Oh, First Direct, the king of telephone banking.
The are just HSBC dressed in the 90s clothing 
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I can’t fault their customer service for a second in their defence. They have been a brilliant bank for us over the last 5 years or so (and for me independently for a number of years prior to that). They just don’t offer much of the functionality that I find myself wanting / needing here in 2018 
A shame really, for such a pioneering bank when they launched its disappointing they haven’t maintained their dynamism as they’ve grown. Again though; from a customer service perspective they are outstanding…
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If interest comes tomorrow I’ll be switching via CASS straight away
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Customer service alone will not win you customers but a great product without good customer service guarantees failure.
I wonder if at some point FD had separated from HSBC, then more creative thinking would’ve been allowed and some progressive changes could’ve been implemented.
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Unless legacy rust comes in the way that is. As far as I know First Direct is still legacy, they just have competent people on the phone.
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Interesting thread:
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Interesting conversation, thanks for linking it! 
It seems that a lot of people are using Monzo as an account for discretionary spending 
and full Monzo thing might not be what everyone wants!
I guess turning card top ups off would help them to do decent thing and go full Monzo
It is quite refreshing to get away from fintech forums and see what an average person thinks about challenger banks.
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Hi I’m currently using Starling and Monzo but would rather go full Monzo, the only thing stopping me changing is Monzo’s UI.
It’s fine but just not smooth enough nor does it seem very polished. I keep trying to use Monzo but always go back to Starling for day to day stuff for this one reason.
Just looks and feels a little better. If Monzo update this then i’ll go full Monzo in a heartbeat
I guess UI preference is problematic.
I didn’t like Starling’s one bit, seemed very cluttered and unintuitive.
But that’s my opinion on it. Monzo’s isn’t bad, but could do with minor tweaks.
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It’s mainly the goals/pots and payees that i prefer.
I’m not a huge fan of the pulse that is Starlings home screen.
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Agree completely
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Feed is better on Monzo, useful having it as the first thing that opens as I can quickly check if I’ve ordered too many pints 
Starling does have a nice payee interface
The account screen on Monzo is very busy and just needs some TLC
I like summary on Monzo, but it has its moments where it’s quirky but that’s down to function not looks.
Help is good on Monzo and everything is quite easy to find
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Very slow customer support. No option to deposit money. Unable to arrange overdraft.
How can I use Monzo as my bank account without overdraft? Having a lot of Direct Debits.
Sometimes my house payments and loan repayments where taken days before payday so I need overdraft to cover DD payments for couple of days.
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I could say the same about Starling
I’ve a 1000£ overdraft with Monzo from day one
To this day I can’t get a penny from Starling
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The point of Monzo though is to help you money your money better so you never need to use your overdraft, especially for bill payments
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True, but I think not having an overdraft ‘just in case’ would have been a deal breaker for #fullmonzo for me too - sometimes you need a few months of Monzo to get your finances in shape!
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Yeah I guess that’s fair enough, I’ve never used an overdraft, so guess it’s difficult/wrong for me to comment
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Ah interesting! Never even any 0% ones?
I’m probably one of these people that banks hate - I hate bad debt, but use free overdrafts, 0% credit card deals etc to make my money work better for me.
I’ve never paid a Monzo overdraft fee, but it’s useful to avoid bounced direct debits or transactions - for example, I can go overdrawn in the morning with then transfer some money in before the charges hit.
PS Definitely not wrong to comment - different perspectives are important!
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So, this has been discussed a few times across various threads, and perhaps this isn’t the right thread for it…
But the way people think about overdrafts is part of the problem - It’s a problem created by this illusion of free money which stems back to the days of student loans/bank accounts with little to no interest on borrowed money.
To me, an overdraft is a “no-no” - If I’m in it, I’ve done something wrong (this is just my thoughts in my situation, I’m not saying it’s the same for everyone).
My “overdraft” is effectively the last £500 in my current account - That’s my “emergency buffer”, that other people will use an overdraft for.
I was genuinely surprised to see that the lack of overdrafts were a barrier to people joining Monzo (or going #fullmonzo).
I guess if you don’t have any savings what so ever, but want to use Monzo’s features in order to build up some savings… but need that initial safety of an overdraft - I can absolutely see how that would work.
I also find the discussion around overdrafts very complicated when it comes to Monzo - Not the fees (that’s a different discussion for a day never to be had again), but the fact that Monzo is looking to turn a profit and make money, but that is (currently), through lending, and having people pay back more than they borrowed.
Of course this is banking, and it’s how it’s always worked - Monzo aren’t a charity. It’s just that until Monzo can generate alternative income streams, the “profit from lending” side of things seems to be the opposite of what Monzo are trying to achieve.
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