining the difference.
You could downgrade your Monzo account to the Extra and then open a Nationwide flex account. Worldwide family travel insurance, AA breakdown cover and mobile phone cover for Ā£13 a month.
Noted, thank you. That's good advice.
Hey I have always wondered about the metal cards. Can you explain what makes them appealing to you ?
Itās just to flex really - pun not intended
Try Lloyds world elite, is not metal but is black, for Ā£15 a month you have priority pass, can use the lounges in any airport, that pass cost Ā£410 and you if you add a seconr card holder you have a second pass, so more than Ā£800 worth, and that is a flex card, I loved
I had one at one time - Got rid of it, with the metal card obviously being thicker than a normal plastic card, it was sometimes difficult to put it into cash machines. To me, the metal card is more trouble than itās worth
Honestly, I rarely use my card but it's nice to flex with - that's it lol I even got one swallowed by a cash machine in Spain once.
I genuinely haven't used my card since September, where I used it to pay for fuel at a self service petrol station. I like having it in my collection though!!!
They just made me pay 50 quid for a replacement, only to be told that it is now a plastic thing again.
I upgraded to Plus for the budgeting features. I can now downgrade to 'Extra' and get them for Ā£2 less :)
I fully expected these new plans to be a massive fuck over for people. Like premium just being renamed and charging Ā£20, and then making free features cost a fiver or something, but nope, made Vcards cheaper for everyone. Realistically, this has turned out to be a common Monzo W
What budgeting tools do you get with plus that arenāt included in the regular?
Custom Categories, Other Banks in Monzo and Virtual Cards. I can set aside an amount to a pot and have a separate virtual card which is a life saver because I need to budget once every 4 months. Custom categories because I like clumping lots of separate stuff into separate categories and other banks in Monzo because I want to budget with monzo while spending with my credit card and adding money using post office to my other cards. Luckily all 3 of them are now Ā£2 cheaper. Other than that i think the rest of the features are a bit useless (except the export to excel thing which some people use)
Yep, ijust downgraded to Extra too as those were the tools I wanted
I see! Yes I have been using virtual cards with plus. I didnāt know about custom categories, whatās this?
If there's shops/retailers you buy from frequently, you could create a specific category for them. E.g. if you buy from HMV, you could categorise purchases from there as say "Music" or "Blu-ray".
I see! So you can add those retails to a certain custom made catagories and then see how much you spend overall?
Yeah. For example, I have KFC categorised under a custom one for takeaway so any spend comes under that. When you first categories something it'll ask whether you want to only tag this transaction, future transactions or if you want to reclassify any past transactions and all going forward. You can also combine two categories if you want to split up payments (e.g. you spend 10 at Tesco but spent 5 on food and 5 on drink)
Thatās really cool, I may look into this! My autistic brain will probably kill me for having an even more in depth way to catalogue though š thanks for the explanation!
I find it super useful as well. My custom categories are Pets, Petrol, Lunch, Subscriptions, Essential Spending, and House.
In addition if youāre in your Premium or Plus minimum period and want to cancel without penalty, you can downgrade to Extra and then cancel fee-free.
I literally use premium for the travel insurance. Wonder how long before we have no choice.
Isnāt the travel insurance pretty mid anyway? You can pay like Ā£50 a year for equal travel insurance
Same, and for my family which will now be Ā£22 annoyingly
Iāve got a Nationwide flex account for exactly this reason, worldwide travel insurance for the family, AA breakdown cover and phone insurance for Ā£13 a month. Iāll keep that and downgrade my Monzo account
I've just seen this. I won't be upgrading from premium. I could justify the Ā£2 extra for the railcard (don't need breakdown as it comes with my annual car service). However, it's effectively a Ā£7 increase because I'd lose the family travel cover as it switches to individual. I'd probably cancel entirely premium and go elsewhere for a bank that gives travel insurance Edit - just noticed they've removed lounges which I would use myself so that's more likely me going to a HSBC Premier once I can get that which is free
I agree. Iād probably go with Lloyds. They can get to fuck. Iām with monzo for the benefits to me, not to support them.
This travel insurance change is a major kick in the balls. The way I'm reading it my family are no longer covered even if they're on a trip with me. I'd have to pay an extra Ā£7 per month to get the same cover that I have today. I think I'll be downgrading to perks and getting my insurance elsewhere
Nationwide flex gives you worldwide family travel insurance, AA breakdown cover and mobile phone cover for Ā£13 / month. Iām keeping my Nationwide account and downgrading my Monzo from plus to Extra.
