Starling Bank... good?

MxFlux

I am in the position of separating from my partner of 30 years, so looking for a new place to live and figuring out how to be financially independent, even though my partner has always "done" the finances! Looking into opening a new bank account, and following some research, Starling Bank is coming up top for my needs - including the fact that I am autistic, so would prefer a bank with no physical branches and a user friendly app.

I've also had a bit of a look into how opening a new bank account affects your credit rating, and according to a couple of sources (Credit Spring & Experian - sorry, I'm apparently too much of an MSE noob to post links!)... it shouldn't do too much! The main things these links seem to advise are...

1. Should only affect credit rating if your new bank do a 'hard credit check' - which they probably won't unless you apply for an overdraft or a credit card at the same time (which I am not planning on doing).

2. Even if they do a 'hard credit check,' it should only affect your credit rating temporarily.

So I have 2 questions...

1. Do folk here know how "temporarily" opening a new bank account should affect one's credit rating?

And...

2. Have others here used Starling and if so, can you advise if they are any good/would be suitable for my needs?

Thank you in advance for your help/advice... 🙏

Band7

Starling is fine. Any hard search will stay on your credit files for a year or so but I wouldn't worry about a single search.

eDicky

I've had my Starling account since they began six years ago, probably the best banking experience I've ever had.

jinkssick

Yeah I use Starling solely for travels but the app is brilliant. Dont worry too much about dings on your credit score unless your looking to get a mortgage in next 6 months. Good luck with your new start.

Rob5342

I have a Starling account and they are great, the app is far better than anything the high street banks offer (I could never go back to such old fashioned banks now). As you say they don't have branches which I think is a good thing as they are set up to everything in the app, and who uses a branch these days? On the rare occasion you get a cheque you can pay in a cheque up to £1000 via the app and post bigger ones, and cash can be paid in at a post office.

I wouldn't worry about your credit rating, it might have a small effect in it but getting a new account is a necessity and it will only be once and shouldn't affect you much overall.

Futuristic

Despite the message above, most "old fashioned" banks have the same or similar features as these fintech banks now (eg. live chat where you just leave a message, most big old banks have this, updated app, updated web banking etc). Starling focus is on business banking these days. However most old banks will do hard check where as the newer digital banks only do soft. 

Consider Chase or Monzo instead as the better all rounder with 3%+ savings acc/pots etc. Chase is the "newest" bank in the UK and it won several awards from brit banking awards due to sheer amount of positive reviews shows the success it has and true 24x7 customer service. Live chat/call picked up almost immediately at night as well 

Rob5342

Nothing really matches the Starling and Monzo apps. I'm not aware of any others that have pots/spaces for budgeting, Halifax supposedly has transaction notifications but they often take over an hour on.my spare account, Starling and Monzo are always instant. 

EarthBoy

Rob5342 said:

Nothing really matches the Starling and Monzo apps. I'm not aware of any others that have pots/spaces for budgeting, Halifax supposedly has transaction notifications but they often take over an hour on.my spare account, Starling and Monzo are always instant. 

Virgin and TSB both have pots, but pots are only a fancy name for savings accounts, and all banks offer those. 

Rob5342

EarthBoy said:

Rob5342 said:

Nothing really matches the Starling and Monzo apps. I'm not aware of any others that have pots/spaces for budgeting, Halifax supposedly has transaction notifications but they often take over an hour on.my spare account, Starling and Monzo are always instant. 

Virgin and TSB both have pots, but pots are only a fancy name for savings accounts, and all banks offer those. 

They are a bit different with Starling and Monzo as you can have direct debits and standing orders set up to come out of certain pots which can be very useful for budgeting. They are also much more dynamic as you can set them up and change them around in a few seconds. With Nationwide a new savings account doesn't show up until the next day. It's much easier to have my daughters pocket money coming from a Monzo pot than having a separate savings account for paying it to her.

It depends what you want I suppose, but in my opinion Starling and Monzo do banking exactly the way it should be done, and all the other banks trail behind with half hearted and badly implemented offerings. Nationwide still require you to use a card reader!

 

There's really not too much to think about though, give Starling a go and switch if you don't like them.

Zaul22

It's good but Chase is rapidly catching up on it. You can just have a second account for direct debits instead of the pots feature and earn 1% interest on it, and then you get the cashback on the spending account. Starling has better security than Chase though. 

Bigwheels1111

I have standardold bank accounts and new banks ie Chase and Starling.

Starling for payments abroad, but Chase for bills and food shopping.

1% cash back is nice.

No hard search with Chase.