Is Monzo Max worth it? What about Extra, and Monzo Perks?

Monzo Max is positioned as the bank’s premium subscription account, designed for users who need the most comprehensive benefits.

At £17 per month, it bundles extensive features like worldwide travel insurance, mobile phone cover, and vehicle breakdown protection into one package.

Here I delve into whether the convenience and potential savings of these added benefits justify the higher monthly fee, especially compared to Monzo’s lower-tier offerings, and other banks’ regular account

What’s changed?

Monzo previously had two main subscription accounts. Monzo Plus, and Monzo Premium. If you want to familiarise yourself with them in detail, see our Monzo Premium review.

Monzo has now scrapped both of these accounts in favour of three new packages called ‘Extra’, ‘Perks,’ and ‘Max.’ We’ll look at each of these in details.

Monzo Extra, Monzo Perks, and Monzo Max

With Plus and Premium both now retired, Extra, Perks, and Max are now the only paid Monzo accounts. These cost £3, £7, and £17 a month respectively. And while they carry many of the same benefits the old accounts did, there are also some significant changes.

Monzo Extra

At £3 a month this plan is aimed at the more budget conscious, wanting great insight into spending habits and more control over budgeting. It includes:

• Custom spending categories
• Automatic spreadsheets – basically allowing you view your transactions in a google sheet
• Virtual cards
• Advanced round-ups – allowing you round up your spare change by 2,5 or even 10 times
• Fee free ATM withdrawals in the EU and EEA – and up to £200 a month elsewhere in the world

Monzo Perks

Monzo Perks includes all the features of Monzo extra but has additional features tailored towards rewards.

Your £7 a month subscription earns you:

• 4.6% interest on your Instant savings pot – compared to 4.1% on Monzo’s free plan
• Free Greggs each week – a free sausage roll, muffin, donut or hot drink
• Rail card – which typically costs £30 and saves a third on ‘some’ trains
• 3 free cash deposits a month – Monzo charges to deposit cash on the free plan
• Fee free ATM withdrawals in the EU and EEA – and up to £600 a month elsewhere in the world
• Discounted investment fees – when investing via the Monzo app

You also have access to a new card colour which Monzo calls ‘bold coral’, though former Plus and Premium customers can continue to use their old cards until they expire.

If you cancel your subscription during the year you’ll lose your benefits, but since the Rail card is an annual service, you’ll be charged £1.92 a month to keep it active.

Monzo Max

At £17 a month this is Monzo’s most expensive paid plan, and is more similar a bundled bank account such as Nationwide’s FlexPlus (which incidentally is just £13 a month).

The Monzo Max account include all of the features of Monzo Extra and Monzo Perks, and many of the features included in the old Monzo Premium account.

• Worldwide multi-trip travel insurance – with cancellation cover up to £5,000, £10m medical bills, lost valuable cover, winter sports cover, and a car hire excess waiver. It’s underwritten by Zurich Insurance and carried a £50 excess charge
• Worldwide mobile phone cover – covering both phones up to £2,000 and accessories up to £300. It includes theft, as well as accidental damage, for a maximum of 2 claims a year and £75 excess.
• RAC breakdown cover – UK and European breakdown cover, with home assist, onward travel, and vehicle recovery cover

One interesting thing of note here is that the insurance cover provided by Monzo Max only covers the account holder. Typically bundled account insurance offers also include the family, but Monzo charges an additional £5 a month for that.

Compared to Premium, the price is now £2 a month more, and discounted airport lounge access has been removed, but you do get the additional vehicle breakdown cover.

The metal card has been replaced with a new burnt coral coloured card, which is essentially a smoked version of the original Monzo debit card.

As per Monzo Premium, to take out a Max account you need to be over 18 years old due to the bundled insurance.

Is Monzo Max worth it?

No. Not unless you can use all of the features on offer. At £17 a month Monzo Max is one of the most expensive bundled accounts out there, and over £200 a year is a lot to pay for a bank account.

What might tip it over the edge for some is the vehicle breakdown cover. Similar packages can cost up to £190 a year on their own, but again that is only if you need everything that is included, such as European cover.

If don’t use your car abroad, the cost of breakdown cover drops dramatically, and many will already have breakdown cover included with their vehicle insurance anyway.

The bundled travel insurance covers the account holder only, and as is typical with bundled insurance will include a huge number of caveats.

If you have pre-existing conditions, you’ll find that you aren’t covered or are required to pay a supplemental charge that could be greater than taking out a dedicated standalone policy.

Then we get to the mobile phone cover. Insuring the latest and greatest device on a standalone policy would typically be in the region of £75 a year. If you have a substantially cheaper phone than the latest iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, the cost wold be dramatically less.

All in all the insurance package included with Monzo Max is worth roughly £325, so in that regard it could be seen as being worth it, but only if you can use and maximise every single bundled feature, which I’ll bet not many (if any) can.

What about Monzo Extra and Perks, are they worth it?

At £3 a month Monzo Extra gives you features that in my opinion ought to be included in the account by default.

In fact, things like virtual cards, already are for Starling, or Trading 212 customers. As are advanced roundups and fee free ATM withdrawals without a monthly limit.

In terms of spending insights, budgeting and saving, and app like Plum (see our detailed review), can do all that for you.

For Monzo Perks, the free Greggs is more of a cheeky gimmick, but is a nice perk for those that visit, and saves over £4 a month for those who’d buy one regardless.

The rest of the perks are moot. A railcard costs around £30, and if you travel regularly and can make use of it, then that’s great, but that alone doesn’t justify the £7 a month.

The additional interest rate on pots is nice, but then if you’ve read our guide on the best savings accounts, you’ll see that it’s beaten elsewhere on free accounts.