Starling - Neo bank or Mickey Mouse bank?

[Deleted User]

I've had Starling accounts for a while (used in the UK and abroad) and thought that Starling was a real bank with a pretty teal debit card.

Tried to use it a Pay at Pump last night (to use up some residual holiday funds) and it spat it out as invalid. Starling now says their cards may not work at petrol stations but they don't tell you upfront.

Happy to keep for cheap cashpoint use abroad but glad I had my 'bricks and mortar' debit card to come to the rescue!

Highland76

They're ok as a backup bank but i would never use them as my main bank. Some reasons:

1) From my own experience their debit card is hit & miss for overseas transactions, especially cash withdrawals. I found their debit mastercard card didn't in work in some ATMs in UAE and New Zealand, yet no issues with my Santander Zero card (also mastercard branded) in the same ATM.

2) You have no other ways to bank with them other than a mobile - lose your mobile and you're screwed if you want to make an urgent transaction. With traditional banks you can pop into the branch or call in case you don't have access to your smartphone.

3) Good luck trying to call them in the evening or at busy periods. You often get through to their answering machine and asked to leave a message...lol

penners324

Pay at pump is seen as potentially fraudulent so has been blocked by Starling I think.

penners324

So not Mickey mouse, just better security 

FrugalCat

Highland76 said:

1) From my own experience their debit card is hit & miss for overseas transactions, especially cash withdrawals. I found their debit mastercard card didn't in work in some ATMs in UAE and New Zealand, yet no issues with my Santander Zero card (also mastercard branded) in the same ATM.

All cards are hit and miss abroad - there's not a card in my wallet that has not been rejected by someone, somewhere in the world. 

Highland76 said:

2) You have no other ways to bank with them other than a mobile - lose your mobile and you're screwed if you want to make an urgent transaction. With traditional banks you can pop into the branch or call in case you don't have access to your smartphone.

To offset that comment, they offer what could probably contend with the best online banking around.
Looking into the future, they'll likely be more competitive, as they don't have to support a loss-making bricks and mortar infrastructure.

Highland76 said:

3) Good luck trying to call them in the evening or at busy periods. You often get through to their answering machine and asked to leave a message...lol

Which bank is different (as a retail customer)?

Personally, I find Starling refreshingly simple to use. As a small bank, I'd steer clear of depositing anything above the government secured amount with them, but for day-to-day banking it's quite a step up from the apps of the big high street names.

TadleyBaggie

penners324 said:

Pay at pump is seen as potentially fraudulent so has been blocked by Starling I think.

Not what happened I think. Debit cards can be defined as online or offline, a pay at pump transaction is often an offline transaction (depends on the retailer) and will only work with cards that are defined as offline.

born_again

dahj said:

I've had Starling accounts for a while (used in the UK and abroad) and thought that Starling was a real bank with a pretty teal debit card.

Tried to use it a Pay at Pump last night (to use up some residual holiday funds) and it spat it out as invalid. Starling now says their cards may not work at petrol stations but they don't tell you upfront.

Happy to keep for cheap cashpoint use abroad but glad I had my 'bricks and mortar' debit card to come to the rescue!

Pay at the pump where? If oversea's then they auth for either 100 or 120 euro's. So unless you have that much in the account it will decline.
UK is different. Works in reverse. Although they do keep trying the euro way.

colsten

FrugalCat said:

 As a small bank, I'd steer clear of depositing anything above the government secured amount with them

The £85K for cash deposits is secured by FSCS, not by the government. FSCS is industry-funded. Going over the FSCS limit is not a good idea with any provider.

[Deleted User]

born_again said:

dahj said:

I've had Starling accounts for a while (used in the UK and abroad) and thought that Starling was a real bank with a pretty teal debit card.

Tried to use it a Pay at Pump last night (to use up some residual holiday funds) and it spat it out as invalid. Starling now says their cards may not work at petrol stations but they don't tell you upfront.

Happy to keep for cheap cashpoint use abroad but glad I had my 'bricks and mortar' debit card to come to the rescue!

Pay at the pump where? If oversea's then they auth for either 100 or 120 euro's. So unless you have that much in the account it will decline.
UK is different. Works in reverse. Although they do keep trying the euro way.

Several hundred quid, so enough for a number of tanks full of fuel.
Starling say their card is accepted at any Mastercard location but it's clearly not and they aren't upfront.
Seems like a Mickey Mouse setup to me.  

colsten

dahj said:

Starling say their card is accepted at any Mastercard location but it's clearly not and they aren't upfront.
Seems like a Mickey Mouse setup to me.  

Not sure whether you perhaps refer to a starling other than starlingbank.com when you say they aren't upfront. This is on the starlingbank.com website right now:

Highland76

So I guess that means fraudsters are more likely to use a Starling bank debit card than others banks' debit cards at pay at pump locations? Because i don't see other major UK banks/BS restricting their debit cards at such locations. And also do Starling debit cards not require a PIN to be entered when trying to use at pay at pump locations?