Monzo Plus

Monzo Plus is a paid upgrade to a Monzo current account. It is no longer on sale: Monzo has stopped selling Plus, and it has stopped selling Premium too. If you already have Plus you can keep it and carry on using the benefits, but if you cancel it, even by accident, or move to one of the newer plans, you cannot sign back up¹.

The plan it sat alongside, Premium, had a 6 month minimum term³. The plans Monzo now sells instead are Extra, Perks and Max, which start from £3 a month⁴.

This page covers what Plus includes, how the fee and minimum term work, what it costs to use, how it behaves abroad, how to cancel, and what protection sits behind the money in the account. Monzo's own site carries today's figures for the plans it currently sells.

Monzo Plus is no longer on sale: what existing customers keep

Monzo's position is set out plainly in its own help pages. It has stopped selling Plus, and it has removed Plus and Premium from sale, but customers who hold them can keep them for now¹. The same wording appears across the pages dealing with both plans: if you have one, you can keep using it, but if you cancel it, even by accident, you will not be able to rejoin³.

That makes Plus a closed product. Nothing about holding it changes, and the benefits continue to work as before, but the door only opens one way. Anyone who cancels, or who moves across to Extra, Perks or Max, gives up Plus permanently².

Monzo has published the newer plans as the replacements. Extra, Perks and Max are the plans it now sells, and the help pages point existing Plus and Premium customers towards them¹. Premium customers who move across can choose Extra, Perks or Max⁵. Where a Premium customer had an insurance claim already open, Monzo states that existing claims are unaffected and stay linked to the original Premium policy numbers⁸.

If you are weighing up whether to keep Plus or move, the practical question is which benefits you actually use. Monzo states that when you downgrade between paid plans you keep the features that exist on both plans, naming custom categories, virtual cards and connected banks as examples⁹. So the features that survive a move are the shared ones; the features unique to Plus do not.

What Monzo Plus includes

Plus is a bundle of app features rather than an insurance product. Monzo lists connected banks and credit cards, custom categories, an exclusive holographic Monzo Plus card, virtual cards, advance roundups, credit insights, discounts and offers, a discounted investment fee, and auto-export of transactions¹⁰.

Some of those need a word of explanation. Connected banks lets you see accounts you hold elsewhere inside the Monzo app. Custom categories let you sort spending your own way rather than into fixed groups. Virtual cards are extra card numbers you can use online without exposing your main card details. Credit insights sits alongside the credit score feature, which Monzo makes available across Plus, Premium, Extra, Perks and Max¹¹.

The card is the visible part of the plan. Monzo describes it as an exclusive holographic card, and it is the item that triggers the replacement charges described below¹⁰.

It is worth being clear about what Plus is not. It is not travel insurance, phone insurance or breakdown cover. Those sit with other plans: Monzo describes Max as including worldwide travel and phone insurance and UK and Europe breakdown cover, on top of what Extra and Perks include¹³. Premium, the plan that ran alongside Plus, included phone insurance covering cracked screens and other damage¹⁴. Plus itself is the features bundle.

How the monthly fee and minimum term work

The annual figure Monzo publishes is £72 per year¹². The minimum term means you are committed to at least three monthly payments; after that, the plan continues as an ongoing contract.

The billing date is fixed. Monzo takes the monthly payment on the same date each month as the date you signed up, so signing up on the 15th of June means billing on the 15th of every month⁷. Monzo states that it cannot change the monthly billing date for Plus, Premium, Extra, Perks or Max, and repeats that it is unable to change the payment date⁷.

There is also a restriction on where the money can come from: Monzo states that you cannot pay for Plus from a Bills pot². The fee has to be met from elsewhere in the account, which matters if you keep your committed spending ring-fenced in pots.

Fees and charges on a Monzo Plus account

The monthly fee is the main cost, but Plus carries a handful of other charges worth knowing about.

Cash deposits are the clearest example.

Card replacements are the other area where charges appear. Monzo states that it will never charge you for a replacement where your card expires, is faulty, has been stolen, has been swallowed by a cash machine, or has been cancelled because of fraud concerns¹². If you need a replacement card posted outside the UK, Monzo states that it will charge the international card fee in all circumstances⁶.

On the receiving side, Plus charges nothing for receiving GBP, and nothing for standing orders¹².

Using Monzo Plus abroad: card spending, cash withdrawals and international transfers

Abroad is where Plus is most distinctive. Monzo lists unlimited fee-free cash withdrawals for Plus customers in the UK and the European Economic Area¹⁵. Monzo's wider position on spending abroad is that there are no foreign transaction fees or hidden costs on card spending¹⁷.

