p486
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I have both Monzo & Starling, as of this month Monzo is my main account taking over from a legacy bank account. As of this morning my salary went in at 1am, all payments went out from 2am onwards. Starling deals with those payments that occur much later in the month so to speak. Best of both worlds.
I intend to keep it that way as I like what the Monzo app does and more so now that Iāve had my salary come in & payments go out 
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I use both banks. None ready as a primary bank but every month they get closer to what I require. We still in the early stages of the Monzo / Starling journey and itās great watching them develop.
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How far back? Iām not sure youāve got time 
There is much more positive feedback on Monzo, and the attitude of some on this forum towards Starling is very negative.
If someone came along and read a few snippets, they would be think Starling was useless! My point was simply that they both have a lot to offer.
My current preference is Starling, especially since the Monzo app on the iPhone X is very buggy.
But todayās announcements are really encouraging to see, and itās where Monzo trumps Starling time and time again (transparency of upcoming feature).
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Ah, OK.
It IS a Monzo Customer forum though so itās not wholly surprising that you see that sort of reaction from a self-selected community like this. At the same time, declaring your own opinion as āmore balancedā than other peopleās could backfire a bit with the skeptical reader (which is where I was coming from initially).
Iāve been tempted to try Starling a couple of times, just from my unhealthy banking fascination, but I really have no need of another current account.
Itās not a feature war for me as some seem to see it so I guess Iām the sort of customer that theyāre definitely not in competition for.
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Oh you are absolutely right. Although, you usually see a fair amount of ācompany bashingā on their own forums. Not seen much of that here aside from the Apple Pay debacle - But thatās cleared up now.
I like to try the various Fintech apps out, just for curiosity - 99% of my day to day spend goes through AMEX anyway!
Both feature sets (of Monzo and Starling), are so similar for the āevery day personā, you really canāt go wrong - Monzo edge it on customer service and āwarm fuzzy feelingā - Starling edge it on their app and historical features (for me anyway).
Whoever does a young persons account (for the kids) will probably edge it for me - But both propositions look very exciting!
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I made full starling November/December timeā¦ For some reason comparing the apps nowā¦ I regret itā¦ Want to give Monzo a chance at being my full accountā¦ Hmmmmmm what to do?
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Do it obviously
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transfer half the money in your starling account and use both 2 weeks each a month and see which you prefer, each have their benefits
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Or use the switch service and go #FullMonzo 
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I had Starling and currently closing it. Customer service responded quickly but were unable to solve even a simple question. The Monzo app looks better to me and I like the idea of a community to get additional help & ideas. Early days yet but so far so good.
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Welcome on board 
Just in case you were not aware - Starling also has a community.
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Hi. Many thanks. However, Iāve lost confidence in them - they couldnāt even get my address to populate in the app correctly as although verified on clicking done it truncated too much info. Iām now happily sailing in a coral sea.
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I get that - fast but poor quality
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Besides my address getting truncated I tried to switch. Wouldnāt let me submit request. Contacted customer services and explained if I tick āno debit card with this accountā letās me submit. Thatās ok just tick it, will be fine. Next day get a message saying switch failed. Contacted customer services. Failed as you didnāt give your card details. I couldnāt as I ticked no card option as advised. Left and right elbow and all that.
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I have had a Monzo account for about 18 months but also set up a Starling account a few months ago, and I thought it might be useful to explain why I did so, given that they are very similar offerings, and why I think that Monzo needs to up its game a bit to compete.
- Interest: 0.5% on Starling cash, not much, but better than 0% on Monzo
- Forex: Equal pegging, both give good rates. However, I have frequently had Monzo refused overseas.
- Top-ups: I get begging messages from Monzo asking me not to do this, but not from Starling
- Overdrafts: Not eligible for an overdraft from Monzo. Starling gave me Ā£250 on Day 1 without my asking. As I have over 25K credit lines on other cards and zero end month balances on them, Monzo is hamstringing itself here since banks only really make money from loans and in my case at least its algorithms have in my opinion produced a dumb answer.
- Credit rating: Monzo only shares rating info with CallCredit, which is a small player. Starling goes wider. So a Monzo account will do nothing much that is useful for your credit rating as the account is invisible to the major credit rating agencies.
- Apps: Level pegging. Both have adequate breakdowns. Note that both have lost the advantage of instant app sight of spending as all my other cards now do this.
- Statements: Starling wins here as it will email proper monthly statements.
- Setting up: Instant for Starling, wait list for Monzo.
- Main account: I am probably old-fashioned but I would not be interested in using any app bank as my main account
Iād be interested to hear from others why they feel that from an objective point of view Monzo would be a better choice than Starling.
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Still smarting Monzo didnāt give you an overdraft then?
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Itās of no consequence to me as I wouldnāt use it anyway but, as I say, itās a sign of a dumb algorithm, also Starling is equal or superior in other respects.
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Iām not sure that anyone can give an objective point of view about why one bank is better than another. Everyone has different needs and different priorities. Monzoās isnāt for anyone, so if you feel more comfortable with Starling or with a high street bank, then thatās more than okay.
A few thoughts from me:
Monzo offered me a larger overdraft than Starling. These things will all depend on the individual and their circumstances.
Iād rather no information was shared with credit reference agencies, so this is a plus for me. (I know Iām in the minority here).
I didnāt know that Starling did this. Whereās the option? Iām keen to try!
The wait list is gone. Yay! 
As I say, different folk, different needs. I donāt think anyone would force you to use an app bank against your will 
(Although now I have images of Tom and Anne Boden teaming up to hunt down the vulnerable after dark, using any means necessary to get folk to download their appsā¦)
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Sensible response, thanks for that, Peter. My main bank shares no information with credit reference agencies and, like you, I am very happy with that. However, for most people a shared rating will be helpful if it is positive, and I think that Monzo is short-changing them by sharing with only one minor rating agency, and equally its lending decisions will be skewed by basing them on assessments from that minor agency. For Starling monthly statements, go to Account Management then Statements.
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