Monzo Extra: What It Includes, What It Costs and How to Cancel

Monzo Extra is a paid plan that sits on top of a Monzo personal current account. It adds features the free account does not have: seeing your other banks and credit cards inside the Monzo app, virtual cards, custom spending categories, advanced roundups and an auto-spreadsheet. Monzo describes its paid plans as starting from £3 a month, and Extra is the cheapest of the three it currently sells¹.

There is no minimum term and no cancellation fee on Extra, so it can be started and stopped month by month².

Extra is one of three plans. Perks and Max each add something the one below it does not³. This page covers what Extra includes, who can get it, how the charges work, how it compares with the other two plans, how to join or leave, and what protection applies to the money in the account underneath it.

What Monzo Extra includes: connected banks, virtual cards and extras

The headline feature is connected banks. With Extra you can add your other bank accounts and credit cards to Monzo and see their balances and transactions alongside your Monzo spending⁹. The connected banks terms say that if you want more than one connected bank in the app, you need a paid Extra, Perks or Max plan, so the free account allows one and Extra lifts that limit¹⁰.

Virtual cards are the second. These are card numbers you can create for a specific purpose rather than using your main card details. On Extra, Perks, Max, Plus or Premium you can also link a virtual card to a regular Pot, so online subscriptions and recurring card payments come out of that Pot's balance rather than your main balance¹¹.

Custom categories let you sort spending into your own groups rather than Monzo's defaults, and advanced roundups round up spending and move the difference into a Pot¹². The auto-spreadsheet exports your transactions automatically. Monzo also runs a 1p Saving Challenge that is exclusive to Extra, Perks and Max customers¹³.

Extra also unlocks the advanced version of credit insights, which shows your credit score from TransUnion and Equifax¹⁴. Cashback through Monzo's cashback feature is open to Extra, Perks, Max, Plus, Premium and Flex Credit Card customers, and Monzo states there is no fee to earn it: you just need to be a personal current account customer¹⁵.

Who can get Monzo Extra

Monzo lists the eligibility for its paid plans as UK resident and aged 18 or over, with terms and conditions applying⁶. There is no upper age limit on Extra; the 18 to 69 range applies to Max only⁶.

There is one further condition. Monzo states that if you are behind on Flex or loan repayments you will not be able to sign up to Extra, Perks or Max¹⁶. That is a check on existing borrowing with Monzo rather than a general credit check, and it means someone who has fallen behind on a Monzo repayment cannot add a plan until that is resolved.

Extra is a plan on a personal current account, so a Monzo current account comes first. Monzo Flex separately requires a Monzo current account to apply for. The plan is held by one person. Monzo's joint account rules allow some Extra features to be used on a joint account, which is covered below.

Monzo also offers accounts for under-16s and for students, but those are separate products from the paid plans. A family member added to an under-16 account needs their own Monzo current account, to be closely related to the child and to be over 18.

How the Monzo Extra monthly fee and charges work

Extra is the cheapest of the three plans Monzo currently sells, and Monzo describes its paid plans as starting from £3 a month¹. The fee is charged monthly and, because there is no minimum term, it stops when the plan is cancelled². Monzo sets the current price for each plan on its plans page, which is where to check today's figure.

The plan fee can be paid from a Pot rather than your main balance. Monzo says that if there is not enough money in the Pot to cover the payment, it will also attempt to take the payment from your main balance¹⁷. That matters because a Pot set aside for the plan is not a barrier to the fee being collected elsewhere.

If the payment cannot be taken, Monzo states that it might have to cancel the plan¹⁸. Monzo asks customers who are having financial difficulties to get in touch right away through app chat, and says it will offer further support to anyone unable to pay¹⁸. Cancelling the plan does not close the current account, but closing the current account does require any paid plan to be cancelled first¹⁹.

Beyond the monthly fee, the charges that apply to a Monzo account generally still apply on Extra. Replacement cards are free for the first two replacements in the UK each year on Extra, Perks, Max and Max with Family⁴.

