I’ve been a Monzo user since 2017 and, for many years now, Monzo’s been my main bank. I also have a Monzo joint account with my partner, and a business bank account with them too. Can you tell I’m a bit of a fan? But despite being a bit of a Monzo evangelist, even I would have been stretched to say that Monzo Plus was a great product, worth paying £5 per month for- until now…
What’s Monzo Plus?
Whilst it’s free to open a standard Monzo bank account, for £5 a month, users can upgrade to Monzo Plus and unlock some additional features, namely:
- A holographic card
- 1x free cash deposit per month
- £400 / month free cash withdrawals abroad (vs. £200 with a standard account)
- The ability to see other accounts in Monzo (e.g. your Amex card transactions)
- Custom Spend Categories
- Virtual Cards
- Advanced Roundups
- Credit Tracker
For me, the above list of Plus features range from “not applicable” to “nice to have”. Despite trialing the service for a month, I made the decision not to upgrade, as I didn’t believe this feature set to be worth £60 per year. However, my standpoint has recently changed since Monzo Plus has rolled out an additional feature: 0.50% additional interest on their easy access saving pot. Meaning, if you have £12k+ in your savings pot, Monzo Plus now essentially pays for itself!
Why are Monzo Pots a good place for your savings?
At the time of writing, as a Monzo Plus customer, the rate of interest for an easy access Monzo Pot is 4.5%. Whilst you may be able to get a higher interest rate from another bank, many of the banks offering higher rate are only doing so on a short-term basis, as part of a promotional offer. Further, if you bank with Monzo, having the ability to freely move funds in and out of the savings pot, and have this clear instantly into your bank balance is super convenient.
What else is good about Monzo Plus?
Amongst the other features, the ability to see other accounts within Monzo is probably my favourite. As someone that pays for most things using Amex, being able to see these transactions alongside my bank balance is super useful and allows me to track my spending more easily.
I am also a fan of the Virtual Cards that are easy to spin up and can be set to expire whenever you choose. This feature is especially useful for the purpose of managing free trials, since all too often we forget to cancel subscription trials, resulting in an unintended charge.
Final thoughts
So there we have it. Monzo Plus is now a far more attractive proposition than it was previouysly. If you bank with Monzo and have £12k+ in cash savings then it may well make sense to upgrade to Monzo Plus. As an innovative challenger bank, we can expect Monzo to release other Plus features in the future, resulting in further value to customers.