Advantages of Holding a Traditional "Mainstream" Bank Over Mobile Current Account Providers

colsten

Gregory402 wrote: »

OtThey operate like any other current account but without the hefty charges that traditional banks have.

What hefty charges?

colsten

Yellow_mango wrote: »

The depositing of cheques is another one. Starling only accept cheques by post. Which is fine for the odd £20 from a grandparent. Less fine when it’s 5 figures from the sale of a property for example.

What's wrong with cheque depositing via an app? I was amazed to find that Starling and Monzo don't offer that facility.

Zanderman

I've had to deal with death, probate and executor's accounts - and all the complications and questions arising from all that - over the last 6 months. During which Lloyds branch staff were excellent and extremely helpful* - so I'd say branch based banking is still extremely useful.

I very much doubt I'd have got anything like that service from Monzo, Monese or Starling.

*PS And all that help, advice and time was free!

Zero_Sum

I once needed to phone Tesco bank about a current account issue.
So i phone up the current account customer services as listed by them.
It turned out that this 'customer services' was basically just a speaking clock that gave you your balance.
I had to phone up their credit card section & then ask to be transfered whilst havi g a bit of a moan about them giving false info

penners324

App based banks are good and have their place in the market.
Easy to use, pretty easy to set up, technology far in advance of high street banks, thus far lower cost bases the those banks.
Legacy banks seem clunky and old in comparison.

DCFC79

Heng_Leng wrote: »

I tried Monzo and wasn't really that impressed.

• Always needed to keep a 'real' debit/credit as a backup with it.
• Didn't always work at Pay at Pump or Post Office.
• Randomly declined low value transactions.

Not sure DevOps and my money are a good mix.

The times Ive used it at pay at pump its worked everytime except once when there was an issue at Asda.
Low transactions dont get declined for me.

londoninvestor

Gregory402 wrote: »

Does anyone have anything that justifies favoring them over the new era of mobile current accounts? Do we still have an actual advantage over people who cannot get one for whatever reason?

- Ability to do internet banking through a browser on a PC with a proper screen and keyboard.
- No lockin to the Apple/ Google duopoly - any platform, including open source, that supports a web browser will work.
- Avoiding exposure to loss / theft of my phone.

Gregory402 wrote: »

They operate like any other current account but without the hefty charges that traditional banks have.

Regarding charges, my main current account is Nationwide, and I do USD and EUR transactions through Transferwise, both of which work fine through non-app-based internet banking.

What size of savings on charges would I make by using app-only products? I could get the FX costs down a little bit using Revolut...anything else?

d123

JuicyJesus wrote: »

Finally, this is more personal for me, but as someone who has to give bank statements and such to the Home Office to keep their partner in the country there is no goddamn way I'd trust Monzo or Starling's statements to be accepted.

Starling is currently contracted to the government to process DWP payments related to UC so there shouldn’t really be an issue with them being recognised as a bank.

Remember that Starling is more than just a retail bank now.

colsten

Zero_Sum wrote: »

I once needed to phone Tesco bank about a current account issue.
So i phone up the current account customer services as listed by them.
It turned out that this 'customer services' was basically just a speaking clock that gave you your balance.
I had to phone up their credit card section & then ask to be transfered whilst havi g a bit of a moan about them giving false info

Apart from the shambles that ensued when Tesco Bank got hacked a few years ago, the few calls I had to make to their CS about my current and savings accounts were a really good experience. The phone was answered fast, the operatives were polite and knowledgeable, and could resolve my queries in full.

In general, I have had very few reasons to visit any bank branches in the last 10 or so years. The last few times, I just went to get a tenner's worth of pound coins, for car parking meters and for shopping trolleys.

Whilst individuals probably need branches less and less, I can see a continued need for small businesses, especially if they are still transacting in cash.

Takmon

Yellow_mango wrote: »

Yes I can do it with my Barclays app too. Very handy for the small random grandparent gifts. I assume it will be introduced by Starling etc in time.

Still not sure how comfortable I would be using it (or whether it would be accepted) if the cheque was for a large amount of money.

Surely using cheque imaging for a large value is beneficial to you because you actually get to keep the original copy of the cheque if anything goes wrong.