Starling Discussion & Feedback

[Peter_R (Peter Roberts)]

Apologies, I misunderstood

[Rat_au_van (Em)]

Firstly it’s Kool-Aid

You, and many others, may not agree with the overdraft charge system but it’s better than most and not as good as some. No, it’s not Starling’s rate but do we want all neobanks to mirror each other exactly? Isn’t competition and different business models what we want?
You can read headlines about profitability and directors pay but did you read beyond the headlines? Share options and huge reduction of costs for new users?
You point out the foreign ATM charges and the card top up issue which cost huge amounts after saying they aren’t good at making a profit. So do you or don’t you want them to be profitable as you have contradicted yourself there.
At the end of the day if they don’t live up to our expectations the customers will leave, but I haven’t seen anything that makes me think they won’t

[tbutz (🏳️‍🌈 Producer of "low value commentary")]

Comments like yours make me wish for a dislike button. So much negativity and cynicism. Yikes.

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

Before you write another post telling us about how naieve we are & that you know better, I’d recommend checking your facts because you’ve got almost every comment (overdraft rates are equivalent to borrowing £1,300 from Starling, ATM withdrawals fees are higher than the other challenger’s etc.) in that post wrong.

[Chapuys (Kevyn)]

I am constructively critical of Monzo all the time.

I’ve taken Monzo to account for their overdraft fees (which @anon91821566 personally replied) and the flaky account overdraft terms and conditions (which @anon91821566 also replied). I don’t think the next set of fees - for cash deposits - is correct and will be critical of that when it arrives. Monzo didn’t change anything because of my constructive criticism, but I personally got the answer I wanted in response and must allow Monzo to make (what I think) are mistakes and then hopefully change them in the future, i.e. the government is already thinking about banning fixed overdraft costs etc.

That being said, Monzo has so many positive points that I still use them with enthusiasm. It doesn’t mean I won’t bring them to account if needs be.

[evangelskies (Eve)]

I thought your first post started off well and had some justifications, then promptly veered off into really negative territory. It seems like a complete 180 from the first post, which judging from the likes you did get a few supporters!

Lots of people expressed their misgivings on the overdraft thread(s) before with their own personal experiences without resorting to mudslinging/ assumptions. Your words seem to be all lip service- despite claiming to be concerned about users on here most of the vitriol seems to be aimed at us! It’s difficult to convince others when you’re insulting everyone.

@anon17211381

Cool-Aid

Funny, I only know one person who spells it like that.

[HoddzDJ]

I just don’t get it… if you accidently dip into your overdraft then move money from somewhere else to cover it. If you don’t have that option then you’re getting charged for emergency credit to get you out of the crap. Surely it is as simple as that?

If you’re smart, you could even fund getting back in the black at Monzo with a Starling overdraft. If that’s gonna save you money and you’re happy to do a bit of work then go crazy and do it.

Monzo have been very open that their overdraft fees are currently 50p a day. The last I saw (and I don’t follow overdraft stuff here very closely, so I may well have missed stuff) was that they will always be open to new ideas and pricing for it. So if it’s not working, I’m pretty sure it would change, as you said yourself…

@anon17211381

You are just the product.

[Anarchist (Press ‘Help’ search ‘Contact us’ or email help@monzo.com or call 0800 802 1281)]

@anon17211381

After today, I am more aware of what Monzo’s practices are

Have I missed something? What happened today?

[j06 (Jamie)]

@Anarchist

Have I missed something? What happened today?

Trello joined the forum

[anon61199758]

What are the key differences between Monzo and Starling? I looked at Starling app screenshots and must say Monzo seems to have a lighter, more appealing and easy on the eyes App. I wish there was a dark mode in Monzo though.

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

There’s a topic for that check out the feedback in this thread -

Starling Discussion & Feedback

I have both Monzo and Starling cards and have followed both from the early days. Starling is always ahead - first to get a banking licence, first to get current accounts, first to get Android Pay, only one so far to have Apple Pay payments and Apple Pay current a/c top-up, only one to integrate with Yolt. So if I were an unfeeling AI robot I should choose Starling, so why do I always favour and always champion Monzo? The answer is: they feel less corporate they act less corporate they have o…

[anon61199758]

That thread is not a good read I am sure it would have some useful posts but most of it is like a ‘pissing match’

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

That’s just how it goes in these communities generally I’m afraid. If you ask here, most people will tell you to go with Monzo & if you ask in Starling’s community, they’ll recommend Starling if you’re switching from one of the high street banks, both are far better than what you’ve been used to using until now.

