How 118M8 Works
118M8 is the spending app from 118 118 Money - designed for real people making real spending decisions every day. It's not about spreadsheets, restriction, or making you feel bad about your money.
It's about helping you feel calmer, more in control, and a little bit fitter with your finances - one small choice at a time.
118M8 is available to download for free by anyone in the UK - no 118 118 Money account needed.
Spot It. Clock It. Choose It.
Financial Fitness - like physical fitness - is a journey, not a destination. 118M8 gives you three simple moves to build better money habits, whether you're trying to cut back, save up, or just understand where your money goes.
118M8 is built for people who want to feel more in control of their day-to-day spending - particularly those who aren't served well by mainstream financial apps.
If you've ever found yourself wondering where your money went, felt pressure in the moment before an impulse buy, or wanted a fresh start on payday - 118M8 was built for you.
No judgement. No perfect budgets required. Just a smarter approach to spending - one decision at a time.
From 118 118 Money - a name you already know
118M8 is part of the 118 118 Money family - a UK direct lender authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. It uses secure Open Banking connections via an FCA-regulated provider, so your data is always handled safely.
Unlike generic money apps, 118M8 is designed specifically around the way real UK consumers think about spending - in the moment, under pressure, on the way to the checkout.
118M8 v3 introduces the biggest upgrade yet: the complete picture of your spend. With Open Banking, you can now connect all your bank accounts and credit cards to 118M8 and see your spending across all linked accounts in one place:
This is Financial Fitness - finally, the full view.
118M8 is free to download and use from day one - no credit card required. Everything you need to start building better spending habits is in the free tier.
When you're ready to see the complete picture, upgrade to the Premium tier.
No card needed. Yours from the moment you download.
£1.99/month - try FREE for 30 days
Connect your bank accounts and cards with secure Open Banking and unlock the full picture of your money:
30-day free trial. No card needed. Cancel any time. Start a 30-day free trial and see the complete picture of where your money goes before paying a penny. After that, just £1.99/month.
Already a 118 118 Money customer? You could get up to 7 months free.
Start your 30-day free trial. Then connect the account where your main income lands and unlock an extra 6 months of Premium - completely free.
That's over half a year to see the complete picture of your money before paying a penny.
After that, just £1.99/month. Cancel any time.
Most money apps charge £5 or more per month for features that assume you've already got your finances under control. 118M8 Premium is designed for real life - and at £1.99/month, it costs less than a coffee.
More importantly, it gives you the one thing most people are missing: the complete, honest picture of where your money actually goes.
118M8 works by connecting to your bank accounts, credit cards, and savings accounts through Open Banking. The more accounts you connect, the more accurate and complete your spending picture becomes.
If something in the app looks confusing or misleading - your spending seems unusually high or low, your income is not showing, your totals don't add up, or your categories look wrong - the most likely explanation is that one or more of your accounts is not yet connected.
This is not the app misreading your data. It is the app only being able to see part of your financial picture. The fix, in almost every case, is to connect the missing account.
The single most important account to connect is the one where your salary, wages, or main income is paid each month. Without it, 118M8 has no baseline to work from. Almost everything else in the app - your spending trends, your category breakdowns, your month-on-month comparisons - makes far more sense once this account is connected.
Connect the current account where your salary or main income is paid in. This is typically the account your employer pays into each month. Once connected, 118M8 can show you a true picture of what you earn and what you spend.
Connecting this account during your free trial also unlocks an additional six months of Premium free.
You may use an additional account for specific spending such as transport or childcare. 118M8 gives you the complete picture of your spending – so it’s important to connect all your account.
Connect all of your accounts, including any secondary accounts you use for specific purposes such as bills, household spending, or a joint account. Each one you add gives the app a more complete and accurate view of how your money moves.
Connect all of the credit cards you hold, even if you’re not currently using them. The app will then show the actual purchases on the card - not just the repayment - so your spending picture is complete and your categories are accurate.
Connect your savings accounts so the app can distinguish between money you are spending and money you are setting aside. Transfers between connected accounts are recognised correctly, and your savings balance becomes visible alongside your spending.
Here are the most common problems caused by missing account connections, and what connecting each account type resolves:
To connect an account, go to the Money section in 118M8 and follow the Open Banking connection steps. The process is secure, takes only a few minutes, and you can add or remove accounts at any time.
The more accounts you connect, the more useful 118M8 becomes.
The 118M8 app connects your bank accounts, current accounts, credit cards, and savings accounts in one place, classifying transactions by merchant and category. Because money moves between accounts in different ways - purchases, repayments, transfers, refunds - there is a risk that some transactions are misclassified.
This document sets out the main issues and explains how you can ‘correct’ them.
A good habit is to do a quick review at the end of each month before comparing your spending trends. Start by checking transfers and repayments first, correct any misclassifications, and then review your category breakdowns.
1.
What happens
If your current account is connected to 118M8, when you pay your credit card bill from your current account, the outgoing payment may be tagged as a spending category rather than “Credit Card Payments” or a transfer or repayment. This may inflate your monthly spending.
How to fix it
2.
What happens
If you pay only the minimum amount, the app may not distinguish this from a full repayment. The remaining balance could be misread as outstanding spend rather than debt carried forward.
How to fix it
3.
What happens
Moving money between your own current accounts, or to your savings account, may appear as a spending transaction, overstating your outgoings.
How to fix it
4.
What happens
A loan repayment direct debit (for example, your 118 118 Money loan) may be tagged as a utility bill, subscription, or general expense rather than a debt repayment. This distorts your spending category breakdown.
How to fix it
5.
What happens
An incoming payment - salary, freelance pay, or benefits - may not be automatically recognised as income, especially if the payer reference is unusual. It could appear as an uncategorised or even outgoing item.
How to fix it
7.
What happens
A transaction at a supermarket like Tesco or Sainsbury's may be categorised as "Groceries & Supermarket" in one instance and "Retail & Shopping" in another, making it hard to track true food spend consistently.
How to fix it
8.
What happens
Amazon, eBay, or Etsy purchases may appear under a third-party seller name rather than the platform name, causing them to be unrecognised and placed into "Uncategorised" or miscategorised entirely.
How to fix it
9.
What happens
Some transactions - particularly at small independent shops, markets, or older card terminals - arrive with just a reference code rather than a readable merchant name, leaving them uncategorised.
How to fix it
10.
What happens
Streaming services (Netflix, Spotify), gym memberships, or software subscriptions may be categorised as inconsistently, depending on how the merchant name appears on your statement.
How to fix it
11.
What happens
If you return an item and receive a refund, the credit may appear as miscellaneous income rather than reducing the relevant spend category. This makes your spending in that category look higher than it actually was.
How to fix it
12.
What happens
Cashback payments or reward credits from your credit card or bank may be miscategorised as income or show as a transaction that distorts a spend category in a misleading way.
How to fix it
