Monzo launches £15 /month current account

whitesmith

The digital bank Monzo has launched a premium account, complete with a metal payment card, as it tries to convince more customers to pay for its services.

Customers can pay £180 a year, or £15 a month for a minimum of six months, for the privilege of Monzo Premium. Its key features include travel and phone insurance, £600 of fee-free withdrawals abroad each month, a sleek white steel card and 1.5% interest on deposits up to £2,000.

The travel insurance will cover cancellation costs up to £5,000 as well as flight delays of more than four hours, which Monzo’s chief product officer, Mike Hudack, said could come in handy as UK travel restrictions change in response to the Covid crisis.

(courtesy: The Guardian)

Seraphi

Virgin Money's Current account provide's 2.02% interest (albeit up to £1000) fee-free spending and cash withdrawals overseas for free. So you're getting a steel card, phone and travel insurance, which isn't worth £180.

SnowTiger

Déjà vu?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5994467/monzo-launches-a-premium-account-but-is-it-any-good-mse-news: 

App-only bank Monzo has launched a premium service, with the option to pay extra for features such as travel insurance and extra fee-free cash withdrawals while abroad - but is it any good?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6052745/monzo-ditches-monzo-plus-premium-account-offering-mse-news: 

App-only bank Monzo has closed its paid-for premium ‘Monzo Plus’ service, which offered customers extra features such as travel insurance, only five months after launching the product...

simonhunter87

They'd need to make the phone insurance cover a household and reduce the excess to £50 - then I'd sign-up as it's in line with nationwide but £24 a year more expensive. Which isn't too bad for the other features and to have it all in 1 place with my main bank account. 

ratechaser

I was looking for a mention of 'airport lounge access' because that's the common bauble for packaged accounts when they approach this price point. But no... not there. Doesn't sound like great value to me.

pinkdalek

whitesmith said:

The travel insurance will cover cancellation costs up to £5,000 as well as flight delays of more than four hours, which Monzo’s chief product officer, Mike Hudack, said could come in handy as UK travel restrictions change in response to the Covid crisis.

(courtesy: The Guardian)

WIth Covid now being a known virus travel insurances won't cover you if your trip is booked after the date it became a "known pandemic" so in this case would the insurance not pay out as the root cause was Covid.

Seems a waste of money when you can get similar packaged accounts with high street banks for similar price and more benefits.  As stated Virgin money offer free cash withdrawals, Starling does not charge for ATM withdrawals or overseas spending.  There are also credit cards out there you can get that don't charge you for using overseas.  
Not for me thanks.

t8769

Nationwide Flex Plus, free overseas withdrawals, roadside assistance etc.
But no high interest rate.

wiseonesomeofthetime

ratechaser said:

I was looking for a mention of 'airport lounge access' because that's the common bauble for packaged accounts when they approach this price point. But no... not there. Doesn't sound like great value to me.

£24 for Lounge Key apparently

Thrugelmir

whitesmith said:

The digital bank Monzo has launched a premium account, complete with a metal payment card, as it tries to convince more customers to pay for its services.

More likely needs to generate a revenue stream. Banking isn't very profitable at the moment. 

ratechaser

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

ratechaser said:

I was looking for a mention of 'airport lounge access' because that's the common bauble for packaged accounts when they approach this price point. But no... not there. Doesn't sound like great value to me.

£24 for Lounge Key apparently

Hmm, took a quick look, and it's £24 per person per visit. Which frankly is the sort of discounted price point you'd expect to be available to anyone if they book ahead. The quality of these '3rd party' lounges can be pretty middling compared to airline specific lounges, and often have a tendency to get overcrowded and turn people away... just look at the vitriol when BA was switching terminals at Gatwick and its frequent flyers had to use a No.1 Lounge for a while. Crowded, poor food, and no free champagne 

I digress, but point being that I'm not seeing anything that I'd consider a selling point for Monzo here.