International transfers are provided by Wise, under Monzo's terms⁶. You send from inside the app: choose your currency, enter the amount and see your rate, select your payee, then confirm and send¹⁹. Monzo says you can track the payment in the app once it has been sent, with transfer status and an estimated arrival time, and that over half of its international bank transfers arrive in seconds¹⁹. It also states that it supports transfers from GBP into 38 currencies, and separately refers to sending in more than 40 currencies globally¹⁷.

There is a change coming to the fee for sending a payment that involves a currency conversion. The same change applies across Monzo's plans¹².

Account limits still apply even with Plus. Monzo sets limits on daily card transactions, ATM withdrawals in the UK and abroad, daily bank transfers and cash deposits²⁰. Those limits are shown in the app.

Cancelling Monzo Plus and what happens if the fee cannot be collected

Cancelling is done in the app: the Plus tab, then settings at the bottom of the screen, where the cancel option appears¹.

The timing decides the cost. If you do not order a card, there is no fee². After 3 months, Plus continues as an ongoing contract which you can cancel at any time without paying a cancellation fee, and Monzo refunds your monthly fee for the number of days left in the month when you cancel⁶. Within the minimum term, Monzo also refunds any remaining days of your monthly payment in the month you cancel².

The bigger consequence is not financial. Monzo states that if you accidentally cancel Plus you will not be able to get it back². That applies to Premium as well³.

If a payment fails, Monzo's approach is to keep trying for a while. Where you are outside the minimum 3 month term and the payment continues to decline, Monzo states that on the 7th attempt it will simply cancel your Plus plan². More generally, Monzo says that if you are unable to pay, it might have to cancel your Plus, Premium, Extra, Perks or Max plan²¹. Its advice in that situation is to reach out in the app chat for further support²¹.

Complaints, fraud reimbursement and getting help

Monzo handles most things through the app. To report a scam, its guidance is to tap Help on the bottom right of the app, search for "Reporting a scam", tap the help article and then "Report Fraud" and complete the steps in the form²². For a payment you think was fraudulent, Monzo's guidance is to report the payment as potential fraud through the app²⁵.

If you are unhappy with the outcome of an authorised push payment fraud claim, Monzo states that you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service²³. The ombudsman is free to consumers and can look at complaints about financial firms. Its powers in the cases it handles include asking a firm to deal with a claim it has rejected, add interest to a claim that should have been paid, pay for more work to be done, or pay compensation for loss or inconvenience²⁶. In other areas it can order a refund of fees plus interest, or compensation for distress²⁸.

On reimbursement for authorised push payment fraud, Monzo states that it will reimburse eligible claims up to a maximum of £85,000, within 5 business days, or up to 35 business days for more complex cases²³. It also states that if it reimburses you, it may not pay the first £100 of your claim, decided by reviewing your personal circumstances²³. The reimbursement requirement itself comes from the Payment Systems Regulator, which includes a requirement to provide additional protections for vulnerable customers³⁰.

Monzo's own safety guidance is worth repeating because it affects whether you get money back. It advises using your card or services like PayPal Goods & Services for purchases, because these offer protection that bank transfers and cash payments do not²³. It also advises avoiding public wifi for mobile or online banking, noting that the majority of public wifi networks are not securely encrypted and are not private³¹.

If money is tight, Monzo points customers to in-app chat with a financial difficulties specialist, and lists an email address and a phone number as alternatives³². Free, impartial help is also available from MoneyHelper and from debt advice charities.

How money in a Monzo Plus account is protected

Plus sits on top of a Monzo current account, so the protection is the account's protection, not the plan's. Monzo holds FCA authorisation, with reference number 730427, and it appears on the Bank of England's list of banks incorporated in the UK authorised to accept deposits³³. The company is active on the companies register, incorporated on 18 February 2015³⁵.

That FCA authorisation is what puts eligible deposits into the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which protects money in UK bank accounts up to the scheme's limit. The limit and how it applies to you are set out in our guide to FSCS protection.

Two limits are worth separating. They are different schemes doing different jobs.

The plan itself is not a separate financial product with its own protection. What you are buying is a set of app features attached to the account, so if the plan ends, the account continues as normal. Closing the account is a separate process: Monzo states that if you have a Plus, Premium, Extra, Perks or Max subscription you will need to cancel that first, and that you may be charged a cancellation fee which you will see in the app³⁶.