Starling Feedback

I’m in the same boat… got to wait until June to reapply

Why do you have to wait 12 months to reapply?

It’s a Starling business decision.

They don’t want people opening/shutting account quickly whilst they are still relatively young - There is a cost involved each time a customer does this.

Monzo absorbs the cost which is why it doesn’t have the rule.

There’s no real reason to shut a Starling account, but they could make it a little clearer when you do, that it’ll be 12 months before you can re-apply (unless they now show this info).

Personally - I’m OK with the policy. I don’t see why you’d need to close an account (a free account), and then want to reopen it within 12 months.

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A post was merged into an existing topic: N26 Feedback

From the N26 Feedback thread:

Interesting. I found this mentioning the tie up with Ditto:

I’m beginning to think that Starling might have actually been very clever.

Build a retail bank because that’s the best way of testing your technology. Pivot to a b2b platform play. Sell the Starling retail customers (and maybe brand?) to RBS (or anyone else with coin). Just need to avoid the ‘too good to say no’ offer from a big bank…

It also is complementary to Monzo’s strategy. Must write those thoughts about Monzo owning the customer and Starling the infrastructure…

If this was the plan all along, it’s a clever one.

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I’ve kind of given up trying to work out whose doing what and where they are going.

Starling seem to have the tech and partnerships locked down (all the back end stuff that the consumer sees), but the front end customer facing stuff isn’t quite as polished.

One day, it may all come together - Or like you said, it could be farmed out to various partners.

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The penny dropped for me a while ago.

I just can’t work out why Starling bothered with new debit cards. That bit doesn’t fit with the theory.

For me Anne Boden was never not going to have this sort of thing in the back of her mind… it’s a different ballgame to a normal worker suddenly getting an idea and making millions from it…

Anne has got banking pedigree gained from across Europe… she’s quite clearly a shrewd and clever individual…

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I wouldn’t write off the current account. It’s part of the sell, ultimately. The story is more that there’s no great urgency to keep up with user expectations - they’ve already wowed the people they needed to wow. Put yourself in the shoes of HSBC top management. They just launched an updated app, probably cost a dime or two to do, then they take a look at Starling… Must be plenty of “let’s get some of that”. Hardly going to approach Monzo, right? So who’s competing with Starling in that space?! Revolut? :joy:

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They actually allowed US citizens to open accounts before this date. Can’t remember when exactly but my wife opened an account a while ago.

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Generally I am not sure that doing something against the published terms and conditions can count as ‘allowed’ :woman_shrugging:

No one is obliged to enforce a contract. They would also have trouble is they’d implied they would accept a US citizen

Like this

https://www.starlingbank.com/blog/platformification-of-banking-industry/

Could have done with a decent proofreader…

TL;DR Can someone summarize this please?

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Monzo > Starling (mostly)

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Wow. It absolutely needs one. That was a painful assault on the English language. And why did she explain some acronyms and not others?

And there we were talking about engagement and panache in language, but I suspect both Fry and Humphreys would be appalled by that article.

It seems they need you @hashbridge

Don’t they say when all youve got in response to debate is to attack spelling/grammer, youve got nothing… :wink:

This thread is so petty, but it’s amazing to read.

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Clearly an article designed, as much as anything, to rally the troops. Other than the language used though, is there anything to discuss within the content?

Is it me, or are Monzo and Starling increasingly becoming very different propositions?

It’s not been long since I moved on, but in that time Starling seem to have become even more detached from personal banking in favour of the “bigger picture” (whatever that might be).

(Forgive any split infinitives - I’ve never understood them anyway…)

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I think you’re right. Starling are increasingly chasing the back end and Monzo the customer.

Though the way the article is written makes me doubt that it was the plan all along. I’m meant to understand this sort of stuff but it left me a bit confused. :confused_dog:

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