Starling Bank Criteria - Even the staff do not know

Garf1234

Hi,

I thought I would write a brief advise for people looking for a new Bank to use.

Do NOT waste your time applying for a Starling Bank Account.

Here goes:
My brother and I had discussed getting a joint account for us to manage the monies from the death of my mother. We have agreed to open a joint account to keep all monies separate and also so we can setup direct debit for bills that will be happening throughout the process and then once this is all complete, continue to keep a joint account afterwards.

Spent a lot of time reading the t&c for various accounts and finally settled on Starling Bank as it met all we needed for an account.

So to get a Joint account you have to apply for a personal account first. As my brother had been a full-time carer for the past few years for my mum (uptil she died), we got him to apply first in case that had a factor. An account opened for him fine with access to "open a joint account". I applied and they setup a personal account for me, but I do not get the option to apply for a joint account. I get the message "We cant open more accounts for you at the moment". Over the years I have had a very good credit score and it has been consistent for a lot of years

I contacted them via the app with a query and have been told. "we cant go into details nor can we disclose the eligibility criteria, we in customer service don't have access to eligibility criteria.. and this is not shared with anyone."

So my annoyance is that you cannot apply directly for a Joint account at the offset without having a personal account first. But then you may or may not get the option to even apply. It just waste time for no reason. Starling does have an eligibility reasons at onset then they magically get redefined by their process in the background.

Starling bank I if you are reading this- Why not allow joint application at the onset of the process and then if declined it would mean there are no need for 2 personal accounts now created that will be cancelled? It waste's people time applying.

Forum people what are you thoughts - I assume AI is making decisions for Starling Bank.

flaneurs_lobster

I also cannot open a Starling current account.

I assume it's because some years ago I opened one and then swapped it inside a day to another bank for a hundred quid or so.

Cannot be sure if this is the reason because, as you say, banks etc will not divulge their criteria for accepting/rejecting an application for reasons that are pretty obvious - to prevent "gaming" of the system.

Why not try opening a joint account at either your or your brother's existing banks?

northwalesd

Maybe I'm reading something wrong, but since your brother does have the option of opening a joint account, why can you not just get your brother to open this JA? I'm sure you don't both need that option, unless you want to open two joint accounts.

eskbanker

So to get a Joint account you have to apply for a personal account first. As my brother had been a full-time carer for the past few years for my mum (uptil she died), we got him to apply first in case that had a factor. An account opened for him fine with access to "open a joint account". I applied and they setup a personal account for me, but I do not get the option to apply for a joint account. I get the message "We cant open more accounts for you at the moment".

If you don't get the joint option with your account but he does with his, can't he simply do the application to convert his?

Nasqueron

It's a business, they don't need to offer any service to you at all provided it's not for a discriminatory reason

You don't have a credit score of any kind, good or bad, the marketing novelty number you see is never used in lending decisions

As above, why not ask your brother to do the initiation process and you then scan his code to join?

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6660047/starling-bank-criteria-even-the-staff-do-not-know

Sorry for the loss.

Maybe because they do not offer Executor accounts. Which is what you are looking to open.

You need to talk to your mothers bank & see if you can keep that open till probate etc is sorted.

Barkin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81927215#Comment_81927215

Not really. They just want a regular joint account.

Whether they should be looking for an executor account is another matter, and not something that Starling would have any knowledge of.

averageguy11

I have a business account and personal and have found there service to be excellent.