Monzo Or Starling Bank account

colsten

In the end, it all comes down to personal preference, to how well a particular bank addresses your needs, and to how 'wedded' you want to be to any particular bank.

I find that the Starling chat function is light years ahead of that of any other bank. This is immensely helpful if you have reason to contact CS. With the 'dinosaurs' you get a non-intelligent chat bot if you are lucky, or you have to wait ages for a human to answer the phone. If you don't need CS, this is, of course, not an advantage for you. Just as I don't consider it an advantage that some banks offer Branches - but I appreciate others may consider this mandatory.

I also love the Starling Euro account as there is nothing like this available from any of the others. Again, you may not have a need for Euros, so this might be of no interest. 

Other features that I like in Starling is that you can create your own statement, their Kite account, their Connected Card, mobile cheque deposit (still missing at many 'dinosaurs'), notifications of incoming payments (missing at most others, or dreadfully inadequate, like at Santander), and the Request Money function. As above - these features may or may not appear of interest to you.

What I am missing in Starling is cashback, like I get at Santander. If they offered this, I would immediately move all my DDs to Starling, and wind down the use of my Santander account. I can't see that Starling would match the offers I get with Halifax Reward, Natwest / RBS Reward, TSB, Barclays, BOS, Lloyds or Virgin M Plus accounts, so I am planning on keeping all those in some form, too. I even still find First Direct, HSBC and Nationwide useful, so hold these as well. Monzo does nothing much for me - except they are very useful when you want to simply close a 'dinosaur' account, as they are making switching so easy.

Lightning360

colsten said:

In the end, it all comes down to personal preference, to how well a particular bank addresses your needs, and to how 'wedded' you want to be to any particular bank.

I find that the Starling chat function is light years ahead of that of any other bank. This is immensely helpful if you have reason to contact CS. With the 'dinosaurs' you get a non-intelligent chat bot if you are lucky, or you have to wait ages for a human to answer the phone. If you don't need CS, this is, of course, not an advantage for you. Just as I don't consider it an advantage that some banks offer Branches - but I appreciate others may consider this mandatory.

I also love the Starling Euro account as there is nothing like this available from any of the others. Again, you may not have a need for Euros, so this might be of no interest. 

Other features that I like in Starling is that you can create your own statement, their Kite account, their Connected Card, mobile cheque deposit (still missing at many 'dinosaurs'), notifications of incoming payments (missing at most others, or dreadfully inadequate, like at Santander), and the Request Money function. As above - these features may or may not appear of interest to you.

What I am missing in Starling is cashback, like I get at Santander. If they offered this, I would immediately move all my DDs to Starling, and wind down the use of my Santander account. I can't see that Starling would match the offers I get with Halifax Reward, Natwest / RBS Reward, TSB, Barclays, BOS, Lloyds or Virgin M Plus accounts, so I am planning on keeping all those in some form, too. I even still find First Direct, HSBC and Nationwide useful, so hold these as well. Monzo does nothing much for me - except they are very useful when you want to simply close a 'dinosaur' account, as they are making switching so easy.

I have had experience with both CS from Starling and Virgin Money and I would say the Virgin Money CS was a lot better. The chat queue waiting time was a lot longer with Starling and they couldn't actually solve my issue. The Virgin Money wait was around a minute and they solved by problem instantly.

I do agree that it depends on personal preferences and also some luck. A lot of it depends simply on which customer service staff member you get.

Chino

PRAISETHESUN said:

I'd argue that a digital bank, built from the ground up in the digital age is probably more secure than the legacy systems that the high street banks cobble together into a somewhat functional IT system.

I'd argue quite the opposite. That any digital bank's systems and processes will have been built by people who have relatively little experience in building secure bank systems and see systems building as an exercise in linking APIs and building pretty websites. For example, you only have to look at the background image on Monzo's Careers page to see that it most of them won't have been in full time employment for very long.

[Deleted User]

Chino said:

PRAISETHESUN said:

I'd argue that a digital bank, built from the ground up in the digital age is probably more secure than the legacy systems that the high street banks cobble together into a somewhat functional IT system.

I'd argue quite the opposite. That any digital bank's systems and processes will have been built by people who have relatively little experience in building secure bank systems and see systems building as an exercise in linking APIs and building pretty websites. For example, you only have to look at the background image on Monzo's Careers page to see that it most of them won't have been in full time employment for very long.

I'm sure the people who design the website are different to the people who run and maintain the banking systems. Website probably outsourced to a marketing firm like any large company.

Also I feel you are one of those folk who resent people who are younger than you being in a better/higher position job than you on better pay.

Dandytf

I've finally got a Tel answer from Starling, prev' unused details removed and new Current account opened.
Are cheque/p.o deposits the only way to add funds.

Is a transfer or payment accepted from another bank account.
Meanwhile debit card ordered, looking forward to Digi App.

edited
Found Starling sort code account number to allow transfers from another bank.
A small deposit is due.

Wannabedebtfree21

I mistaking it closed my Starling account a couple of days ago, after being told by a chat agent my bankruptcy will effect my account with them 

I’m regretting closing it now as I have to wait 12 months before I can open a new account. I believe starling is a basic account isn’t it? 

jbrassy

Chino said:

PRAISETHESUN said:

I'd argue that a digital bank, built from the ground up in the digital age is probably more secure than the legacy systems that the high street banks cobble together into a somewhat functional IT system.

I'd argue quite the opposite. That any digital bank's systems and processes will have been built by people who have relatively little experience in building secure bank systems and see systems building as an exercise in linking APIs and building pretty websites. For example, you only have to look at the background image on Monzo's Careers page to see that it most of them won't have been in full time employment for very long.

This comment was probably written by someone who is constantly ringing his kids asking them how to work his new iPad and can't wait to respond to that email telling him he's won the Nigerian lottery! 

Praise The Sun is completely right. The legacy systems of high street banks are built on systems that are decades old and probably far more vulnerable to failing than the new systems built by Starling and Monzo.

Don't want to turn this into a boomer vs millennial thing, but I really resent comments that suggest young people are somehow inept while old people are wise. 

EarthBoy

Wannabedebtfree21 said:

 I believe starling is a basic account isn’t it? 

No it isn't. Starling is a fully fledged, standard current account. 

Dandytf

Wannabedebtfree21 said:

I mistaking it closed my Starling account a couple of days ago, after being told by a chat agent my bankruptcy will effect my account with them 

I’m regretting closing it now as I have to wait 12 months before I can open a new account. I believe starling is a basic account isn’t it? 

I think Starling are a standard current account with one or two features, 0.05% balance interest and others.

Wannabedebtfree21

Ok thanks, I’ve since opened a basic account with HSBC