Monzo launches new Premium account and offers its first metal card

Monzo bank has just launched its second premium account in the last three months as part of an effort to increase revenues and cover deep losses.

For the brand new ‘Monzo Premium account’ the customer can pay £180/year or £15 /month for a minimum of six months.

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The key features offered include travel and phone insurance, £600 of fee-free withdrawals abroad each month.

“For £15 a month you’re getting travel insurance, phone insurance, you can see all of your other accounts within Monzo, you get the metal card, really powerful budgeting tools, a push notification every month with your credit score, offers, cash deposits, interest on your balance, virtual cards and a higher fee-free cash withdrawal overseas,” Mike Hudack, Monzo’s chief product officer, told Yahoo Finance UK.

This premium account also comes with the first metal card Monzo has ever offered. ‘Monzo Premium card’ is made from a single 16g sheet of steel, complete with a precision-engraved logo and a white finish. The customer’s personal details are kept neatly on the back for a minimal design.

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Hudack said metal cards and insurance were among the most requested features by Monzo’s customers. Rival Revolut introduced metal cards in 2018 and they have proved very popular among customers.

Monzo estimated that the features like complete travel and phone insurance the Premium account offers are worth an average of £256/year, and up to £343/year (depending on the provider). With that, the challenger bank hopes the £180/year (£15/month) would seem like a good deal to the customer.

Mike Hudack told City A.M. that while some people will choose to upgrade from Monzo Plus to Premium, “some customers who have not bought Plus will actually find this to be very compelling… we’ve certainly had lots of customers tell us that they’re waiting for these features to upgrade to a paid plan.”