Seems starling will be adding deposits via the post office in early 2018
Just to add, I think this is a potential blocker to a lot of new sign ups. My girlfriend said to me āit just seems a bit stupid at the moment cos I canāt have it as my single accountā. Sheās not wrong, she doesnāt see sense in having multiple accounts, which is quite reasonable, but until you can deposit cash easily, and we all do get cash at some point in the year, then it canāt be your single account.
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Yes, Starling do have an arrangement with NatWest. However, the reports are that NatWest branches are pretty unhelpful about it. Most of them try and say you canāt pay cash in unless you have an account with them. I had to push my local branch several times to get them to accept cash deposits. There are some real horror stories about other NatWest branches on the Starling forum - refusing to accept cash, or saying ājust this onceā or making people sign a form to disclaim responsibility our whatever!
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You just tell them you are depositing under an āAgency Bankingā agreement and if they look confused you tell them āI suggest you look at your branch banking manual as it tells you what to doā 
that always does the trick. Sound confident. If you sound unsure yourself they are more likely to question it.
Handelsbanken may have been aware of this problem as they used to publish details of the branch manual chapter and page on a slip in their credit book
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Thatās great - except I shouldnāt have to do that.
Starling have the agreement with Natwest, they should put pressure on Natwest to honour that agreement fully - or take their business elsewhere (sounds like they may have the Post Office to fall back on in 2018).
As a customer, it should be as easy as depositing cash in any other account. Itās not.
Here is a great example where Monzo should be able to learn lessons.
I wouldnāt normally be so harsh except Starling advertise this service - they should make sure it works, everywhere, otherwise there is no point.
Iāll also note that I gave Starling a chance to respond on their own forums - nobody did (although hey, itās Christmas, so Iāll let them off). See this thread, with loads of examples of people failing to do something as easy as pay in cash:
https://community.starlingbank.com/t/problems-with-cash-deposits-at-natwest
Please donāt rely on Natwest, Monzo.
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I agree. It just shows you how poorly trained NafWest staff are.
That is why I prefer PayPoint for paying in cash. Particularly with a couple of Post Offices shut in my village and the neighbouring village, being able to deposit at about 15,000 more outlets than the Post Office is a big plus. Plus you avoid the huge queues a Post Office has just before Christmas 
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Poorly trained and very poorly managed. Plus NatWest are closing a lot of branches at the moment, so I guess staff are especially worried about putting a foot wrong and risking their job.
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I know when thereās times when top up canāt happen and you got cash you want to pay in it would be easier if the post office gave you the facility to pay in cash so that you donāt need to use another bank to pay money in to first
Is it? Having just one account seems incredibly risky to meā¦ if anything goes wrong, you have no accessible money for a period of time.
I have five current accounts, three here and two in the US. To me, that seems a reasonable number, though Iād like to add a euro account at some point for good measure with Brexit and all if I can figure out a good way to do so.
Obviously, whatās right for each person will varyā¦ but having just one account does seem quite risky to me.
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In 16 years of banking sheās had one account with lloyds thatās never had a problem. Thereās no good reason to think that sheād have a problem now. Like you said everyone will have different needs, personally I think 5 accounts, 2 of which are in a separate currency, is excessive, unless you have s very high income or savings or incomes from different countries.
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Itās all I have done for most of my life. To be honest the usefulness of keeping a āfirewallā between my Coop account and online transactions is becoming a pain having to top up Monzo every time I want to spend. I will be reverting to one account and see which challenger brings out a joint account first.
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Iāve got an idea for paying in cash. I have absolutely no idea if it would work but I think it could?
How about you request on the app how much you want to pay in, Monzo sends you an invoice billing you that amount, you take that to a shop that uses PayPoint and effectively pay it as a bill - when really, Monzo just credit your account.
This could even be extended to just having a barcode produced on your phone that gets scanned at the counter.
I have no idea about costs involved etcā¦ Thought I would throw it out there anyway 
could work?
EDIT
Half asleep. Iāve just realised this idea has already been mentioned, oops 
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Every time? That would be a pain! What about just transferring, say, three months worth of spending at a time to Monzo? Also, I should note, I definitely am not advocating the āfirewallā idea in the first place. My salary goes into Monzo, I spend from Monzo. I just have a little bit in accounts with Metro and Lloyds to use in a pinch.
I have some savings from when I lived in the US, and Iāve had no great desire to convert it to GBP with the recent trend for the GBP. Eventually, Iāll spend all of it (thereās not that much, and I use it on trips to the US and things like that), but until then, thatās why those accounts exist. Yes, itās a bit of a pain and probably overkill for most people.
The US is a pretty bad choice for second accounts, though, given the residency requirements to open an account (both my banks know I moved abroad, but they still require a US mailing address even as a current customer, too, so cards/etc go to someone I know in the US whom I trust).
I have a friend, though, with no connection to Canada who has a few accounts in Canada. No residency requirement from some Canadian banks and you can get a USD account. Only rule was non-residents must open in person. I might end up moving my USD up to Canada when I get a chance, and getting come CAD for good measure.
A lot of it is also about accessibility of money when travelling. I probably go to an extreme on the other end, though, I will acknowledge.
I agree with you now. The trouble is that I have no compelling use for Monzo. I along with the majority (I suspect) prefer to have 1 and only 1 account which fulfils all my needs. I think that multiple accounts are only useful if some need isnāt satisfied by your main account. I will keep Monzo as it might develop and there is no downside for me. I will be able to practice transferring a new DD from Monzo when I get the details from O2.
And what do you do when you need access to money in a pinch and that bankās systems have completely fallen over (it happens semi-regularlyā¦). Or the debit card is blocked? Or the bank completely fails and youāre waiting for your FSCS payout?
These things do happen.
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In 45 years of holding 10 current accounts in 6 countries the only time it could have been an issue (it wasnāt) was with Monzo. I always carry a credit card for such emergencies.
Fair. Everyone has their own needs. I wonāt begin to pretend Iām not on the high end for number of current accounts I have. And Iām trying to decide which ones 2018 will bring. Iām thinking N26 definitely and maybe either Nationwide (for the interest) or ICBC (for the UnionPay card).
that sounds usefulā¦is it a UnionPay Debit, Credit or Prepay?
UnionPay Debit. No credit cards in the UK yet. It has no foreign purchase fees tho!
Also worth noting that like Amex and Discover, UnionPay generally isnāt subject to DCC. Rates are cherry-picked though (e.g. they wonāt be the perfect rates of Mastercard and Discover, but more like Visa and Amex rates).
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I think the main reason to have multiple is to be getting as high interest as possible on as much dormant money as possible, while keeping it easy to access.
For example, it looks like the Co-Op donāt give any interest on the balance in their CA? And their savings rates look pretty bad? Other than the initial hassle of opening another account, why only bank with them if someone else can be giving you 2-5% interest on any money just sitting in a current account, and keep your Co-Op account for whichever the reason is you like them right now?