Everything You Need To Know About Monzo

1. It’s easy to set up

In April 2017, Monzo changed from being a pre-paid mobile-only account with a top-up debit card to a fully-fledged current account complete with overdrafts, standing orders, direct debit and joint accounts. If you’re a UK citizen and over the age of 16, you can set up an account – either as a standalone current account or alongside the one you hold with your existing bank – by downloading the Monzo app on iOS or Android. From here, you’re walked through a series of instructions – including video verification – which takes just minutes. If you’re approved, your card could be with you the next day. This might be the only letter you receive from Monzo – a further pro to being a digital bank is that it’s almost entirely paperless. In the meantime, you can utilise Apple Pay to use the app and all its tools while you wait for your card to arrive.

2. You’ll finally get to grips with budgeting

Once I’d received my bright coral debit card, I was able to top up my card by transferring money over from my long-term current account with my existing bank. Come pay day, I transfer £400 across to my Monzo account. By setting up a target of £100 a week in the app, I use the money on this debit card to pay for things that aren’t rent, bills or travel expenses – everything from dinner with the girls through to clothing, food shops and trips to the pub. By setting up these targets, I make sure that I never spend more than £100 a week (therefore screwing myself over by week three). By having this amount set aside for ‘fun’ things, rather than storing it in my usual current account where it gets merged with forthcoming direct debits, I find it much easier to budget and not spend more than is in my overall account.

3. You’ll know exactly how much is in your account

One of Monzo’s handiest tools is the fact that you get an instant up-to-date balance – there’s no more waiting around until Tuesday morning to discover just how much you managed to spend on Saturday night. Every time you make a purchase, the money will be automatically deducted from your account: you’ll receive a payment notification before your receipt has even printed. In short, there’s no excuse to bury your head in the sand by remaining ignorant on exactly how much you do (or don’t) have in your account.

Within the app, you’ll be shown how much you’ve spent today, broken down to detail where you’ve spent your money. Move across to the ‘summary’ section of the app, and you’ll see how much of your monthly budget is left, how many days are still to go, and how much you’re spending in each category (more on that later).

As well as monthly statements via email and the instant balance you see whenever you open the app, you’ll also get a friendly reminder when you’re spending your budget quicker than usual – a common occurrence when you find yourself down the pub on a Friday night.

4. …And exactly what you’re spending it on

One of the app’s most eye-opening assets is that once you’ve made a purchase, the app will automatically assign it to a category – be it ‘groceries’, ‘entertainment’, ‘eating out’, ‘holidays’, ‘shopping’ or ‘bills’. Head to the summary section of the app and you’ll be able to see exactly how much you’re spending in these areas; mine usually shows that I spend most of my hard-earned cash on groceries, eating out, then entertainment (read: food, food and beer). If you wish, you can assign further targets for each of these categories to make sure you don’t spend too much on, say, clothes or takeaway coffees. A friend of mine didn’t realise just how much money she was spending at Boots until Monzo showed her she was dropping around £20 per week on anything from make-up to crisps and tights, just because she was bored while waiting for her train. When it’s all laid out for you in the app, patterns emerge – and once you’ve spotted them, they’re easier to navigate.

5. You can pay people instantly

Long before PayPal’s new bill-splitting feature came into play, Monzo allowed its users to pay friends and acquaintances instantly. You can either pay by bank transfer, pay anyone on your phone who also has a Monzo account (they’ll come up automatically once you click ‘pay’), or via the ‘nearby friends’ feature. You can also make transactions via Bluetooth without needing to know your friend’s bank details. New for autumn is a bill-splitting tool that does the maths for you – and not everyone has to be on Monzo to use it. Infinitely handy when it comes to paying for dinner.