Is Starling dead now?

sebtomato

jbrassy said:

sebtomato said:

jbrassy said:

I am keeping Starling as a back-up card for overseas spending. I still think it's a decent bank account with decent features (no fees for overseas spending and ATM withdrawals, plus a slick app). 

I think Chase offers the same for overseas spending, plus no fees on ATM withdrawals in the US, that Starling doesn't do.

That's not true. Starling do not charge for overseas spending or ATM withdrawals (including in the US). It's the same with Chase. The main differentiator is that Chase pay 1% cashback during the first year that you have the card.

I think it may not be Starling charging for cash withdrawals in the US but the local bank, so you still pay a fee. That can be avoided with Chase.

Migster

sebtomato said:

 think it may not be Starling charging for cash withdrawals in the US but the local bank, so you still pay a fee. That can be avoided with Chase.

You seem a little hung up on ATMs. Lots of people don't really use cash anymore and I would suspect that this would be particularly the case for people who are comfortable using an app-only bank. The customer segment that would value Chase's advantage relating to ATMs in the US feels pretty small.

Thrugelmir

Migster said:

sebtomato said:

 think it may not be Starling charging for cash withdrawals in the US but the local bank, so you still pay a fee. That can be avoided with Chase.

You seem a little hung up on ATMs. Lots of people don't really use cash anymore and I would suspect that this would be particularly the case for people who are comfortable using an app-only bank. The customer segment that would value Chase's advantage relating to ATMs in the US feels pretty small.

Hardly a major selling point in attracting new customers. Like Marcus, once established they'll slip back into anonymity. Just another bank. Using social media to create hype is a cheap marketing tool. 

sebtomato

Migster said:

sebtomato said:

 think it may not be Starling charging for cash withdrawals in the US but the local bank, so you still pay a fee. That can be avoided with Chase.

You seem a little hung up on ATMs. Lots of people don't really use cash anymore and I would suspect that this would be particularly the case for people who are comfortable using an app-only bank. The customer segment that would value Chase's advantage relating to ATMs in the US feels pretty small.

I am not, I don't use cash, at least when in the UK.

In the US, it's more common to use cash.

I was merely responding to another comment.

sebtomato

Thrugelmir said:

Hardly a major selling point in attracting new customers. 

Might not be to you, might be interesting to someone else.

Thrugelmir said: Like Marcus, once established they'll slip back into anonymity. Just another bank. Using social media to create hype is a cheap marketing tool. 

Maybe, maybe not. We will see. Hopefully, they have taken lessons learnt from other players before launching a new retail bank in the UK and attracting new customers at cost. I assume someone has a plan.

In the meantime, I will leverage their savings account and cashback. 

Rob5342

We'll just have to wait and see, no doubt there will be other app only banks appearing as branches become redundant.

anotheruser

400ixl said:

It will certainly give those who are still with traditional banks a more viable option when looking to switch. Personally as a Starling account holder I have only opened a Chase account for the savings side. I will not be switching my day to day banking to Chase as it does not offer anything over Starling that is worth me switching for and doesn't have all of the features I use.

So for me, no this is not going to kill Starling, it may take some customers both new and existing though. 

This.

Also (haven't read every comment).  The Starling round-up feature is pretty neat - certainly not a "gizmo" as someone else said.  It's an extra way to save that you rarely notice.

Does Chase provide any interest in current accounts?
I didn't see that it does and while cashback may dwarf interest, it also may not.

jbrassy

anotheruser said:

400ixl said:

It will certainly give those who are still with traditional banks a more viable option when looking to switch. Personally as a Starling account holder I have only opened a Chase account for the savings side. I will not be switching my day to day banking to Chase as it does not offer anything over Starling that is worth me switching for and doesn't have all of the features I use.

So for me, no this is not going to kill Starling, it may take some customers both new and existing though. 

This.

Also (haven't read every comment).  The Starling round-up feature is pretty neat - certainly not a "gizmo" as someone else said.  It's an extra way to save that you rarely notice.

Does Chase provide any interest in current accounts?
I didn't see that it does and while cashback may dwarf interest, it also may not.

Chase pays 5% interest on round-ups and has a linked savings account which pays 1.5% interest. Both of these offers trump Starling.

Olinda99

sebtomato said:

randompenitent said:

Starling *is* more than a retail bank - they sell "Banking as a Service" IT services to other financial services organisations. As a regular account holder, this has no effect on me and I don't particularly care, but it does mean they are attempting to be a platform business and perhaps have a more sustainable business model as a result.

If there is a market for it, great.

If "new" banks (e.g. Monzo, Chase) are building their own systems instead of leveraging Starling's offering, maybe not... or maybe it's for traditional banks to modernise and replace their mainframes, but then they would probably buy Starling.

Chase UK is not building their own system they use the 10x 'banking as a service' platform

I suppose they could have used Starling's instead!

[Deleted User]

sebtomato said:

Migster said:

sebtomato said:

 think it may not be Starling charging for cash withdrawals in the US but the local bank, so you still pay a fee. That can be avoided with Chase.

You seem a little hung up on ATMs. Lots of people don't really use cash anymore and I would suspect that this would be particularly the case for people who are comfortable using an app-only bank. The customer segment that would value Chase's advantage relating to ATMs in the US feels pretty small.

I am not, I don't use cash, at least when in the UK.

In the US, it's more common to use cash.

I was merely responding to another comment.

Tipping is pretty much expected in the US and this is often done in cash.

As someone who is semi-frequent visitor to the US, surcharge free ATMs is a selling point. WaWa are a good option (nice coffee) but are essentially petrol stations -so aren't so relevant when only downtown.