Monzo Premium

Monzo has stopped selling Premium, so nobody can sign up to it now. If you already have it, you can keep the plan and carry on using the benefits, but if you cancel, even by accident, or move to a different Monzo plan, you cannot sign back up to Premium afterwards¹.

That single fact shapes everything else on this page. The practical questions for most people are what Premium included, what it cost beyond the monthly fee, what happens to the insurance when the plan ends, and how to cancel or move to another Monzo plan without losing something you wanted to keep.

Monzo is a fully regulated UK bank, and eligible deposits are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £120,000 per person². It is one of the app-based banks people now use for everyday current accounts, and it says more than 16 million personal and business customers bank with it³.

What Monzo Premium was and who it was for

Premium sat at the top of Monzo's paid plans. It was a subscription bolted onto a Monzo current account rather than a separate account, so everything happened inside the same app. The headline extras were worldwide travel insurance provided by Zurich and powered by Qover, phone insurance, and a metal debit card⁶.

The plan was aimed at people who wanted the insurance bundled into their banking rather than bought separately, and who used the app's budgeting features heavily. Premium holders could link virtual cards to a regular Pot to pay for online subscriptions and recurring card payments directly from the Pot balance, a feature shared with Monzo Extra, Perks, Max and Plus⁸. Connected banks and credit cards, custom categories and interest on savings were part of the package too⁴.

Because Premium is closed, the plan now sits alongside Monzo Plus as a legacy option. Monzo's current paid plans are Extra at £3 a month, Perks at £9 a month and Max, and the plans page states that plans start from £3 a month⁹. Anyone weighing up a paid Monzo plan today is choosing between those three, not Premium.

It is worth being clear about what Premium was not. It was not a separate bank account, it did not change the deposit protection on your money, and it did not make Monzo your insurer. Monzo describes itself as an insurance intermediary that arranges cover and gives no advice or recommendations about the insurances¹¹.

How it works

Premium ran as a monthly subscription attached to your Monzo account. The benefits appeared in the app, and the insurance element started straight away: if your device was eligible to be covered, phone insurance began as soon as the Premium subscription started⁷.

The phone cover was broad on age, accepting phones of any age, but it did not cover everything. A family member or partner's phone was excluded, and claims were limited to up to two a year⁷. The policy terms and the insurer's contact details were available from the membership home in the app⁷.

Travel cover was worldwide and arranged through Zurich, with Qover administering it⁶. Because the cover is tied to the subscription, it stops when the subscription stops. That is the point most people miss: cancelling Premium does not just remove a budgeting feature, it removes your insurance from the moment you cancel⁴.

Premium also carried interest on savings held in the plan, which you opted into or out of through the Premium home screen in the app¹². Interest is paid monthly, directly into your Pot¹³.

If you moved from Premium to Max, the transition was designed to be seamless. You kept your phone insurance and travel insurance and added breakdown cover, and any claims already open continued to be linked to your Monzo Premium policy numbers¹¹.

How the fees and charges work

That is the figure Monzo published in its Premium fee information, and it is the number to check against your own statements if you still hold the plan.

Beyond the subscription, most day-to-day activity on a Premium account was free. Arranged overdraft interest and any annual fees are set out in the Overdraft Agreement rather than on the fee page⁵.

Two charges stood out. Cash deposits were free five times each calendar month, then £1 per deposit⁵. Travel money outside the European Economic Area was free up to £600 in a rolling 30-day period, then 3% of the total amount withdrawn after that⁵.

International transfers are the area where the pricing has moved. Monzo uses a third-party exchange rate which is usually the mid-market rate, and the fee has a fixed and a variable element⁵. Monzo's own fee page carries today's figures, and they are the ones to check before sending money.

Who could apply and how to apply

Premium is closed to new customers, so there is no application route. The eligibility rules that applied were the same as for Monzo's other paid plans: you had to be 18 or over, a UK resident, and hold a Monzo current account, with terms and conditions applying¹⁴. Max has an upper age limit of 69, which did not apply to Premium¹⁴.

For anyone looking at a paid Monzo plan now, the route is the same shape. Monzo Extra, Perks and Max are signed up to by tapping a link in the app, and the plans are open to UK residents aged 18 or over, with the 18 to 69 range applying to Max¹⁵. The plans page states that plans start from £3 a month⁹.

Opening the underlying current account is done in the app. Monzo says it takes 10 minutes to apply, and the account can be opened without visiting a branch, by sending documents and information electronically¹⁶. There is no postal application route¹⁷.

If you want to move an existing bank account across, the Current Account Switch Service covers personal, joint and business accounts, and Monzo says it will do the rest in 7 working days¹⁰. That is a separate process from choosing a paid plan, and you can read more about it in the guide to the Current Account Switch Service.

How your money is protected

The subscription and the account are separate things for protection purposes. Your money sits in a Monzo current account, and eligible deposits in Monzo are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £120,000 per person². That limit covers eligible deposits including Savings Pots and Cash ISA Pots, so it is a total across your Monzo savings rather than a limit per pot¹³.

The bank's status is worth checking if you are weighing up where to keep larger sums. Monzo is a fully regulated UK bank, and it appears on the Financial Conduct Authority register as authorised, with firm reference number 730427, and on the Bank of England's list of UK banks authorised to accept deposits³.

The insurance side is different. Travel and phone cover came from insurers arranged by Monzo, not from the FSCS, and the cover ends when the plan ends⁴. If you cancel Premium and still need travel cover, that is a gap you would need to fill separately.

On fraud, Monzo checks payment details and warns you if a payment could be a scam¹⁹. For authorised push payment fraud, where you are tricked into sending money yourself, Monzo says 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 cases, and it may not pay the first £100 of a claim¹⁹. If you are unhappy with the outcome you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service¹⁹.

Problems, complaints and getting help

The first stop for anything to do with a Monzo plan is in-app chat, which Monzo runs 24 hours a day⁹. That covers questions about benefits, billing and cancelling.

If you are having trouble paying the fee, Monzo asks customers to get in touch right away through app chat rather than letting the payment fail¹⁴. The same applies to repaying borrowed money: Monzo says customers who are struggling to repay should tell them and they can help¹⁷. For anyone in financial difficulty, free and independent help is available from MoneyHelper and from debt advice charities, and there is a full guide to debt help and solutions.

Cancelling is done in the app. Go to your Premium tab, tap settings at the bottom of the screen, and choose the option to cancel⁴. Monzo also provides a cancellation link on its help pages¹⁴. Two things to weigh before you do it: you lose all the Premium benefits, including interest, custom categories and connected banks, and you are no longer covered by the phone or travel insurance from the time you cancel⁴. If you are still inside the six month minimum term, a cancellation fee may apply⁴.

If you would rather move than cancel outright, you can move from Premium to Extra, Perks or Max, though not to Monzo Plus²¹. Connected banks and credit cards, virtual cards and custom categories move across with you²¹. Moving to Max keeps your phone and travel insurance and adds breakdown cover¹¹.

If a complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, the Financial Ombudsman Service is free and independent and can look at complaints about financial services, including disputes about fraud reimbursement outcomes¹⁹. For insurance claims, the policy terms and the insurer's contact details are in the membership home in the app⁷.