Starling Bank... good?

bgr62

Starling is my travel card, I could use as my main driver for everything though. Very pleasurable banking experience, no real problems with any other banks I hold though and in terms of the app, yes, at first it was far superior to other banking apps but they are all catching up as people have said above. My favourite one would probably be Halifax.

adindas

Rob5342 said:

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.

I wonder what do you mean with DD to come out of certain pots ?? Typically with Direct Debit you debit the current account to come into the saving account. IS it the DD you are talking about about SO ??

Rob5342

adindas said:

Rob5342 said:

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.

I wonder what do you mean with DD to come out of certain pots ?? Typically with Direct Debit you debit the current account to come into the saving account. IS it the DD you are talking about about SO ??

Within Monzo you can split your balance into a number of pots, and for each direct debt and standing order you can set which pot it comes from. I have a bills pot, a pocket money pot, and a pot for each week. When.I get paid I split the money between the pots, and then all bills direct debts come.out out of the bills pot, weekly pocket money standing order out of the pocket money pot etc.

[Deleted User]

I would recommend you either retain you existing current account (removing partner) or alternatively open your own current account with you existing provider to begin with. You've then got an established financial relationship to try Starling from & retain as a backup even if you opt for Starling long term.  

AIEmpire

It's a good app and easy to use. However they pay zero interest (unless you lock your money for 1yr at 3.25%). Monzo and Chase would be worth looking at. Chase pays 1% on current account balance, 1% cashback on spend, and 3.8% on savings account.

Anothe4lunaticonthewall

Last few years I was the one of the best advocate for staling bank and refer successfully for at least three . I was happy with the service, especially when traveling- good rates ,no charge….
Apparently to thank me they locked my account and withholding my money , refuse to close the account and in such hard times they can put me - literally -on street failing to pay my rent or not be able to buy food. 

Well…., I thought they’re great . 

What do you think?

Nasqueron

Anothe4lunaticonthewall said:

Last few years I was the one of the best advocate for staling bank and refer successfully for at least three . I was happy with the service, especially when traveling- good rates ,no charge….
Apparently to thank me they locked my account and withholding my money , refuse to close the account and in such hard times they can put me - literally -on street failing to pay my rent or not be able to buy food. 

Well…., I thought they’re great . 

What do you think?

Any bank is allowed to do this under AML rules etc

enthusiasticsaver

I like the Starling bank account.  We have had it for a few years.  We initially opened one to use abroad as they don't charge FT fees but then started using it as our main bank account. 

It is great at helping you manage money as you can divert money into savings spaces so although the money is still in your current account it does not show in your disposable income available figure which may help if you struggle to budget. My DDs husband is ADHD and it has been a game changer for them.  So when you get paid you can move all your bills and direct debits money over into a Bills pot and allocate direct debits etc to that pot so you do not need to worry about keeping money available to pay the bills as they fall due. You can do the same with groceries and fuel money if you wish to.  

enthusiasticsaver

AIEmpire said:

It's a good app and easy to use. However they pay zero interest (unless you lock your money for 1yr at 3.25%). Monzo and Chase would be worth looking at. Chase pays 1% on current account balance, 1% cashback on spend, and 3.8% on savings account.

Starling pays 3.25% interest monthly on current account balances up to £5k

Ponchos

MxFlux said:

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... 🙏

I've been with Starling for nearly 6 years now and I've been very happy with them. From what I remember about actually opening the account it was very quick and easy and done in app, there is a photo and/or video verification process that doesn't take too long. The app itself it very easy to use and navigate, and payments are instant (for example I'm currently using TSB for the monthly rewards and payments appear as "pending" for a couple of days before they're marked as cleared, despite the money for the transaction being deducted from my account). 

The experience that stands out the most was when I was travelling and lost my card in Bali. I went in the app and turned off my card so no one else could use it, then contacted the live chat and explained the situation. They were very helpful, cancelled the card straight away, and sent me a new card (this would have been free if I was in the UK but as I was overseas it cost £60, which is didn't mind due to my own mistake). I spoke with live chat on the Friday and I had my new card in my hand the following Thursday, and it would have been even sooner if there wasn't a weekend in the way, so I was very happy with this, what could have been a terrible situation became a lot easier.

Other perks of Starling besides the ease of the app and helpfulness of support: 3.25% interest on up to £5000 (of course there are higher interest rates out there but those are usually savings accounts, Kroo is the only place I can think of with a higher interest rate on a regular current account); attached 1 year fixed rate saver (not the highest rate but depends on what you might want), a great exchange rate and zero fees when withdrawing cash abroad (from Starling, the bank's ATM may well still charge you); a Euros account should you want one; saving spaces should you want to separate money to save for something.

Others may comment on some of these features more, but I have only had good experiences with Starling, and even though lately I have been doing bank switching incentives, I have kept my Starling account as it's probably the best I've had.