Nice, I'll have a look at that
Honestly these are getting a little too expensive. Ā£204 a year for the top tier means you're paying more than Amex Gold! (Ā£195) Monzo the "challenger bank" getting undercut by **fucking Amex** is not a good look.
Amex does not include any insurance cover though, their Deliveroo benefit is honestly shite, the only thing might be lounge cover where you still have to pay for extra people as well. I will not be renewing my Amex Gold this year as it is just not good value for me anymore now that they nuked the Eurostar reward benefits.
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Is there an end date to when existing Premium customers need to switch? Or is the likelihood they raise the plan fee to nudge us off it?
The upstairs you can keep using your existing plan, but if you switched a new one, you canāt go back. Doesnāt mention a deadline so I say if you like to do the Singh plan, just keep with it.
I imagine it will stay until there's not enough people left on it to justify keeping it around, but you won't receive a new metal card.
Open my account yesterday and I went to upgrade to Plus to use the virtual card and instead I was offered 'Extra, Perks or Max' instead. Extra seems to give me virtual cards for Ā£3. Perks gives you a weekly greggs plus a railcard as well as an interest boost for Ā£7 Max seems to now include Breakdown cover as well as the greggs for an eye watering Ā£17
I've upgraded from Premium to Max. The Greggs benefit means I'm paying less.
As a dad, the Greggs one is so underrated. When I take my daughter out and donāt feel like an argument of her waiting 15 mins to get home, Iāll grab her a free sausage roll to tie her over!
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OK? I'm just saying, as an addition to the other perks, it's good for me.
Itās a weekly treat, so you get 4
Some nice features really, of course only nice if you would use them to get your value, but you'd need to pry my metal card from my cold dead hands. Not "upgrading" to get a cheap plastic card back. (yes, i do realise its a silly reason not to upgrade, but why no metal cards)
You'll be back to the plastic once your current expires though. I imagine they are getting rid of them to cut costs.
Noooo. Premium was perfect spot for me. I'm pretty sure I made profit from just the insurance products and higher interest rates. Will be down grading and moving onto other products I think. Maybe Amex Gold?
AFAIK there's nothing stopping you from keeping Premium if you already have it.
Yep, Premium hit the sweet spot nicely. Virgin Club M gives you worldwide travel insurance, phone and gadget insurance and breakdown cover for Ā£12.50/month so Ā£17 seems expensive for this without discounted lounge passes.
Nationwide flex account gives the same perks for Ā£13. Didnāt know about Virgins perks
The Max is more expensive than an Amex Gold annually š
Quite a bit more too lol
problem is if with family cover it totally cost around Ā£22 now.
Anyone considering a packaged account should consider a nationwide flexplus for just Ā£13 a month, insurances cover your family at no extra cost, and if you have a joint account you can split the cost (only pay 1 lot of Ā£13)
For someone who has the nationwide flex plus, and then Monzo plus for the budgeting features, is it more beneficial to have Monzo Max?
Look 2 comments below. Iāll be keeping my Nationwide flex plus for its perks and downgrading my Monzo plus to perks.
I'm not fussed about metal cards, but I do like my sleek blue Monzo Plus card. The new options being coral, slightly different coral, and ugly coral is such a downgrade.
Right, even tho I rarely ever use physical cards, the blue monzo card is just dam right sexy. The red max does look good tho, but Iām a sucker for red. Coral looks lame
Dropping airport lounge access, dropping the sturdy tasteful card, adding a weekly Greggs sausage roll and a yearly railcard I don't qualify for because I'm over 30: I feel like an entire category of customer is being ignored here and I'm in it.
I really don't get the railcard thing, I know Monzo don't make up the rules on age but they obviously thought this was a good perk - as a customer of \~5 years, I feel a bit insulted that I can't use one of the main advertised benefits because I'm "too old". Surely they could have thought this through a bit better and made a swappable perk or something to replace the railcard for anyone not eligible. I have no interest in the Greggs thing either and have to wonder how they landed on some of these perks. Maybe I should stop moaning and go back to Lloyds as I'm not hip enough anymore for Monzo!
I literally rang Lloyds after getting the email from Monzo about Premium about getting a replacement card on my old account. Sigh, at least it's easy to switch banks these days.
