I’m currently using both Monzo and Starling, with Starling primarily handling my bills and Monzo serving as my main account for salary deposits and daily spending. I’m considering consolidating all my banking with Monzo and would appreciate your insights on the pros and cons of each. For those who’ve made a similar switch or maintain a similar setup, what have been your experiences? Alternatively, does anyone else use separate accounts for bills and daily spending? How has this worked for you? Or, if you have any other tips, do let me know
This kind of discussion has been done to death on here countless times over.
You’ll get a mix of people saying it’s best not to have all your eggs in one basket - so have multiple accounts. And others that prefer the simplicity of having everything all in one account.
Ultimately, it’s you that needs to make the list of pros and cons and make a decision based on that. What you want is what matters, nobody else, and they don’t know all of your circumstances to be able to tell you one way or the other
Ok so for all intents and purposes it sounds like Monzo is already your main bank so the transition would be smooth.
You should just set up a pot for your bills and have your direct debits assigned to come out of there. After you get paid, use salary sorter to move the cash you need in to your bills pot, then your main balance remains accurate as your disposable income.
Funny, I’ve got separate accounts for savings, investments etc. but I just can’t deal with the thought of having bills and spending separate. Bill pots in Monzo make this much easier, but there are few other banks allow that kind of separation within the same account.
Don’t use CASS to move your direct debits from Starling. Two reasons.
It makes it much easier to move things back if in a couple of months you realise you don’t like your setup.
It’s a good opportunity to go through your direct debits and work out what you do and don’t need.
Tips? I take my custom where I get paid/rewarded.
That is why I can tell you that I use Lloyds, Chase, Natwest, RBS, Halifax, Nationwide.
I use an account based on my circumstances and needs.
Brand loyalty is already out of the window for me.
It really depends on what you’re looking for to be honest. At various points I’ve been all in on Monzo, half in on Monzo, barely in on Monzo, or not at all.
I prefer the simpler all eggs in one basket life, but that’s not always been the best solution for me either.
Separate bank accounts for bills and spending has always worked well for me. I generally prefer things like my savings and investments to be with an external provider too.
But if you want to go all in, and you like Monzo, they’re not a bad bank to do it with, particularly if you find value with their premium account options. I just use mine for Monzo Flex these days, but that’s more because the nature of how Chase works is a better proposition for me to be all in with right now.
If not I would open one and have a play, if you prefer the interface and approach then I would, like others say, move things manually even though its a bit of pain it will allow you to go back to Starling if you ever wanted.
My main is Monzo and have no issues and its interface is best in class but I know others prefer simpler interfaces with less functionality so its a personal thing.
I have had no issues with Monzo with support on the few occasions I have reached out.
Starling currently dont seem to allow you to open an account again after closing it.
I agree - I think you need to work out what you want to achieve and what’s important to you.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I do the majority of my banking with Monzo. However I shop around for the best interest rates for my savings, I pay some of my bills from other accounts because I get cashback on them (cheers Santander) and so on.
It can be a bit of a faff moving money around at the start of each month (looking at you Club Lloyds), so it’s not for everybody. I also have to manually track what is where!
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Doug_hboy
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I would say for bank accounts and credit cards don’t put all your eggs in one basket. It’s always worked for me. At the end of the day it’s your decision.
Yeah it’s a tricky one as I use monzo for my salary and monthly bills and flex account. I’ve often thought about another account to move direct debits to but I don’t want the faff of constantly moving money and do like all transactions in one place - however saying that I do have a separate bank for my savings as it’s always good having a back up bank with money in it just in case… I know people say “if a bank has tech issues you can’t access money” but I use credit cards mainly for everything so don’t have that issue haha
