Starling, Monzo or First Direct?

egyptiancotton

I recently switched my backup bank account from NatWest to First Direct for the switching bonus. So far, I've been impressed with First Direct's customer service - no menus to navigate through over the phone and I'm put through to a helpful advisor in no time at all.

My main bank account is with HSBC. I've had the account for as long as I can remember. I'm giving it some thought to also switching it to First Direct. Alternatively, I'm also tempted to switch it to either Starling or Monzo - I would find the goals/pots handy.

Would closing my long-standing HSBC account have a detrimental effect to my credit history/score? I'm not sure whether to close it as part of a switch or keep it open and manually transfer direct debits, etc., across to a new account with another bank. Which leads me onto my dilemma - I can't decide whether to move (as part of a full or partial switch) to First Direct, Monzo or Starling. I would be interested to hear other people's experiences with these banks. The account feature offerings from Starling and Monzo are tempting, but so is First Direct's customer service.

Any advice would be gratefully received. Thanks.

applepine

If you're going to have two bank accounts, imo it makes sense to have them with two separate entities in case anything goes wrong with one of them. Since First Direct are part of HSBC, switching the HSBC account to First Direct won't have much of an impact in that area, and it's good to have a fintech account as a back-up. I haven't tried Starling but have tried Monzo and Revolut, I far prefer Revolut and ended up closing my Monzo account, but Revolut don't have a UK banking licence (although they did apply for one at the start of the year so hopefully it's only a matter of time) so be cautious if you go down that route.

Closing the longstanding account may have some impact on how lenders view you but it depends on a lot of other factors such as other accounts (the impact will probably be less if you have a long-standing credit card or utility account, for example). The score the CRAs show you is irrelevant, lenders don't see it, they have their own scoring tools and each have their own criteria .

Hope that helps.

gt94sss2

If you're happy with First Direct, I would stay with them. The customer service can be poor at Monzo in particular.
Personally, I feel that goals/pots are very overrated but if you want to open either a Monzo or Starling account, I would try Starling.

jbrassy

I have used all 3 of these accounts and I personally use First Direct as my main bank account. I've been using them for over 5 years and never had any issues, hence why I've never felt the need to switch.

I also have Starling as a back-up which I mainly use when I'm abroad. Monzo is also good for using abroad, but Starling is better as Monzo charges some fees whereas Starling charges none. I closed my Monzo account some time ago, but I found that the Starling app was far superior to Monzo's on Android. Starling's customer service has also been generally good when I've had to contact them.

Finally, someone mentioned Revolut. I would avoid them like the plague. You don't have to search far on this forum to find stories of Revolut's terrible customer service. I stopped using them last year for this reason.

Finally, on the point about credit scores, I wouldn't worry too much about this if you're not planning on applying for a mortgage in the next 6-12 months. What matters more is paying your bills on time and not missing payments.

[Deleted User]

Leave your old HSBC UK account with a minimal amount and use their First Direct brand if that floats your boat.

As for backup, Monzo has certain usage requirements (so may not be the best as a secondary account)

born_again

Well if either FD or HSBC hit systems problems it will effect both, as they use the same systems. Same with the FSCS you would only get cover for £85K or £170k if joint. As they are classed as one entity.

gundo

I've been with Halifax since rules were changed and building societies were able issue a cheque book. I actually converted a Halifax "Cardcash" savings account into a bank account with them, so effectively I've been with them for over 40 years, since I was 15! It was hard to move away because when I was in relationship we had a joint bank account with them and individual ones with the Halifax too, so moving money between accounts was instantaneous and very easy online to manage everything. Plus prior to the internet the Halifax's ATMs were really useful because you could pay bills, deposit cash/cheques, before the advent of Internet banking this was great. I'd go the ATM with my credit card bill, pay the amount, get a receipt and then get home staple the receipt to the bill and file it. Kept me well organised for years. Then after that I did the same with my Mum when I became her carer, she'd never had a bank account or cheque book in her life and when my Dad died it was simpler to open a joint account for her and myself and manage everything from one place, her SO's and DD's for bills and her savings, write cheques, doing her shopping for her using the joint account etc. Now she's gone, so there's no compelling reason to stay with them except the Clarity card and I'm scared of my SO's/DD's getting messed up if I moved.

I have a Starling account as well which I have used as a second account and I have to say Starling are superb. I've used the card a lot abroad and it's replaced my Clarity card for that, especially as I can withdraw cash from an ATM if needed without it being treated as a cash advance. Also paying into foreign European bank accounts is a doddle and easy. Recently I paid for some goods on an internet website with my Starling account and the goods never arrived. After a bit of to'ing and fro'ing via email/phone/app it's been sorted and I was refunded. I was impressed with their customer service. Over the years I've had a couple of issues that I've needed the Halifax to sort out. Firstly a mysterious SO that appeared on my account that was in error, it turned out to be someone with a similar name but completely different signature. Frankly the Halifax were useless and £50 a month was going out of my account every month for over 6 months until I went into a branch of Bank of Scotland whilst on holiday, saw that the Customer Services person looked bored and asked them about it. BOS sorted things out on the spot and refunded the money immediately. Ditto an issue with an internet seller and a Halifax credit card payment, Halifax were very slow to sort things out and I had to write a stiffly worded letter threatening the small claims court before they refunded for goods which hadn't been received more than 6 months after I'd paid the credit card bill.

I've had First Direct as well but I found that they were a pain to deal with on a couple of issues. I never actually used them as my main account. I also have a Nationwide current account and I've had that for over 30 years, I never actually took the plunge and switched to them either.

So all in all, I am very tempted to simplify things and shift everything to Starling because really it's just habit that's keeping me with the Halifax and a cheque book (which is still handy sometimes). With bank transfers being so quick now having accounts all with the same bank for speed doesn't really matter.

In conclusion: Starling in my experience have been superb. The app works really well too.

colsten

gundo said:

 I'm scared of my SO's/DD's getting messed up if I moved.

If you use the Current Account Switch Service, there's no reason to be scared 
https://www.currentaccountswitch.co.uk/Pages/Home.aspx

gundo said:

 I am very tempted to simplify things and shift everything to Starling

As has been mentioned  many times on this board, having just one current account is risky as you may find yourself without access to money if something goes wrong with your only current account. Things can go wrong with any bank.

gundo said:

 Starling in my experience have been superb. The app works really well too.

Agreed. Starling is one of my favourite accounts, too.

Doshwaster

Very happy with Starling as a secondary spending account but now sure if would want to switch everything from my legacy "full service" account. 

datlex

Re First Direct I used to have an account with them.  I only had to stop banking with them due to debt. Long story short debts built up came to arrangement to get it paid off.  I cannot fault the support they gave me in doing this.  It helped me sort myself out and it never flagged up on my credit report.  Recently I had to ring them regarding tax on PPI refund and even after a few years of not being with them they were able to sort my query out.
Re Starling I tried opening an account with them but it was just about impossible for me.  They would not accept that I was me. Said my current photo did not match my driving licence.....

egyptiancotton

Thanks for all the replies. Lots of points of view for me to consider. Whatever I do, I'll keep my HSBC account open with a minimal amount and transfer DDs and salary to the new bank account with whoever I choose to go with. I've had the HSBC account since 2008, so I'd like to keep that open as it's a positive on my credit report.