Let’s wait for annual reports…
Where is Monzo and Starling
When I met her I had the sense that Anne wasn’t interested in selling in the slightest; I doubt any sale will happen at least for the foreseeable future.
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A platform strategy and a sale strategy can look very similar - both involve getting cosy with the big players.
That’s my view on it, a big player adopts the platform, and thinks there is no way I’m letting x and y big 5 bank to use this too, so I’ll buy it. The lack of interest in customer numbers seems a thing for me as well.
Sure, they may want to buy it, but Starling’s ownership means they can pretty much do what they like - particularly once they’re profitable.
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It’s people using it as their main account and using their overdrafts and loans that matter, not how many customers they have.
The biggest problem monzo and starling have is convincing people to switch and not just use the account for spending.
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Ive just seen Starling Bank advertising on the side of buses in london
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Well there seems to be growth for Monzo on that, if Tom tweet is anything to go by. We have no idea what Starlings numbers are like in comparison.
And what is Starlings ownership make up like in terms of investors?
(Went and googled, was being lazy, and interesting to be to have one and one like that)
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On the investor side, I don’t think much has changed for starling since 2017, unless I’ve missed something (highly possible!)
Well, they’ve just invested in a large marketing campaign so I’d argue they are interested in numbers. What they’re probably more interested in though is having profitable customers - numbers mean nothing if you’re not making money.
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Keep seeing people saying that starling won’t open accounts for people with bad credit history but they did for me and I haven’t got good history defaults etc and they opened one for me with a £250 overdraft
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Guess individual circumstances differ, e.g. when your last default was, currently annual income, utilisation of current credit, address history, age etc. Credit checks are highly complex.
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Yeah does anybody actually understand credit score etc as each company looks at them in their own way!!!
Credit scoring is a scam. Companies cannot see your credit score, they just look at your report and make a decision based on the data in your report. Some companies will outright decline anyone with any defaults in the past six years. Other companies may accept defaults but may not accept anyone who has made six credit applications last month. And companies’ requirements changes on a daily basis, according to fraud/profitability/loss needs. When I worked in sales, a customer might get declined for credit today, but sometimes got accepted tomorrow with the exact same details, because the needs of the business changed.
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Flip that over, to someone who is a millionaire and owns their own property and car and has no debt, are equally likely to get declined for credit because they have no evidence that they can be a responsible borrower.
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Advertising having an effect:
https://old.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/ai8zil/starling_bankapp_based_banking_recommendations_or/
Hi all, I have seen a lot of advertisements for Starling recently and have generally been aware of app based banking for a while but am thinking of switching across to them as am quite fed up of my current clunky and poor service bank.
It also seems to be very efficient and easy to open an account. From my research online it seems to be reviewed quite positively but I wanted to check if anyone here had any more insight on Starling and whether they are a sensible choice as a current account. I know they don’t necessarily have the best offers in terms of current account interest but I am attracted mostly by its ease of use and efficiency.
The major flaw is that’s an American viewpoint.
The banks don’t have anything to do with generating the number shown to you by Experian.
And the number shown to you by Experian has nothing to do with you getting accepted or declined when you apply for a credit product.
So you are telling me that defaulting on loan payment with a bank does not reflect in your Experian rating? As @anon35201645 mentioned in one of his earlier posts, while lenders might not see an exact number, they should see your credit history (number of loans, cards, bank accounts, defaults etc). The guy on Quora simply showed his credit report with zero score to underline the fact that having no debt results in zero score. I do not see how being American has any bearing. If you do not make money for the lender, he will not lend to you. That’s all it means. Maybe you work in the industry and explain a bit more in detail.
No I’m not. I disagree with the entire premise of that “interesting” view:
You’re “rewarded” with a high credit score when you play the game in the way that makes them [banks] the most money, and penalized when you don’t play the game the way they want you to.
I don’t know how American credit scores are generated. Maybe they’re directly related to lenders. In the UK, lenders have no direct say on the numbers shown to you by Credit Reference Agencies, neither do they take these numbers into account when deciding if you’re a good or a bad risk to lend to (ie. If you’ll make the bank lots of money without causing the bank grief by defaulting)
Look, people will always be able to borrow. That’s how fuckers like Wonga and Amigo get to exist. But, treat proper credit sensibly (DON’T use Amigo), honour your contract and repay when you said you would, and you’ll find lenders who are willing to give you better terms in the future. That’s all your credit history does.
And ignore the number – the Credit Reference Agencies make it up purely to get you hooked on curating your number, which earns them money.
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