Anyone tried Starling Bank?

DCFC79

wen1234 wrote: »

I just started an account with them. The checks went through fine. Transferred money, got the debit card, and now all of a sudden they decided to freeze the account. Ok so i did transfer a relatively large sum, but it’s for my own personal use. They emailed me to ask me what my intent was, which was well for personal expenses. Then they asked me why was the payment not to my benefit. Wth does that mean? How am i not benefitting from the account when it’s my own money? Can someone enlighten me why the hell this is happening?

Why did you not do it over a period of weeks on a standing order ?

Ask Starling what you need to do to satisfy them.

DCFC79

wen1234 wrote: »

Hi i'm a bit weary of sharing such information, so lets say between 800-1.2k GBP. Would that be a cause for concern?

Imo no but I don't work for Starling.
Not really a huge sum though, if it was 10 times the amount then yes I could see why it trigger the alarm.

d123

wen1234 wrote: »

Hi i'm a bit weary of sharing such information, so lets say between 800-1.2k GBP. Would that be a cause for concern?

No, it shouldn’t, did the money come from abroad? (Most locals wouldn’t write an amount as 800GBP, it’s more common to say £800)

[Deleted User]

wen1234 wrote: »

Hi i'm a bit weary of sharing such information, so lets say between 800-1.2k GBP. Would that be a cause for concern?

And you wonder why Starling are weary and blocked the account?

There's more to this than being let on...

eDicky

Perhaps because it's so easy to open a Starling account quickly they are often used by fraudsters to move stolen funds in and out of a new account.

A few days ago an elderly lady sent me only only 1k+ and it was held up by the sending bank while they enquired about who I am. She didn't even know me but when I forwarded an explanation they sent it later in the day. The above reason was mentioned by the sending bank apparently.

So I'm not surprised or displeased that Starling take extra precautions and block an account when appropriate.

wen1234

no its from a local bank account that i have here. I am from overseas but currently residing in the UK.

krytenspal

Thinking of applying for a card but a bit confused by this from the website -

"Charges for spending abroad or withdrawing cash at an ATM aren’t an issue since using your Starling Bank card overseas doesn’t incur extra fees. You will be charged the Mastercard exchange rate for purchases."
spending abroad doesn`t incur charges - as in shops and restaurants - but you are charged for "purchases" - what`s the difference ?

K80_Black

krytenspal wrote: »

Thinking of applying for a card but a bit confused by this from the website -

"Charges for spending abroad or withdrawing cash at an ATM aren’t an issue since using your Starling Bank card overseas doesn’t incur extra fees. You will be charged the Mastercard exchange rate for purchases."
spending abroad doesn`t incur charges - as in shops and restaurants - but you are charged for "purchases" - what`s the difference ?

You're charged for your purchases/withdrawals at the MasterCard rate, but don't pay an additional fee on top - most banks charge around 3%, sometimes with a minimum or additional flat rate fee.

eDicky

krytenspal wrote: »

spending abroad doesn`t incur charges - as in shops and restaurants - but you are charged for "purchases" - what`s the difference ?

I can see that use of the word 'charged' might be misleading - it means that your Starling Bank account will be debited the equivalent in pounds of what you spend, converted at the ideal MasterCard exchange rate of the day, without any markup.

krytenspal

Thanks for the quick replies - I`m new to this so....what would be a ballpark figure (assume it`s a percentage of the amount?) added on to any purchases I made,say,in Spain do you think - and this is added everytime I buy something with the card? Is there much saving over using a normal debit card abroad?