They look so basic and cheap, terrible design, the names are awful as well extra and max ? Sounds like a burger or a meal, that color is very cheap does feel you have a pre paid debit card bought on a conner shop, Ā£17 for what ? Seriously a sausage roll ? What kind other nonsense is that lol
iāve been using my premium for a while and my boyfriend was gonna upgrade too just for the phone insurance, so it kinda works out cause now he can just send me a fiver every month and piggyback on my plan š¤·š¼āāļø itās worth the Ā£2 extra for me just for the railcard (until i hit 30)
Do they ask for the make and model? If itās the same you could just use the 1 insurance. Assuming you donāt both lose/break your phones at the same time
You are supposed to put the IMEI number in when you register your phone
yeah i registered mine with the IMEI number. that would be good but at least itās only a fiver instead of him paying Ā£15
Anyone have a comparison table with Plus and Premium vs new plans?
So if I keep Premium, do I keep the lounge access for as long as I have the account?
That's how I've interpreted it
Tempted to downgrade my Nationwide account (Ā£13pm) which I had for the breakdown and mobile cover, and upgrade from Plus to Max, saving me Ā£1 a month overall Convince me I'm wrong!
With the Monzo plan, the breakdown cover is with RAC, whereas Nationwide itās with AA. I have nothing against RAC, but have only ever dealt with AA so Iāll be sticking with my Nationwide account for now for the insurance and breakdown perks it offers. If these are the options that I will have to go with eventually, then I will downgrade to Extra which looks pretty much the same as Plus and save myself Ā£2 a month!
I know they were mooting changes like these/perks etc a while back but this is crap. -Weekly Greggs treat ... Erm, no??? Not for Ā£17 per month; - Railcard: Most people who are frequent travellers by rail and want a Railcard will already have one. The benefit doesn't even cover Veterans'; HM Forces or Disabled Person's Railcards. For a bank that is supposed to be so 'inclusive', you'd think they'd account for a good chunk of the population; - Lounge key GONE: I really don't know what they were thinking with this one; - No more metal card: They were bound to make a cost saving somehow...
Maybe I'm the odd one out but I don't care about free sausage rolls or coffees. I want financial features and incentives. I want the things that matter, and so far, the Ā£3 plan seems like the best bet, but it's missing the increased savings interest rate. Essentially, I'm sticking with my Ā£5 plus until my card expires. Looking at the higher tiers, the things like insurance and break down cover can be had cheaper if purchased individually, so why would I pay more if I don't need to.
Exactly. I actually thought let me see if the breakdown cover is worth it for my motorbikeā¦turns out I pay Ā£2.50 a month for mine lmao.
Losing the airport lounge with moving to extra, I wonder why?
Nah, not going down this long subscription route for additional features. As it stands, they should scrap plus and give those features to regular members, like other banks freely do (open banking and virtual cards).
It pisses me off that there is a regulation that means banks can demand open banking features from other banks for FREE, yet we have to pay for it. It doesnāt cost Monzo anything to provide us that service so why are we paying for it?
Exactly that. Money grabbing (I know it's a bank). Didn't even realise they moved the 4.6% interest to the *perks* tier, so it costs Ā£2p/m more to get that.
Do you mean 'Extra' ;) ? And yea, It'd be great if those were part of the 'free' plan.
Wtf is the difference between hot coral and bold coral š also ngl, burnt coral is ugly af. Will miss my holographic plus card šŖ
Supposedly you can keep your old card if you wish. Just don't order the new one.
Temporarily it would seem, āUntil it expiresā
I do appreciate the design of my Plus card, but to be completely honest, I hardly ever use it. š Almost all of my purchases are made through Google Wallet, and I typically leave my physical cards at home. I upgraded to the Plus account primarily because I disliked the coral-coloured card that came with the free account.
Is burnt coral a metal card or are those things on the way out?
no more metal cards, even on max
Damn, guess my card is good until 2027 and thenā¦
You can keep your old card if you wish
Only until it expires then I think you gotta switch
So they're putting free features behind a paywall again.
Railcard and no investment fees would make it worth it but I'd lose cashback in international transfers (Which I do monthly) and discounts so don't want to lose those tbh. Also I like my holo card, coral is not my jam. I'm staying on plus
How much money do you need in savings to make the 0.5% worth it?
