Best Features Of The Monzo Online Account

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you’ll know of my love for my Monzo card. I’ve had mine for about 2 years now and I’ve never looked back from it. Back then it was quite an unknown brand, and the idea of a digital-only bank was quite futuristic. But now most people under 40 have heard of the brand. And a lot of them probably own a card from one of the digital-only banks. For me, it was the features of the Monzo online account which drew me to them.  But I haven’t gone full Monzo and changed my pay to go into there as I do still see the value of having a high street bank as well.

Whether you’ve been debating getting a Monzo card. Or you’ve got one but don’t think you’re utilising the Monzo online account enough, here are some of the best features you get with the basic account.

Top Monzo online account features- Breakdown of spending

Previously I would keep track of all my spending the old fashioned way with a spreadsheet, or even a notebook. And it got tiresome. But one of the great things about Monzo is that it categorises your spending. Sometimes automatically if it can tell, or you can select what category to place something in. You can also change the category of something to more accurately account for your spending.

So at the end of the month, you can work out how much money you spent on bills, or travel, or clothes. The categories are great for working out where you’re spending all of your money so you can try and adjust your budgets for it.

You can see breakdowns monthly, but you can change the start date. So if you get paid on 27th and you want the month of tracking to start there you can.

Being able to set limits on the spending in those categories

Following on from the above Monzo online account feature you can set limits to these categories. If you know you only want to spend £100 on eating out in a month you can set this as a budget. As you spend money from this category the app will let you know how close you are from your spending limit.

Monzo won’t stop you from going over the spending limits, but it’s a nice reminder to stay on track. And it’s another good way to help you budget your finances better.

Instant purchase notifications

One of the things I love about the Monzo online account is that you get instant purchase notifications. Literally, the second a transaction goes through you get a notification, although you can turn these off. Most of the time I get these before the order confirmation screen comes up if it’s an online order. Or before I’ve even walked away from a till point in a shop. It’s a great tool to keep you alert and knowing exactly how much you’re spending. As the notification will show that transaction plus how much you’ve spent that day. Great for days out, shopping trips and holidays.

It’s also great as the money comes straight out of your account as opposed to sitting in pending for days on end. This will certainly help you plan your spending better as you won’t account for the money you’ve already spent.

Best Monzo online account features- Roundups

Roundups are one of my favourite parts of Monzo as you can set it up to round up all of your purchases and place it in a savings pot. So if you spend £1.50 on a drink it will charge you £2 and put 50p into a savings pot. It’s an easy way to save some extra money without really realising it. When I checked after my first few months using it I was surprised at how much I had.

The roundups are done instantly as well so there’s no mass collection of the roundups.

Splitting bills with other Monzo users

The Monzo online account will give you the option of splitting bills with other Monzo users and it’s so simple to set up. So if you’re on holiday with your partner and want to split spending. Or you’re going out for dinner with four friends and want to split the bill four ways. You can do this via the app. You just select the payment you want to split it with you, click ‘Split Bill’ and add someone.

You can find any of your phone contacts, or use a nearby friends function to find who you want to split the payment with. The app will allow you to split equally or manually edit different amounts so spending is fair. And once the contact has sent the payment it will come off the right category so what you’ve spent will be accurate.

My favourite feature of the Monzo online account- Pots

Pots are perhaps my favourite feature of the Monzo online account. I even did a whole post purely on why I love them, but also how I got rid of five bank accounts but can still split out my money well. You can have up to 20 different pots attached to your account. With them, the money is technically in your own account but it’s separated out of the money you can spend. And if you want to use it you need to withdraw from the pot.

For me, I love it because it means I can save money for all the different things I’m saving for. From weekly reoccurring saving for our emergency fund or tax bills. Through to ad-hoc savings like for a specific holiday, or mortgage overpayments.

Other great functions of the Monzo online account

• Being able to see your account number and sort code instantly in the app without your card
• Being able to pay direct debits from pots
• Being able to see transactions due to come out from your account in a few days time (so you can check the money is ready in the account)
• You can add receipts to transactions, great if you want to refer back to something, or for tax purposes
• You can add transactions to a shared tab (say if you’re on holiday), and split the tab at the end as opposed to each individual transaction

Do you use Monzo? If so what’s your favourite feature of the online account?

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