App Based Banking Review - January 2019 (Starling, Monzo & N26)

Alex1982

Really useful comparison thanks!

robbishop

Starling Bank

On the 8th July 2019 I had £200 stolen from my Starling Bank account in two £100 sums, minutes apart. The money was donated to a charity based in London (in a poetic way that's kind of sweet). I was confused by this, so I contacted the charity, as I did not donate this money. The charity were very nice and said they would look into this for me.

Th charity came back to me saying that, that very same weekend, they had received an abnormal amount of donations, much more than usual and upon trying to thank these people via email (all Hotmail accounts), each and every email got bounced back, a sure sign something was not right.

The charity assured me that any donations received in this manner would be given back, no questions asked and their finance director got in touch with Starling Bank to confirm that the £200 received via my account was indeed fraudulent and I should be given my £200 back.

A week or so later, and with zero contact or resolution from Starling Bank, I got my money back. Happy days.

All was fine and then on Friday 9th August I noticed two £100 sums taken from my account from a cash machine in Melton Mowbray. This was strange as I am currently in Spain and had been for two weeks.

I contacted Sterling and explained that I am currently in Spain and to investigate how money has been taken once more from my account. I got the usual we don't really care, sloppy attitude, have you mistakenly forgot you withdrew the money blah blah..NO! As I keep telling you, I am in SPAIN and not in the UK!

Sterling Bank then told me that the £200 that rightfully got returned to me was then contested, so they gave it back. Who contested the charge-back and who did it get returned to I asked? No reply.

I therefore rang the charity and they informed me that at NO stage had they contested the charge-back and at no point had they received this money. So who contested it, it can only be the original fraudsters that stole it in the first place?

No one at Starling Bank gives a damn. You have to constantly go over information you have already provided Starling Bank. Not one person has rang me to investigating this fraud, and no one is taking this seriously. I am the guilty party yet Starling Bank have decided to refund money to fraudsters that stole money from my account in the first place.

You could not make this up if you tried.

It appears that Starling Bank do not seem to have a system or team in place to investigate fraudulent activities, which in today's climate of increasing online fraud is scary.

I have asked Starling Bank to ring the charity to get to the bottom of this, they have yet to do so.

Your money is NOT safe if you bank with Starling Bank and they do not take fraud seriously enough to protect you, the customer.

I am fuming that Starling Bank have not phoned me once or got any special team in to investigate this crime, and then they refunded £200 to the fraudsters direct!! How on earth in 2019 can that happen?

My advice, DO NOT put your hard earned money into a Starling Bank account, it is clearly not safe there.

I am now seeking legal advice.

My advice: Avoid Starling Bank like the plague.

colsten

robbishop wrote: »

My advice, DO NOT put your hard earned money into a Starling Bank account, it is clearly not safe there.

I am now seeking legal advice.

My advice: Avoid Starling Bank like the plague.

Despite your unfortunate experiences, your money is safe in Starling. If you are unhappy with the way they handled the incidents, and it sounds that you have every reason to be unhappy, you can escalate the matter to the Starling CEO, or you can go to the FOS. Seeking legal advice seems, frankly, a bit of an overreaction.

EDIT: The Starling CEO is Ms Anne Boden, anne at starlingbank.co.uk

Chino

colsten wrote: »

Despite your unfortunate experiences, your money is safe in Starling.

You claim this without providing any justification, yet robbishop has provided clear evidence that it isn't.

colsten

Chino wrote: »

You claim this without providing any justification, yet robbishop has provided clear evidence that it isn't.

Any bank with FSCS protection is safe. Starling has FSCS. There is no indication that robbishop will actually lose any money but clearly, his card details have somehow got into the hands of some fraudsters. If we declared all banks unsafe when people's card details fell into the wrong hands, there would not be one single safe bank.

[Deleted User]

9 times out of 10, such convoluted stories are exactly that (stories) by someone bored, a disgruntled employee or someone from a competitor organisation.

18cc

interesting statistic could you post the link to the research please

EarthBoy

Chino wrote: »

You claim this without providing any justification, yet robbishop has provided clear evidence that it isn't.

No, robbishop has given us a story alleging fraud on their account. This isn't "clear evidence", as you will find no end of examples of purported fraud on this forum, involving every single bank going. It certainly doesn't show that money held with Starling Bank is any less safe than money held with any other bank.

grumiofoundation

Chino wrote: »

You claim this without providing any justification, yet robbishop has provided clear evidence that it isn't.

I guarantee you there will be a similar story/clear evidence (depending on your levels of cynicism) about every bank on these forums. Ergo your money isn't safe in any bank.

AnotherJoe

If robbishop is on the level it sounds as if someone he knows, but doesn't suspect, has his card and is using it. Something doesn't add up regards the charity, how would someone not at the charity know there was a refund? Very strange.
He should report the atm withdrawals to the bank police as theft so the cctv on the atm can be used to find out who stole it.