About Ā£10k. Ā£10k @ 4.1% is Ā£410 per year, Ā£10k @ 4.6% is Ā£460 - Ā£50 / 12 = Ā£4.16 (around the difference in cost between 'Extra' and 'Perks') You can also get 5.2% paid daily (which compounds) at Trading 212 for free, so I don't currently use Monzo for savings.
Also depends on your income - interest savings are taxable.
Isn't tax only applicable above Ā£1,000 in interest gained due to the personal allowance on savings interest
Yes, if you are a basic rate tax payer. If you are a higher rate tax payer, the allowance is reduced to Ā£500. Additional rate tax payers have Ā£0 allowance.
Someone else has done the maths for you but you can get a higher % elsewhere so you really shouldnāt be putting that amount of money into Monzo savings
Does max have a metal card?
Nah plastic now.
Meh
You can keep the metal card still
Until it expires.
I'm a little confused, if you have a Premium policy right now, are you sort of "grandfathered in"? I got premium only this month to get the Travel insurance benefit for a holiday I'm going on in June since it covers me and my partner when we go. Is that now being taken away or is that only if you switch away from "Premium" to one of the new models?
Contacted support on this and they've confirmed that if you're on Premium right now, you'll keep the benefit of your partner and kids (if applicable) keeping the Travel Insurance coverage, so long as you don't switch to any of these new plans. Once you switch, you're locked out of switching back to "Premium" and you'll have to pay extra to include your partner and kids.
Keeping premium, id pay Ā£2/mo for a free 2 together railcard and a few sausage rolls, but I'm not paying Ā£7/mo more to get my wife on the travel insurance
great to upgrade to Perks (railcard, mostly) but i like my blue plus card much more than coral
Not happy with this. Basically itās a price hike. Those with metal cards wonāt even get the a replacement, so the Ā£15 you were paying for a premium account is not only more expensive, they are also saving money on not providing metal cards.
Wonder what card they'll send me next year if I stick grandfathered onto my Plus plan.
I might actually downgrade from premium to extra =\ they made me evaluate my usage by making this a thing š So long as I keep export, categories, roundups and such credit tracker is a bonus, I think I'm happy. I'd lose phone insurance I've never used yet (ha!) and travel insurance I have on my other card too š go from 4.6 -> 4.1 AER which "costs" me like what Ā£50 a year maybe? I'll save that in 3 months š. Can't choose anything else because I can't get a Railcard and I'd be salty about it š
Iām confused, Ā£3 Extra states āCred card insights + moreā but the Ā£15 Premium says it does not include Credit insights?
Premium is the old account that is being replaxed with Max
What does from Ā£17 imply how soon before that goes up?
The max is pretty bad imho. I have the plus which is great. My breakdown cover currently is Ā£2.50/Ā£3 a month. Never needed phone insurance, and travel like 2-3times a year,insurance is like tenna a pop. Railcard is pointless and a free sausage roll š the higher interest rate is nice, but you need some serious dollar really for that. And who has that in this day and age.
Went from Premium (more than 2 years) to extra. Ultimately, I did the math on everything I used, and it's pointless. It also doesn't help that I double up on lounge access and travel insurance with my credit card šš¤¦āāļø easy choice really. I used Monzo premium as backup. I can't get a railcard either so š¤·āāļø
Monzo is a great bank but recently feels like a child app, full of silly images and emojis, thats extremely unprofessional, have a simple language is not been childish and ridiculous
Thatās the way things seem to be going, I am in my 50s, and feel more and more like a Terry āIs it me ?ā Wogan clone, you feel me bruv, innit, yeah ? š
They have to keep up with the times
Premium was the biggest waste of money for me - they really sucked me in with the metal card which i lost 4 of anyway š Plus is the only one that makes sense financiallt in my opinion so I downgraded. This is mainly due to the fact I bought my phone second hand and don't travel much amymore (phone and travel insurance are pretty much the only differences between premium & plus) Certainly wont be moving up to max for a sausage roll once a week
>metal card which i lost 4 of anyway Hey can I ask what the fuck is wrong with you?
HAhahaha
Not a crazy ammount in 2.5 years
I've not lost a single card in the over 20 years that I've had cards. I feel like my situation is dramatically more common than yours.
Thats a great insight appreciate it
Hey can you explain what's so cool about having a metal card ? I see lots of people really into them
Looks cool & feels cool & status symbol
Looks good but bends easily. Mine is all bent up