Emperors New Starling Bank

IvanDP

I have accounts with many of the "digital Only" banks and to be honest I have never had an issue with any of them.
But as this thread is specifically about Starling, I will share my experience.

The card has always been accepted everywhere I have tried to use it.
I cannot comment on cashback as it's something I never use.
Pre authourisation at pay at pump fuel stations is a common practice in our area.
Although I have not seen a cheque for about 10 years, I do pay cash into the account regularly via the post office without any problem.
No overseas fees is the biggest bonus for us as we travel quite extensively.
The little bit of interest is a nice bonus and maybe gets me a free beer every time we go away :beer:

I have to confess, that the Starling account is used as a travel account purely for the overseas benefits and not as a main account.
This is down to the other benefits I get from my main account, and not because of any shortcomings from the Starling account.

System

From a Scottish perspective, Debit Mastercard was issued by Clydesdale a number of years ago (when they migrated from Maestro) so has been fairly common - with TSB and Santander joining them, I wouldn't be surprised if they overtake Visa north of the border.

I know that I had some issues with Monzo not working but this was to do with Monzo rather than Mastercard itself. Other than that, nothing really to write home about but definitely not my main account.

I've obtained a Starling GBP account primary to replace my FlexPlus for ATM withdrawals. It works fine as a GBP account so far even if it reminiscent of a 90s Visa Electron card. Waiting to see card functionality for their Euro account.

Don80

Heng_Leng wrote: »

From a Scottish perspective, Debit Mastercard was issued by Clydesdale a number of years ago (when they migrated from Maestro) so has been fairly common - with TSB and Santander joining them, I wouldn't be surprised if they overtake Visa north of the border.

I know that I had some issues with Monzo not working but this was to do with Monzo rather than Mastercard itself. Other than that, nothing really to write home about but definitely not my main account.

I've obtained a Starling GBP account primary to replace my FlexPlus for ATM withdrawals. It works fine as a GBP account so far even if it reminiscent of a 90s Visa Electron card. Waiting to see card functionality for their Euro account.

I would agree (second Scottish perspective!). Clydesdale Bank have been using Mastercard debit cards for a while, and although I don't bank with them, I am not aware of any of my friends who do having problems paying for things. I don't think it's much different to when Switch cards started using visa debit - no one thought that they were credit cards, like Mastercard debit cards, they do say "debit" below the logo.

I also know a couple of people who use Monzo and don't have an issue, I keep mine for overseas use - and it's been great. I don't have a Starling account, so can't really comment.

Heng, I'm curious that you think MC may overtake visa here! :j I read some stats which said that the Bank of Scotland was by far the biggest current account provider here, coupled with RBS and smaller English banks (Co-op, Barclays, Nationwide etc) who use visa, it'll be interesting to see. TSB is definitely one of the bigger banks here but I think visa debit will still be bigger.

born_again

Jasper_Murgin wrote: »

I didn't know anything about Starling card's Tesco pay at lump £30 authorisation until it sent me into a debit situation today. I made a £20 purchase and Starling debited £30. The explanation was tardy and unacceptable. Using this card makes a mockery of budgeting. I will be closing this account when Starling deem it fit to re credit my account

Simple.
It is Tesco that put the authorisation when you use Pay @ Pump.. NOT your bank. Could be worse, you could have been in Europe and its approx 120 euro's.

d123

born_again wrote: »

Simple.
It is Tesco that put the authorisation when you use Pay @ Pump.. NOT your bank. Could be worse, you could have been in Europe and its approx 120 euro's.

It's why I almost always use a CC to pay at pump, you aren't at the mercy of the retailer's pre-authorisation amount screwing up budgeting on your current account.

Weren't some retailers (Asda amongst them iirc?) doing £99 authorisations a while back before the outcry stopped it?

PaulW922

d123 wrote: »

Perhaps if you had realised that you can use the Post Office for banking services for Starling, it's free to deposit cash.




I can't remember a transaction with either Starling or Monzo ever being anything but instantaneous.

Cash transaction go onto your account instantly at the Post Office. You can also pay in cheques free of charge by post (but not over the counter) - no stamp required.

penners324

I'm almost solely a Starling account user. I also have a 3 account / phone. Didn't have an issue setting up the Direct debit to it.

I would say most account freezes / suspensions are due to suspected fraud. Maybe it's people with these accounts that are more active in moaning about account suspensions. Maybe it's these banks who have far better monitoring systems in place to detect fraud. Which is a good thing.

I've never had an issued with card acceptability for Starling.

Any issues are likely the retailer not having updated their systems for quite sometime.

JezR

Debit Mastercard currently has only around 5% of the debit card market looking at the UK as a whole but as well as Clydesdale/Yorkshire being one combined bank using them, Danske Bank is another making them much more commonly seen in Northern Ireland as well as Scotland than much of England probably. Nationwide is another organisation that has announced future use of Debit Mastercard, although for their business customers only, at least for now.

System

JezR wrote: »

Debit Mastercard currently has only around 5% of the debit card market looking at the UK as a whole but as well as Clydesdale/Yorkshire being one combined bank using them, Danske Bank is another making them much more commonly seen in Northern Ireland as well as Scotland than much of England probably. Nationwide is another organisation that has announced future use of Debit Mastercard, although for their business customers only, at least for now.

The dynamics of the Scottish and NI banking markets are different than E&W.

Clydesdale / TSB are two of the four main Scottish banks plus Santander is fairly popular. NI has it's own main banks too obviously.