Spending and sending money abroad on Extra

Card spending abroad uses Mastercard's exchange rate, which Monzo says it passes on with nothing extra added²⁰. That applies to the card rather than to the plan, so it is the same on the free account.

Cash withdrawals are where Extra changes things. In the UK and the European Economic Area, Extra gives unlimited fee-free withdrawals³. Outside the EEA, Extra allows £0 up to £200 in a rolling 30-day period, then 3% of the total amount withdrawn after that⁴. Monzo notes that some cash machines charge their own fee for taking out cash, which Monzo does not receive²¹.

Sending money abroad is a separate charge from spending on the card. Monzo says there are limits on how much can be sent abroad per currency, and that limits may be raised on request depending on your situation²². Payments can be sent in more than 40 currencies²³.

Monzo Extra, Perks and Max: how the paid plans differ

The three plans stack. Extra is the base, Perks adds to it, and Max includes everything in both³. Monzo states that Max customers get everything included in the Extra and Perks plans³.

The clearest difference for most people is the overseas cash allowance. Extra allows £0 up to £200 in a rolling 30-day period outside the EEA, then 3% of the total amount withdrawn after that; Perks and Max allow £0 up to £600 on the same terms⁴.

The older plans sit outside this structure. Monzo Plus and Monzo Premium are no longer sold. Existing holders can keep them and continue using the benefits, but cannot sign back up after cancelling or moving to a new plan²⁴. Premium holders can move to Extra, Perks or Max, and cannot switch to Plus any more²⁵. Any connected banks, virtual cards or custom categories already set up move across with the customer²⁶.

How to sign up for Monzo Extra or cancel it

Signing up is done inside the Monzo app. Monzo says Extra, Perks or Max can be started by tapping a link in the app²⁷. Because the plan sits on a personal current account, the account needs to exist first.

Cancelling is also done in the app. Monzo provides a cancellation link for Extra and the other plans². Once cancelled, the plan benefits stop and the monthly fee stops with them, since there is no minimum term².

There is a difference between cancelling a plan and closing the account. Closing a Monzo current account requires any Plus, Premium, Extra, Perks or Max subscription to be cancelled first¹⁹. If a switch to Monzo is under way and needs to be stopped, Monzo says to contact its customer support team²⁸.

Possible Nubank sale: what it would mean for Monzo customers

Monzo's board is reported to be exploring a sale to Nubank alongside an alternative funding round, in a deal reported to be worth up to £10bn²⁹. The reports describe talks and an alternative option, not a completed transaction, and nothing in them changes the terms of an Extra plan.

For a customer, the practical position is that the account and the plan are provided by the bank that holds the authorisation and the deposit protection. A change of owner changes who owns the shares, not the terms of the account or the plan. The bank is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, with reference number 730427, and appears on the Bank of England list of UK banks authorised to accept deposits⁷. It is an active company, incorporated on 18 February 2015³⁰.

There is nothing for a customer to do. Direct Debits, standing orders, card details and the plan itself continue as before. If a sale were agreed and completed, any change to terms would have to be notified to customers in the usual way.

Complaints, fraud help and FSCS protection for Monzo customers

Money held in a Monzo current account is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, because the bank is authorised to accept deposits⁷. That protection applies to the current account underneath Extra, not to the plan itself, which is a service rather than a deposit.

On fraud, Monzo says its Call status feature helps prevent around 1,000 fraud attempts a month³¹. If you are not a Monzo customer but a Monzo account is involved in a scam, Monzo asks you to contact your own bank, which will contact Monzo in turn³². Monzo Flex carries Section 75 protection for eligible purchases, which is a feature of that credit product rather than of Extra.

For problems with Extra, Monzo's main route is 24/7 in-app chat. It also lists a free phone number, 0800 088 4040, a number for calling from abroad, +44 20 3872 0620, and an email address, help@monzo.com⁵. If a complaint is not resolved, it can be taken to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to use.

Which? has reported that Monzo's specialist Vulnerable Customer team more than doubled over the year to February 2023³³.