If you want to see what regular users say about Monzo, I’d recommend https://twitter.com/monzolovetweets.

I hope you make the right choice (for your sake )

[anon61199758]

@alexs

for your sake

Thanks for your concern but you don’t have to burden yourself for my sake

I can’t use twitter I am afraid but appreciate your comments.

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

You can still view the tweets without logging in

[anon29628803]

Don’t bother with Twitter. It is a trolls’ nest

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

Twitter is amazing if you’re into FinTech, just be careful who you follow

[anon23935806]

Starling has a nicer app and more features, but absolutely legacy customer service (both in terms of technology - Zendesk chat is horrible - as well as service).

Recently had my brand new business debit card potentially compromised and they couldn’t even tell me where it was used - a TfL transaction cleared on Monday and the app said “contactless” when I only ever used Apple Pay (and other transactions show Apple Pay as the payment method) so I was obviously concerned. Asked them when was the card initially touched-in and the fun started - one advisor told me it was 4am on a Saturday (which coincides with the presentment time of an earlier, legitimate TfL transaction and properly says “Apple Pay” so I suspect a mistake there), others told me they couldn’t see that and I had to register on TfL’s website (good luck doing that when you already cancelled the card). Another advisor first told me that transaction was contactless (matches what the app says) but then backtracks and says Apple Pay (why doesn’t it say so on the app like for the other transactions then?).

And the worst is that they still spam you with emails asking for feedback after every single interaction with their CS.

Now I could probably make a complaint, waste more time, get an apology and Starling-branded socks in exchange, but frankly I don’t care. They already had more than enough feedback & complaints, they don’t seem to care. I just plan to use this account for receiving & originating FPS payments and funnel the bulk of the money elsewhere. But it’s always nice to see a “bank” that can’t even tell you where & how your card was used. I know TfL processes transactions differently but it still doesn’t explain why would a transaction show as contactless while the other ones were shown as Apple Pay - in the end I still don’t know whether my card was actually used fraudulently or is this just one of my earlier payments that got delayed.

[Jackcrwhitney (Jack)]

Hi All, moved your posts here as it’s more fitting with the topic, hope you don’t mind.

[rolanddeschain]

From the latest MSE email:

In our two recent banking-app polls, Starling and Monzo were in the top positions both times. They’re app-only banks with debit cards but no branches, and their apps offer the usual features (eg, transferring cash) with added gizmos. Plus they have good perks - as does our polls’ next best, NatWest. So if your bank’s app-alling, and a good mobile experience matters, here are the accounts with top apps and hot perks. If you don’t care about apps, you can get bigger bonuses on traditional accounts, as stated below. And as we always say, switching’s easy.

• Top-rated apps - incl no fees abroad. A huge 70%-ish rated Starling’s and Monzo’s apps (for Apple and Android) ‘great, with lots of features’ in Nov and Jun’s polls. Starling won one, Monzo the other, with little between them. Both offer gizmos such as spending notifications, letting you freeze lost cards and ring-fencing cash into pots for savings etc. But Starling wins on perks:

• Fee-free abroad + 0.5% interest. Starling* has no spending or ATM fees abroad - most others charge 3%. Plus you get 0.5% AER variable interest on up to £2k, 0.25% on £2k-£85k. Cards come in 3-5 working days and you can pay in cash at NatWest, and cheques by post.

• Fee-free spending abroad but with a big cash restriction. Monzo* has no overseas spending fees but is only fee-free on up to £200 per 30 days at ATMs abroad (then 3%). Cards take roughly 3 working days to arrive and you can pay in cheques by post, but annoyingly you CAN’T pay in cash.

• There aren’t lots of conditions to get these perks (eg, min pay-ins) like traditional bank switch bonuses. You can open, then dump it if not for you - plus there’s no hard credit check if you choose no overdraft.