app based banks

EarthBoy

ZeroSum said:

Deleted_User said:

ZeroSum said:

One downside is that if you don't upgrade your phone on a regular basis, you could end up not being able to access your account as over time apps are updated & stop working on older operating systems.
My last phone was only 3.5 years old & wasnt supported by a number of banks & companies. 

Usually any phone that runs Android 4.4 and above will still be supported by most apps. If you are a person savvy enough to use a smart phone for banking, then chances are you will have a newer phone by now.

Mine was android 5. Most did work but a few didnt. Seems v6 is the one you need for all stuff to work. Then in a years time that'll stop working on some

NatWest already requires Android 7.  Halifax and Lloyds needs Android 6.

Thrugelmir

When technology works it's great. When problems arise the lack of human customer support is the biggest issue. Applies to many aspects of 21st Century life not just banks I should add. 

ZeroSum

EarthBoy said:

ZeroSum said:

Deleted_User said:

ZeroSum said:

One downside is that if you don't upgrade your phone on a regular basis, you could end up not being able to access your account as over time apps are updated & stop working on older operating systems.
My last phone was only 3.5 years old & wasnt supported by a number of banks & companies. 

Usually any phone that runs Android 4.4 and above will still be supported by most apps. If you are a person savvy enough to use a smart phone for banking, then chances are you will have a newer phone by now.

Mine was android 5. Most did work but a few didnt. Seems v6 is the one you need for all stuff to work. Then in a years time that'll stop working on some

NatWest already requires Android 7.  Halifax and Lloyds needs Android 6.

Halifax worked fine on 5

DCFC79

aayush said:

Hi, can I get some advice re the above if they're any good and which the best or give s less hassle as been advised re starling? and advantages of web-based banks and are they safe 

Have you done any other research ?

I have Monzo, Starling, N26, Monese and Revolut, I use the first 2 more often.

oli356

Thrugelmir said:

When technology works it's great. When problems arise the lack of human customer support is the biggest issue. Applies to many aspects of 21st Century life not just banks I should add. 

Admittedly I've never had an actual problem with Monzo so only needed to use their chat to speak to customer support when increasing my daily card limit for instance. It was no doubt easier than doing it with a traditional bank.

I never needed to ring Natwest either though in the years I was with them. So not sure what the typical reasons are to contact a bank, but I can't fault Monzo CS for when I've needed to ask questions. 

sassy_one

I'd highly recommend Monzo.

EarthBoy

ZeroSum said:

EarthBoy said:

ZeroSum said:

Deleted_User said:

ZeroSum said:

One downside is that if you don't upgrade your phone on a regular basis, you could end up not being able to access your account as over time apps are updated & stop working on older operating systems.
My last phone was only 3.5 years old & wasnt supported by a number of banks & companies. 

Usually any phone that runs Android 4.4 and above will still be supported by most apps. If you are a person savvy enough to use a smart phone for banking, then chances are you will have a newer phone by now.

Mine was android 5. Most did work but a few didnt. Seems v6 is the one you need for all stuff to work. Then in a years time that'll stop working on some

NatWest already requires Android 7.  Halifax and Lloyds needs Android 6.

Halifax worked fine on 5

Apologies, I misread the information on the Google Play Store. It's only for fingerprint sign on that you need Android 6.

SlovakianGuy

I use Monzo, Revolut and N26.

I also had Starling in 2018 (switched elsewhere for a bonus) and I plan to open Starling again.

N26 is nice, but not anywhere near Starling or Monzo in terms of functionality. N26 has much less features than the other two and you can't even set up a future dated payment or a standing order. If you want your money to leave your account tomorrow, you must do it manually tomorrow. It does support direct debits though. Revolut, on the other hand, is loaded with various features, including accounts in multiple currencies, cryptocurrencies, etc. which sometimes can even make it a bit confusing or hard to navigate through. An interesting thing about N26 is that it shows you full account numbers and sort codes from which you receive payments. The only other UK bank that does that (as far as I know) is Monzo.

Monzo and Starling are pretty similar. The only thing I missed on Starling was that I couldn't write my own note below the payment I just made. This can be sometimes useful. Last time I checked my friend's Starling, about 2 months ago, they still don't have this feature. It's basically the payment reference which can be edited. If a friend sends you money and writes some BS into the reference, you can simply rewrite it. Both Starling and Monzo also show you the time of the payment, full address and the post code of the store where you made the payment or ATM withdrawal and also its location on the map. Of course, both show you real logos of all major retailers which is very visually appealing. Revolut also shows logos and in addition to that, it is the only account that shows payment times next to payment date. I mean, you don't need to click on the payment in order to see the payment time. All the other accounts only show you the date and if you wanna see more, you need to click on the payment which takes you to another page, showing the map, address, etc. for that one particular payment. But if you're not a geek like me, you probably don't mind such details.

If you need to withdraw larger amounts of cash regularly (including abroad) go for Starling. It also pays some little interest on your remaining balance. Monzo has a monthly cap on cash withdrawals which doesn't bother me personally, as I withdraw max. 20-30 quids per month, and doesn't pay any interest (unless you transfer the cash into a savings pot).

I receive my salary on Monzo, never had any issue. I just transfer some portion of it to my Nationwide, my backup account. A nice thing about Monzo and Starling is that you can see the BACS payment (like your wage) is going to be paid into your account a day before it's actually paid. Also all outgoing payments, like direct debits and standing orders show up a day earlier so you know what's coming out of your account tomorrow and you can top it up in the case you don't have sufficient funds in it.

When it comes to debit cards, I absolutely love my Monzo card. Its bright colour outshines everything else in your wallet (not sure about TransferWise bright green debit card as I haven't seen it in person). N26 translucent debit card also looks pretty cool.

One more thing. Starling now also has an online banking for its business account and they said the online banking for personal accounts is in the pipeline. If they allow me to manage my account on my laptop, no only on my phone, it will definitely become the best bank account to me. I just hope it will have all the features of the bank app.

EarthBoy

SlovakianGuy said:

...The only thing I missed on Starling was that I couldn't write my own note below the payment I just made. This can be sometimes useful. Last time I checked my friend's Starling, about 2 months ago, they still don't have this feature. It's basically the payment reference which can be edited. If a friend sends you money and writes some BS into the reference, you can simply rewrite it. ...

Starling does have the facility to attach notes to payments, they've had it for a long time.  You simply click on ""attach" and you can add a photo, e.g. copy of a receipt, or write your own note.  You can't edit the payment reference that was used by the sender for incoming payments, but I think that's a good thing.  I'd always want a record of the reference used when the payment was received, but you can add your own note in addition if you need further explanation.  

Lomcevak

Thrugelmir said:

When technology works it's great. When problems arise the lack of human customer support is the biggest issue.

This is my experience too - I've recently switched completely to Monzo after several years of using them for occasional spending, and have found customer support awful.

My CASS switch has been a right headache and I've had a bunch of problems with direct debits since moving. Each one has meant contacting Monzo - Recipient blames bank. Bank blames recipient. Repeat - which means a wait between 30 minutes and several hours for somebody to reply on chat, escalation to someone else because first line support don't appear to be able to do much, and another long wait.

Queuing via chat is not a good mechanism for happy customers, because it transfers dealing with the problem from a time that's good to me to a time that's good for them, usually when I'm asleep or working. It's no help to get a reply six hours later when I'm asleep, especially as mornings are get up / get kids up / go to work and i'm not going to look into whatever they ask until the next evening.