Monzo vs. Starling (After 5 Months)

I’ve been using both Monzo and Starling for a few months now. Although i only use these accounts casually for spending money and not paying bills/direct debits etc some banks seem to be ahead in regards to features most of us use everyday.

I’m using iOS i know that some things are slower to get pushed out to Android so apologies if i mention something that others can’t chime in yet.

Things Monzo does better (Personally) – :monzo:

• Notifications – Awesome!, the speed, alert noise (Kerr-ching!) informative and they have fun emojis! :grinning: plus it’s different! Glad this is one thing that isn’t getting lost in the sea of notifications.

• Support desk – Only had to use it twice for errors (Not due to Monzo) but staff were quick and helpful.

• The Home screen – The graph and transactions never seem too cluttered and all the info I need at a glance is there. I know some people don’t like look of the graph but i prefer it to Starlings ‘Pulse’ which takes up too much screen real estate for me.

• Able to search transactions - So useful genuinely shocked that every bank app doesn’t have this feature.

• Transparency always the first to tell you what they’re up too (even if they are slow to get something out) I appreciate the fact that the good and bad is brought to the customers attention but they seem very slow to get out the features that seemingly everyone is asking for (apple pay, save the change etc).

• Use of Touch ID when paying someone (as opposed to password on Starling)

Things Starling does better – :purple_heart:

• Pin code fallback on entry should touch ID fail

• Apple pay!

• Full card info in the app, including the CVV number (don’t have to dig out my card every time I buy something online)

• Goals! – Everything about this is better (currently) than pots – Able to personalize them with pictures, schedule payments into them etc.

• Able to edit/remove payees transfer contacts AND add pictures to personalize them.
(An over zealous spellcheck means i have a payee spelt wrong on Monzo and no way to edit/delete or personalize)

• Interest on accounts

• Although all the fintech banks seem to be offering similar features starling always seems to be first (In the UK anyway) and it never seems like a rush job, everything new always works and works well…at least for me – Example - Apple pay, Goals, Marketplace

These are what I’ve found after using both accounts causally for the last few months. I’m sure people are having different experiences based on how they need to use the accounts, but this is what i found to be helpful features.
I feel although a lot of Fintech companies are moving very quickly, but in regards to adding the features that affect day to day life Monzo seems to be very slow. Which is a shame as i like the bank/app/community and secretly hope that they start winning the battle of the banks…

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I don’t think we need another thread for this :slight_smile:

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A post was merged into an existing topic: Monzo vs Starling - heart versus head