I use Curve to allow Triodos via Google Pay. Works a treat. Don’t mind the £3 charge as I know my money is doing good. If the app isn’t A+, it’s certainly B I think, and certainly enough for basic needs.
New feature: Cubes
It’s just a clone of pots/spaces/pockets. No FSCS protection or interest, only use for this I could think of would be to separate out cashback (would be nice if they could do this automatically).
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Cuboids, really.
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I wonder if there’s anything coming after February 14th when the cashback offer ends?
No word of anything so far, though early days I suppose.
I do wonder if there’s been a change of management in Algbra as they’ve got on their roadmap ‘Airport Lounge Access’ which, to me, doesn’t seem to fit in with their ‘sustainability’ ethos.
In the last 12 months I think the only developments with Algbra has been (finally) the introduction of Apple/Google Pay (which should’ve been there at launch really - but not sure if Apple/Google have strict rules on letting businesses join Apple/Google Pay to prove they’re suitability first), and the cash back offer (which is definitely a ‘loss-leader’ to Algbra as they try and get more customers). Oh - and Cubes - which are not really that useful at the moment until they introduce features like - actual interest on them so you can use them as a savings account, round-up option for spending into the cube, being able to pay bills directly from them with a Direct Debit and, most crazily that they didn’t launch with this being able to link a virtual card (which they already offer) to a cube so cubes are definitely ‘half-baked’.
I’m really not sure about the long term viability of Algbra. There’s been things on their roadmap which does go with their USP - ethical rewards and ethical investments, but they’ve been there since launch and don’t seem to have developed much (and I’m saying this as someone who uses Starling as their main bank so I’m very used to Fintech promises taking a long time to be delivered!).
I probably need to ‘bite the bullet’ and jump over to Triodos if I want to get serious about ethical banking and investments but there’s just a few niggles that stop me - the monthly charge for starters and the lack of Apple/Google pay. I’ve also heard for a ‘mobile app’ current account, their mobile app isn’t actually that good…
None of it is particularly good away from the ethical side. It’s why I was hoping Algbra would consider changing their mind about being a real bank. Tridos has a great ethos but it’s beyond legacy, I’m not sure they even offer faster payments.
Back to Algbra; I have to concur. Their initial message seemed good, and I did make a comment a while back noting that I hoped that their initial funding didn’t just get spiffed up the wall on fancy events. They have potential, but I can’t see them making it out of 24 alive. There’s just nothing different enough about them for me to think they will.
Is there any bank not offering lounge access? It’s now sold with package holiday deals and at this point the main terminal will be emptier than the lounge.
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The monthly charge is ethical though – Triodos being honest about what it costs to provide you a service. If you “want to get serious about ethical banking” Triodos is literally right there showing you what that looks like.
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Yep- and I accept that (and don’t have a fundamental ‘charging upfront for banking is outrageous!’ issue) but the downside of the charge at the moment for me is that I’m not 100% sure of switching to them (and from other comments, there’s other issues with their service) so do I risk paying for an account that I decide after a few weeks there’s too many negative points to in using the service, or stay where I am and just keep an eye on their service and feedback on it until they seem to have updated their tech stack to offer a better service?
Somewhere, (I might google it) there was a list of ‘ethical/sustainable’ banks in which, at the time, Monzo and Starling both scored fairly highly (not as high as Triodos or Co-op) but that was mainly because at the time, neither Monzo or Starling lent to ‘problematic’ industries. Starling’s probably dropped down the list as a major shareholder is one of the Gulf states I believe.
At the moment, my ‘money shuffle’ is salary paid to Starling and most bills are paid from there (there’s a few left in Monzo because I need to actually call up and speak to someone like some 18th century pleb to get them to change a DD over) → spending money lump sum goes to Chase to qualify for the cashback but then it’s ‘drip feed’ into Algbra to actual get their rewards. This way, if there is an issue with Algbra, at least I’ve got a back-up (even if it is probably one of the least ethical/sustainable banks there is!).
I know this is an Algbra thread, but as a user of both it’s worth noting that Google Pay with Triodos is easily done via Curve’s free level. @qwango_uk
Algbra for my D2D personal spending.
Triodos is our household shopping account.
Algbra is my D2D because of the cash back really. And they’re never going to do interest I think because they run on Islamic principles.
Couldn’t they just do ‘expected profit rate’ like Al Rayan?
Also how have you liked Triodos so far? What’s their app like (looks pretty clean from their website)?
Tried to join them before but they kept insisting I sent them a certified bank statement, wouldn’t accept my Starling one since I printed it myself, also wouldn’t take the one I got from Nationwide in-person since it was in black and white.
@louismiles04 I’ve had an account for years so don’t know their sign up rules now, but it was OK back then.
It’s all a bit basic (no pots, analytics etc) but app functionality is better than some, for example you can create SO which you can’t with Smile etc.
Messages are web only, but you login with a QR code from the app which is a good idea.
Doesn’t do faster payments but I can usually wait a few minutes.
Google Pay via Curve.
Don’t think the app has ever gone down.
Did you use the certified statement option from the Starling app?
Yes. They said it had to be from a branch and I couldn’t print it myself.
Famously difficult to find a Starling branch, don’t they know?! 
I would’ve escalated and asked Triodos to explain what exactly they wanted me to do, being that Starling only provides certified copies of statements through its app.
It’s a shame. If you’re into basic, ethical banking Triodos has a lot going for it.
The person I spoke to on the phone was pretty patronising and sort of put me off. Couldn’t be bothered with any more hassle.
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Does anyone know how quickly the cashback tracks?
Is it like Chase where it shows as pending and then once the transaction is complete the cashback is available.
I know there is a note in the app which mentions that it can take some time to receive the cashback.
The reason I ask is that I’ve made a few Apple Pay transactions this morning for online shopping and they’re yet to show.
Cashback is definitely not same-day (I think they actually say in the T+C’s it can be up to 30 days).
I had some cash back yesterday - and the last time I used by Algbra account to buy something was the 23rd Jan. So, probably at least a week for it to be processed.
There’s also no way to ‘link’ what transaction the cash back you’ve been given is from apart from trying to work out what 1.5% is of each transaction and matching up the amount. The cash back yesterday was for 3p and on the 23rd I spent £3.74 so it’s probably that one.
Ok thanks. I just wanted to get a feel for what I’m in for and it seems the long game.
You’re right, Chase made it look really easy.