Anyone tried Starling Bank?

jonnygee2

Both Starling and Monzo worked fine in Ireland (Republic of) the other month. Just as well as they were the only 2 cards I took with me.

I should have clarified that this problem will only occur in a handful of countries and is probably fixed in most of those now too. I think Portugal, New Zealand and South Korea were the big ones. There may be other smaller countries where it happens though, or the occasional ATM anywhere. It's probably not worth worrying about but can be if you are going on a longer / further trip.

[Deleted User]

d123 wrote: »

You’re brave. No credit card?

I like to live dangerously :rotfl:

I do have one credit card but didn't think to take it.

glider3560

I'm thinking of ditching Metro Bank. There's a number of things that annoy me about them (one of the big ones being that you can't set up a standing order to start on a weekend or bank holiday, so have to adjust it manually back to the correct date after a month or two).

I've signed up to Starling, card came quickly and approved for a good overdraft limit (higher than Metro). App looks fine (won't be using the budgeting stuff, but like the notifications).

A few questions:
1. What happens with direct debits and standing orders scheduled to be debited at the weekend or on bank holidays?
2. Can anyone who has done a partial switch tell me how long it took?
3. Can you see the reference of BACS payments in? Metro don't show this online/app for BACS, but do for Faster Payments. It's quite frustrating not seeing this as I have one or two train delay claims each week and have no way of identifying which payment relates to which delay (the train company don't process the claims in order).

londoninvestor

glider3560 wrote: »

I'm thinking of ditching Metro Bank. There's a number of things that annoy me about them (one of the big ones being that you can't set up a standing order to start on a weekend or bank holiday, so have to adjust it manually back to the correct date after a month or two).

This isn't enough to make me move away, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who's noticed this. I wrote them a long mail explaining the problem, they told me I was wrong and I kind of gave up after that...

glider3560

londoninvestor wrote: »

This isn't enough to make me move away, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who's noticed this. I wrote them a long mail explaining the problem, they told me I was wrong and I kind of gave up after that...

I get this problem every December (my flat service charge is paid on the 1st of the month, and they change the amount every January). Even when just changing the amount, you have to select a working day.

There's various other minor issues too (e.g. putting a disallowed character in the payee name box won't tell you it's not allowed until you've gone through all the verification, then the error is totally useless at explaining the problem).

Every time my debit card expired, they've failed to automatically send another. I don't have a branch near to where I live anymore, and the nearest branch to work is about 15 minutes walk (so uses up most of my lunch break getting there).

All these minor issues have added up and I'm now fed up with it.

Alexd52

Butch_Dingle wrote: »

Yet when i used my Starling debit card in New Zealand last year, it hardly worked in any ATM - despite no such issues with my other UK issued mastercards.

I only use Starling as my backup account and also to receive payments from my Fineco account as its one of the few UK banks/BS which don't levy charges for incoming SWIFT GBP payments - the other is Nationwide.

Yet on visiting New Zealand 12 months ago, used my Starling card as main card, both for spending and money withdrawal, didn't have any problems at all. We traveled all over on both islands.

Decco

Anyone here used their Partial Switch service, how did it go for you?

glenrothes

Interesting development reported in TechCrunch:
"Starling's Chief Platform Officer Megan Caywood has been recruited by Barclays"

https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/17/starlings-chief-platform-officer-megan-caywood-has-been-recruited-by-barclays/

glider3560

Decco wrote: »

Anyone here used their Partial Switch service, how did it go for you?

I put a request in on Sunday afternoon. List of payments was available by Monday evening.

Chose to transfer all the direct debits and standing orders, plus a few payees.

Standing orders and payees were set up immediately and correctly.

Direct debits will apparently take another 4-10 working days.

Annoyingly, Metro Bank sent all my standing orders through as 2nd January then monthly on the 2nd. They should've been 1st January then monthly on the 1st. Had to change them all back manually (which was far easier on Starling that Metro Bank).

Mysticpanda

I've been using it for a few months and overall, fantastic. Instant updates about any transactions etc.

The ONLY issue I've found is that money transfers won't work from credit card providers (eg. if they have 0% money transfer offers). Despite being live on all 3 credit agencies, I've found any transfer request fails with CallCredit; I never had this issue with any other bank.

Overall though, day-to-day banking is efficient and trouble-free, and paying some interest is a bonus. You can also now deposit cash via the post office too, which is great.

Another bonus is that they charge no transaction fees abroad for purchases and more importantly, cash withdrawals in native currency. I used the debit card in Indonesia and got a very agreeable exchange rate, with no charges for withdrawing rupia or paying for goods. This is a MASSIVE selling point compared to every other bank/credit card I've ever used abroad.