Monzo Premium review

There’s another new Monzo option, this time a Premium account at £15 a month. Here’s what you’ll get.

Monzo’s standard free account is one of the best out there, but I was left underwhelmed by Monzo Plus which launched in the summer. At £5 a month you didn’t really get much more for your money.

Now, and no doubt in response to financial worries at the bank, there’s another paid-for account – Monzo Premium. It costs £15 a month and you get even more features bundled in, as well as a shiny metal card.

Here’s a rundown of what to expect if you sign up, and my thoughts on whether it’s worth it.

Rather watch than read (or do both)? Here’s my video review of Monzo Premium

How much is Monzo Premium?

Monzo Premium costs £15 a month. That’s £180 a year. There’s a minimum six month term when you first sign up.

Monzo claims that the insurance policies are worth £256 a year. That’s calculated by taking the average price charged for similar policies across a number of providers.

Who can get Monzo Premium?

As it comes with insurance there’s an age limit on this account. You have to be between 18 and 69 years old.

It’s only available as a sole account, so you can’t get it as a joint or business account.

If you are currently paying for Monzo Plus you can upgrade and you’ll get money back on any unused time from this month. So for example if you’re half way through a month you’ll get £2.50 back.

What do you get with Monzo Premium?

For a start you get everything that Monzo Plus customers get. This includes virtual cards, enhanced analytics and advanced round-ups. You can read my full Monzo Plus review here.

Here’s what you get extra with Premium:

Metal card

The card is a single 16g sheet of white steel with an engraved logo. Apparently it costs £50 to make, and a big part of that six-month minimum is to cover the cost.

The card is a single 16g sheet of steel with an engraved logo.

I genuinely don’t get why people are happy to pay for a metal card, but lots of people do like this! It does look very slick and shiny.

All your details are on the back, a feature I love (you also get it on Starling’s free account), so you can show off your new card with no fear others will steal your details.

Phone insurance

What you’re really paying for here is the insurance. Monzo says this mobile part is worth £97 a year, though I’m sure you can shop around and get it for less.

in return you’ll get up to £2,000 cover against theft, loss and accidental damage. They say this also includes cracked screens. This is only for the account holder’s phone.

They’ll either repair or replace damaged phones, and replace lost or stolen phones. The replacements will be refurbished handsets, but they can’t guarantee the same colour.

Headphones, chargers, cases and other accessories are also covered up to £300, but only if they are damaged/lost at the same time as it happening to your phone, not on their own.

If someone nicks your phone and uses it for unauthorised calls or data use you can claim up to £1,000.

However, the excess is £75, meaning you’ll pay that on each claim. You can also only make two claims per 12 months

Worldwide Travel Insurance

This cover is estimated to be worth £159 a year. You get cover you and your family, including children up to 19-year-old (it’s extended to 21 if they’re in full-time education).

The maximum trip duration is 45 days, which is going to be more than fine for most holidays. Excess is £50 per claim.

You’ll need to look at the cover details to make sure it includes everything you need. It looks decent enough on cancellation and medical cover, but some things aren’t there such as valuables.

Once again, it’s worth comparing it against stand-alone cover- especially if you don’t want cover for a partner or children.

Obviously, there’s no blanket cover for coronavirus, so you’ll need to check a separate coronavirus cover page for the latest details.

Interest on savings

Whereas Monzo Plus offers 1% on £2,000, Premium increases that to 1.5%. You’ll earn it in your main balance and regular pots, but not separate savings pots.

Increased overseas withdrawal limits

If you are overseas you can take out £600 every 30 days without paying a charge. This is £200 more than you get with Monzo Plus, and £400 more than the free account.

Free cash deposits

You can deposit cash five times a month for free. There’s a £1 charge for the free account and Monzo Plus only gives you one each month.

Discounted airport lounge access

You get access to lounges in the LoungeKey programme for £24 per person per visit.

Is Monzo Premium worth it?

Let’s look at the main features in turn:

The insurance

Since the big benefits here are the insurances we’ll start here. First you need to ask do you need both sets of insurance.

I’d question the need for travel insurance at the moment as it’s hard for us to travel full stop. If you are going abroad, then you need to consider:

• Do you need worldwide cover?
• Do you need annual cover?
• Do you need family cover?

If the answer is no to at least one of these you might easily find you can get cheaper travel insurance.

And phone insurance isn’t something we all need. If you look after your phone with a screen cover and a case you reduce the chance of it breaking. And if you’re at home much more there’s a much smaller chance it’ll get lost or stolen. Plus you might already have cover on your home insurance.

Even if you still want to have insurance for your phone, it’s once more worth getting quotes for a standalone policy to see how much it would be.

So it could be good if you definitely want both insurance policies at the level on offer. But if not, crunch those numbers to see if you are getting close to that £160 annual charge.

Metal card

Like I said, I don’t get the appeal of paying for this when so much of Monzo is geared to saving you money by better budgeting!

Extra travel features

The increased travel ATM quota can easily be beaten by the free account from Starling or a specialist travel credit card.

And the airport lounge discounts aren’t much use right now either. But if you want them then the American Express Gold Credit card gives two free passes.

Monzo Plus features

It’s important not to forget that you also get the Monzo Plus features. Though I don’t think they’re worth £5 a month above what you’d pay for the free account, you could argue they’re worth at least a couple of quid.

Alternatives to Monzo Premium?

There are a number of packaged bank accounts offering similar insurance coverage. Pick of the bunch is Nationwide’s FlexPlus account.

For £13 a month you get worldwide family travel insurance, worldwide family mobile phone insurance and UK and Europe breakdown cover. So it’s cheaper and you get more for your money.

Conclusion

Right now, while travel is so restricted it’s really not offering value for money. That could change once we’re able to go abroad more, but even then you need to be taking advantage of all the features of Plus and Premium to beat the Nationwide account’s increased cover and cheaper price.