Major digital bank launches new credit card that gives you FREE cash to invest plus £360 in perks – is it worth it?

A MAJOR online bank has launched a new credit card that gives you FREE cash to invest plus £360 worth of perks. Monzo is offering the first-of-its-kind card that will automatically invest cashback you earn on your everyday spending. Called Monzo Aura, it gives customers 1% uncapped cashback on groceries, plus 0.5% on all other spending. So if you do a £150 shop in Sainsbury’s or Tesco, you’ll get £1.50 in cashback. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! If you use the card for your weekly shop for an entire year, that’s an extra £78 in cashback. Customers can also choose to have this cashback automatically invested by the bank – a first for UK banking. Monzo Aura costs £15 a month – or £180 a year – and you’ll also get perks worth up to £360 a year. These include an Apple TV subscription with no ads, two airport lounge passes a year, and Google AI Plus. Luke Enock at Monzo said: “For the first time, Aura combines fee-free auto-investing and cashback as you spend, so every purchase has the potential to do more. “Aura turns each trip to the shop into investing for the future, whether that’s for a holiday, putting towards a first home or another money goal, all whilst adding value to people’s lives from today with a variety of partner perks.” Most read in Money Is it worth it? Before committing to any credit card that comes with fees, it’s worth figuring out if you’ll actually get your money’s worth. “The Aura credit card from Monzo is tempting, but before applying it is worth number crunching the full benefits against the card fee,” says Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfactscompare.co.uk. “The £15 monthly fee means users must work hard to maximise the benefits of the card, as just using it for cashback each year might not be enough to cover the total yearly fee of £180.” She says that if you’re mainly using it for cashback, shop around for rival cashback credit cards such as those offered by Santander and American Express. You can use price comparison sites like MoneySuperMarket or Compare the Market to find different deals. “Weighing up the overall value of the package is essential,” Rachel adds. She says it will be most useful for people who use credit cards for everyday expenses such as grocery bills – especially as you can automatically invest the cashback you earn. If you invest your cashback with Aura gives you fee-free Monzo Investments on all your deposits, not just the ones from your credit card. Remember, you’ll just pay a fund management cost and platform fee still applies to any balances if you have a Monzo Pension. Rachel adds: “The card also gives customers access to benefits which might be costly to pay for outright elsewhere, as an example Apple TV alone costs £9.99 per month, or £89.99 per year, and Google AI Plus costs £4.49 per month – those combined is around £143 per year. “Aura includes a bundle of travel and subscription perks, but there are current accounts that do similar, like Revolut, with its Metal account which is £14.99 per month, with a variety of perks that could make it worth considering. “But the Monzo Aura credit card also includes automated investing, which is rather unique.” Comment now