Starling ripping off their best customers

Hazzanet

DaveBurnley said:

Thanx for your detailed reply Hazzanet. However " (even those that don't meet the criteria) and "decline" those that don't meet it ", I can assure you that there can be no financial criteria that she does not meet. So unless it is down to staffing or IT issues (which they could have explained), I do believe this is unethical business practice, something that the the MSE team should address.

The constraints are on Starling in being permitted to open the account and do not reflect on the financial standing of your wife.  That's the point.  It's Starling's problem, not yours or your wife's and the way they are handling it is shoddy at the very least.  

pochisoldi

Register a complaint, and let Starling handle it.
As it stands they are probably treating it as a non-complaint query/on-line issue, and the "8 weeks and off to FOS" clock hasn't started.

GeoffTF

DaveBurnley said:

My wife uses a Starling current account. From Feb 15 it will no longer pay any interest at all, but they have introduced an Easy Saver account which does. On the app she tried many times to apply for this but it kept saying she was "ineligible". Recently the application seemed to progress a bit further to being reviewed. However after a couple of days waiting, the application was declined due to "constraints". We have tried this a couple more times, same result but quicker. We have friends who successfully opened Starling Easy Saver accounts with credit balances of a few hundred pound in their current accounts. My wife is a loyal customer of several years with an average current account balance of around £5k. Sounds like the account changes and these "constraints" are designed to stop paying any interest at all to their best customers. 

The standard deal for current accounts is no interest and no fees for most transactions provided you stay in credit. None of the big banks pay interest on current accounts unless you pay a fee. That is better deal than current account customers get in most countries, and is hardly a rip off. Some of the small start up banks do pay interest without a fee until they become bigger banks. I would not want savings with same bank as my current account, because I would not want to lose access to both accounts at the same time when the bank's systems go down or they block my account.

badger09

BoS Classic with Vantage is a no fee current account which pays interest. Admittedly only 1.5% up to £4k then 3% on next £1k. Need min pay in £1k & 2 DD payments pm. 

Barkin

FWIW...

I’d also been refused a Starling Easy Saver (4%) account.

Today I got an email & app notification asking me to confirm my personal details - name, address, tax status etc, standard KYC stuff.

After completing this, I thought I'd have another go at the Easy Saver, and was accepted & set up immediately.

Coincidence?

Just a thought...