Starling Feedback

No offence, but that sounds like a cop-out answer. I can also do a current account to Transferwise from Starling, RBS, First Direct, Revolut etc too. However I can also SWIFT or SEPA from all those but not from Monzo. Monzo is clearly lacking a key feature and trying to justify a lack of a feature of MOST other bank accounts in the UK by saying use something else isn’t the way to go.

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Not a cop-out at all - we’ve stated on several occasions that it is something we are indeed building! :slightly_smiling_face: I seem to recall we discussed it heavily on the first episode of The Bulletin.

My point was rather about balance and that whatever you choose to prioritize - you’ll get people who would have preferred you prioritize (or even just commit to building) something else first.

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Hey, the more banks like Monzo and Starling out there, the better for us (and probably them). Bring on the competition!

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Could I ask (If anyone knows) what is preventing Monzo bank from paying interest on its account when Starling does?

I may have missed this thread but is it something Monzo are looking to provide? Interest regardless of how little it may be at the moment is surely appreciated by all.

Think they’ve always said they intend to link to marketplace products which will offer a higher interest rate

But that would require opening another account right? The idea of just having it included in my current account package is appealing

I’d imagine so but not sure if it would be linked somehow. Choice between possibly 0.5% here and maybe 3-5% elsewhere? Know what I’d do :sunglasses:

why not both :wink:

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maybe they could both pay interest at the equivalent of inflation - so then at least our money isn’t depreciating and then offer better rates via market place?

@simonb is right - It comes down to what people want to prioritise.

The Coin Jar is something which is unique (as far as I know), amongst the banking apps - It’s something that you wouldn’t ever expect from a Barclays or Lloyds, just because of how technologically advanced it is, over the typical vanilla banking features.

What still tickles me is the amount of people who actually use Monzo or Starling (or any other current account) as their “daily driver”, to coin a horrible phrase.

Everyone talks about having an edge, an advantage over the offerings of a competing bank account. Be it Apple Pay, Coin Jar or anything else. But when it comes down to it, you have to be crazy to use those services over something like American Express or another credit card with incentives.

I have literally just saved £2,000 on flights due to the Amex rewards scheme - That’s because where possible, everything get’s spent on that card.

To bring it back to the topic of Starling…

Monzo had the edge with monzo.me (before Starling came along with Settle Up), and has the edge with the Coin Jar (if that’s a feature you crave), but aside from that, I think Starling still has the slender edge on banking functionality.

Monzo will always feel more “homely” if that makes sense, and there is a little hint of a hidden agenda with some of Starling’s promotion (if you are a cynic). But the joy is… You can try and use them both for free :slight_smile:

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Not everyone qualifies for a credit card with those features :money_mouth_face:

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Granted, I should have stipulated that it is for people who qualify - Although the qualification for plenty of credit cards with even a hint of a reward programme is still pretty low - I’m sure there must be quite a few people who use Starling/Monzo over a credit card due to the user experience of the app etc.

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did TSB or Lloyds (I forget) not come up with Coin Jar?

Very possibly… I don’t really follow what the big banks do too much.

Like I said before, it’s not going to be too long before Lloyds/Barclays catch up with Monzo and Starling, and then fly past them (in my opinion).

I appreciate features being fully tested before rolling out, and I appreciate this can frustrate an eager customer base waiting to try said features… But unless Monzo can roll out features quicker… I can’t see them competing when the other banks close in.

Are you thinking of “Save the change” where your spending was rounded up and then transferred to a savings account? - I used that with TSB about 6 or so years ago… possibly longer…

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Depends on your individual preferences. I know many who like the rewards that Amex credit cards can provide, but to obtain them you have to pretty much put all your spending through them.

I signed up to Amex a while back for the high level of cashback it gave me for the first 3 months of use. But after that I returned to my regular bank as the flights benefit was of little use to me and I didn’t think the cashback was sufficient enough to make it worthwhile over using my regular bank account. I only use Amex now for the occasional purchase (typically when it provides auto-cashback for using a retailer I was planning to use anyway).

And lets not even get started on the embarrassingly high number of times Amex is not accepted and I’ve had to pull out another card.

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I had to get rid of Amex Card as nobody allowed me to use it as a payment method

As soon as I revealed the Amex card it was met with sorry we don’t except that card

Became very tiresome

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I’ve heard plenty of people that have experienced the “not accepted here” line that both you and @sacha talk about… But 90% of my spending doesn’t have that issue.

Be it online, or in person.

Even still… I still don’t see the point in going back to a debit card with zero perks… I don’t spend a huge amount, and the 2K saved on flights was due to points collected over a number of years.

Zero effort involved - Other than paying the bill!

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Exactly. There are quite a selection of mastercard reward credit cards - it’s just that people don’t seem to be aware of them. True, cashback is lower (typically 0.5-1%) but still it really adds up if you put all your spend on one of those.

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It depends what you value. I could probably make £10-£15/month by putting all my spend through Amex. But then, I’m now saving an extra £35/month through using Coin Jar (yes, I know it’s my money moving around but it’s money I wouldn’t have saved before). I’ve also curtailed my spending on discretionary items since seeing how much it was through their budgeting tools, hard to quantify exactly but not an insignificant amount.

Cumulatively, the benefits of those features are worth far more to me than the cashback, although I realise everyone is different and others will prefer the benefits from cashback cards.

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