They’ve changed their application process recently so ask more about what your business will be doing, how and where it spends/income etc.
It’s definitely longer but it’s a very simple process. Anyone who owns a business shouldn’t find it an issue.
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Seems a bit of a rant for the sake of it really.
He’s shocked that you have to apply where they have an app and that you need documents?
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I think he meant that you can’t apply on a laptop/computer rather than you can’t apply on Android. Badly worded, but I do think it is a fair point (if I’ve understood it correctly).
I know what he meant, but it doesn’t really help his point.
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From an app based bank I don’t think it’s a fair point at all, I think it’s a ridiculous point. I don’t moan to ASOS that I can’t buy from them in my local Tesco because I know, and it’s explained to me very clearly they’re an online retailer. I would never expect an app based bank to allow you to do anything other than via the app on your smartphone, because they say that’s what they are. If they choose to offer web based desktop banking or post office or pay point services or such, that’s a very useful addition, but an app based bank should be expected to have just about everything via the app on your phone.
For someone who seems to know this area and design very well his complaints seemed incredibly petty to me and I just have a feeling he’d wound himself into a fury.
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Exactly. He says, for example,
You are expected to have a million different documents to hand.
I must have told people a billion times not to exaggerate on the internet. It doesn’t help make your point at all.
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He can still think that a desktop application process would be useful. It might be easier for him to upload things or fill out the information that he needs (I don’t have a business account so I don’t know how it works).
It might be a useful addition for him to have a desktop application process. That is not ridiculous. It is something that is standard for banks. Yes, Starling might be app-based but it does still have a desktop presence. It isn’t ridiculous to think that a desktop application process might be helpful.
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Additionally it isn’t ridiculous to ask what documents will be needed at the start of the process or be able to save the application as a draft.
Hypothetical scenario:
You spent 20 mins filling out info, end up on step 7, to realise you need your annual turnover figure. You don’t manage your books yourself, your accountant does. So you email your accountant for the figure.
Well, your accountant doesn’t reply until tomorrow, you either a) stay in the application and can’t use the app for anything else or b) accept the 20 mins you spent before are wasted and redo it.
And as mentioned, you can’t go back in the questions which means you can’t even copy and paste the answers out to save yourself time next time.
It’s pretty understandable why it might cause frustration.
N.B. for those who don’t know what sort of questions a business application contains, it’s often word heavy, e.g “what does your business do?”, “how does your business make money?” etc.
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I agree that this is bad user design.
Singing up to an app based bank via an app - well he should have expected that.
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But the documents requested are entirely dependant on what you select during the application process. It’s not a set list of documents they need.
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But he didn’t say he thought it would be useful. That would have been measured and reasonable, not a rage of tweets that as @Anarchist has already pointed out are very exaggerated. I think it would be very useful if Monzo created Virgin Money style hubs in city centres so there was somewhere bricks and mortar I could go to speak to staff and pay cheques into and such. However I understand completely that that isn’t the premise of Monzo so is very unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely. Doesn’t hurt me making the suggestion, but it is unlikely to get much traction either with the bank, or here, because it turns the basic premise of Monzo that it is literally ‘the bank that’s on your phone’ upside down. I certainly am not going to go on a big rage on here because I can’t do that, because that’s not what I signed up to, and being a reasonable person not a douchebag (I hope) I try not to rage at people because I’ve picked a course of action which perhaps isn’t suitable for my situation.
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Then say “you may require these documents”. When I apply for current accounts, I only need 1, maybe 2 of the documents listed yet it still lists a lot more.
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It’s going to be very offputting to have a list of 20 documents you may need which people may spend time gathering and then only actually require two of them. It’d piss me off more than the app saving my position in the application whilst I grab what I do actually need.
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And clearly, the alternative (what they are doing now) is also very offputting to some people.
I agree with you, especially on this bit!
An app-based bank would be expected to be primarily app-based. The “default” is always going to be via the app, and you shouldn’t expect anything different. Obviously, as you say, there may be other services or “channels” ancillary to that but they are different as they are not the primary function of the business. Paying in cash at the Post Office, for example, might be useful but it is not up there in the list of primary features because most customers probably only use it now and again!
I think this guy might be better suited to a traditional high street lender. He seems like the sort who would actually want to walk into a branch to “have a chat” about his application, old-style, and probably thinks even using a computer (let alone phone) is high tech!
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Maybe, but it would likely be pretty obvious which ones were going to be applicable to you. A copy of your accounts, knowing your registered office address and registration number at companies house would probably be a good start.
You may then be asked for other things, but it’s relatively predictable and not random stuff, you would assume. Any well-organised person would have all of it to hand anyway.
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I wonder if Starling is going to finish its rebrand? The app’s splash screen has the old Starling font, the same as the debit card. And the notification icon still looks suspiciously like the old logo…
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I think one person on Twitter complaining about this isn’t exactly a large population of people put off by this though.
If it was a serious issue which a lot of people didn’t like, then Starling would notice they’re not getting many people signing up for their Business Bank and change their processes.
From the sound of it, the main problem is the lack of being able to save an application part way through it. That is something that should (and probably could be easily) fixed.
I wonder if the app based application only is also partly a security check as well - so you only get 1 person applying and not get bots applying for 100’s of accounts as some sort of fraud thing?
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I suspect that US customers might not totally agree with this.
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