Starling Bank feedback

CRAIGEMMA

Evening,


I have read some old threads on starling. I wondered if there was any recent feedback on their performance.
On reviewing the usual social media and review sites the same common themes appear. Accounts being frozen.


I totally agree with freezing transactions if suspected fraud, picking up the phone and within minutes knowing either way - what I just dont understand is their repeated approach of just freezing someone out their account for weeks on end (not even allowing direct debits to leave etc).


Reviews like "bonus paid in from same employer who paid my salary every month for 6 months and because it was higher than normal ... 3 weeks later I still have no access', "bought a ring for my fiance and account frozen" basically ridiculous things that is obviously heavy handed but I do realise there is always two sides to a story but it seems habitual in nature.


I really liked their app features, jars etc and just wanted other peoples opinions.


I am currently with Intelligent Finance and enjoy the fact I have not had my account frozen in 9 years but the faster payments taking 2 days, posting cheques waiting over a week for it to go through, no way to deposit cash etc.. it just drives me crazy!



Starling appeals- their reviews dont .. I normally ignore the reviews but there seems so many with the same things.. I just wondered if anyone has a situation like what I have, and how its went.


Salary paid monthly, annual a lump sum bonus, paying lump sum to credit card every month to clear expenses in full.



Thank you.

colsten

I have held a Starling GBP account for about a year, plus their EUR account since August this year. They are not my 'main' accounts, and deposits / withdrawals / payments do not follow any regular pattern.

I had a couple of interactions with their CS. On one occasion, I needed a confirmation in form of a signed letter from Starling for a third party that the EUR account was indeed held in my name. Starling provided this within a couple of working days - very impressive. The other contact I had with them was over the way their debit card works abroad, against the GBP and against the EUR account. That was a slightly painful experience as one of their operatives was a bit clueless but my query was eventually resolved satisfactorily.

Bottom line, Starling is an excellent bank IMO. I don't have experience with paying cheques or cash into Starling as I don't have a need for either. Receiving monthly salary and an annual lump sum bonus should not be any problem at all, and neither should paying a monthly credit card or other bills.

Why not run Starling alongside your IF account for a few months until you get a feel for whether it's the right bank for you?

As always, don't forget: don't put all your eggs in one basket. Having at least two current accounts is a good idea, just in case there is a problem with your 'main' account. Any bank account can run into trouble, for a variety of reasons, often out of your control, too.

CRAIGEMMA

Good idea Colsten and thank you for taking the time to reply.


I think what I will do is manually move over some direct debits and transfer the funds over and see how it goes and in theory drip feed the direct debits in v doing a full switch as I have had my intelligent finance account for 10 years.


See how it goes and eventually move the salary in as well !

colsten

Seems a good plan.:cool:

Umiamz

Starling is my main current account (salary paid in, direct debits paid out) and I haven't had any issues with them. I have a backup HSBC account and a "switching rewards" account (currently Nat West, with whom I've had a number of issues in just one month of being customer).

CRAIGEMMA

Thank you. I am swaying between starling and first direct but starling seems logical option.
Just need a separate account for my matched betting now :-)

colsten

There's light years between Starling and First Direct. I have both. The only reason I have FD is to get access to their Regular Saver. Some people are attracted by their £250 interes-free overdraft. Personally, I don't use overdrafts, and am much more attracted by the in-credit interest Starling offer. Although it's only pittance but it shows a fundamental difference in philosophy: one of them wants you to borrow money from them, they other encourages saving. On a practical level, the Starling app is much, much more functional than the FD one. I don't see the FD app to catch up in a very long time if ever.

Regarding matched betting: Natwest and Nationwide used to be quite good for it but my practical experience is a few years old now. The matched betting board would be best to ask.

CRAIGEMMA

Convinced me . I might just go full in , get a tesco bank account set up as also heard that is good too and shift my stuff to there and keep bank account clean

System

They are fine as a secondary account but I wouldn't personally use them as my main account.

They have zero branch access, zero web access and zero telephone banking, so if they went bust or had technical issues with their app - you either sit and twiddle your thumbs or head to their London office.

colsten

Heng_Leng wrote: »

They are fine as a secondary account but I wouldn't personally use them as my main account.

They have zero branch access, zero web access and zero telephone banking, so if they went bust or had technical issues with their app - you either sit and twiddle your thumbs or head to their London office.

Tell me, what good are branches, web access and telephone banking if a bank went bust? Only FSCS will help you then, and Starling have the fully £85k FSCS protection

Aside from that, it's not correct to say that there is zero web access. They have web chat, and also have a published email address, plus an 0800 phone number. Criticise them by all means, but state facts, not guesses.

As I have said earlier, Starling aren't my main account but I would happily make them so if they raised their interest rate to 1.5% on 20K.

IvanDP

My views on Starling
We have had a Starling account for about a year too.It is mainly used used as our holiday account, plus we have a couple of standing orders cycling through to meet other account pay in requirements.
We have a savings space/pot/vault (whatever each fintech decides to call them) which we regularly add to, which pays for our travels, and the main portion of the account holds our holiday spending money.
We have paid into this account via all means (cash, cheque, transfer) with no problems.
We have spent on the card, and withdrawn cash all over the world, again with no problems.
Our current balance with Starling, is the highest of any account we have.

The only criticism I have, is that they have been "promising" a credit card for a while, which would be perfect for us, as we could pay for our travel (and get S75 protection) all in one go instead of having to transfer the money out and then use it to pay one of our other credit cards.