Which bank would you recommend

UK Financial Chat
26

Oh and I’ve banked with Monzo and Starling,

Monzo I have never considered having rid of, even now as Revolut usurp a few of my day to day banking needs. Starling I closed after about 4 months of using it for 50pc of my day to day banking.

Starling for me, just feels like a half way house. It doesn’t offer a full fintech cutting edge experience, it doesn’t offer everything a BAM bank can.

As such, I’d rather keep a high St bank and use two more intuitive digital current account providers, in my case RBS as the former and monzo/Revolut the latter

27

Why more than one?

28

The short answer is, it depends on how they use their account and if they’re prepared to switch about how they think about banking.

I’d probably tell them to look at both Monzo and Starling. Personally, I prefer Monzo.

Plus, I’d tell them to check out Nationwide and Metro Bank, if Metro was local to them.

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29

My go-to advice is usually Nationwide.

Their mortgage rates are low, and are lower for switching deals.

Their credit card has no fx markup for purchases.

A lot of people one simplicity of one app for current account, credit card, savings, cash ISA, and mortgages (either now or later).

I typically pair that with Revolut if people need foreign fx and/or sending SEPA payments to IBAN accounts. However those that don’t do payments are sometimes ok with the Nationwide debit charges which are not as bad as others.

Or if they want packaged account. Normally Nationwide FlexPlus is by far the best and unlocks fx fee free atm withdrawals too making Revolut redundant.

And lounge access can be done with Priority Pass subscription.

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30

I’d recommend Monzo. It’s a bank that has changed how I view my money over the years, and though not the only bank to offer some services now, were the first (or one of the first) and there is an element of loyalty there for me.

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31

I wouldn’t recommend any bank. That’s for the end user to look into what they require from an account and then sign up to whichever.

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32

It’s a good question.

Probably because I trust Monzo with medium sized sums + my salary.

Revolut I use for other bits. I pick the odd stock for instance which you can’t do with Monzo.

The High St bank is for bigger funds and is my joint acc.

But in time, I could consider cutting one away…

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33

Pleasantly surprised thus far that this topic has not spun out of control

Let’s all try to keep it that way :slight_smile:

To answer OP, my dad was looking for a new bank to use for PayPal and the like and I recommended Monzo as it more than met his needs

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34

Given that the OP question was ‘Monzo or Starling?’, I was expecting a more flagged :pirate_flag: outcome by now. Have we all matured? :crossed_fingers:

35

I’m a Monzo fan but much as I love it I do find it to so much of a harder sell to my friends/family than it once was this is mostly as other banks have caught up or maybe Monzo has stopped wanting to be so far ahead.

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36

That seems unlikely to have occurred since the last thread that had to be put on slowdown last week, but we can hope

My heart did sink on seeing another thread comparing the two!

38

I’m torn between both…

I personally prefer the look and feel of Starling - just prefer the minimalist look, and find it easier to use, and prefer how ‘spaces’ are displayed… BUT, being able to schedule payments to and from a pot and being able to pay bills from pots Monzo definitely wins that one (and it’s that that has stopped me considering moving over to Starling completely)…

I think I would recommend both and the best of both worlds.
Although I do use Monzo as my day-to-day main bank… so would probably recommend Monzo if I had to pick just one.

‘

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39

Worth noting that a bank having branches can be a disadvantage. In my (relatively limited) experience, banks that have a branch network tend to rely on them for certain things, as they know that they can fall back on having a branch, instead of having to make everything possible remotely. Or they require posting in some combination of forms and signatures.

It tends to be rare and for things like identity proof or name changes. But it’s a real pain if, like me, you would prefer to never have the inconvenience of physically going to a particular location just to sort out something with your bank. Or working through pages of forms and instructions and getting the appropriate authorisation.

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40

Cheque imaging, the ability to use Post Offices and better customer service would see me recommending Starling over Monzo.

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41

This is an interesting view. What do you think is missing from the “full fintech cutting edge experience”?

In that case, I would point her towards Starling. As others have said, the “best bank” will be different for everyone depending on their needs. If she uses cash a lot though, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Starling.

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42

Absence of any form of ‘shared tab’ or ‘group bill’ function, no ‘paid early’ feature

The navigation from the menu on the left hand side I found fairly indistinguishable from the RBS or TSB app. Wasn’t a major fan of the ‘wheel’

I usually be forced to use an SMS to verify a card payment

All in all, it just didn’t feel different enough feature or UI wise than those ‘trying to catch up’

I’m aware some features like a space and second account have come about since, though.

In part, I do think the vibe I’ve described is intentional and it does have a slightly different appeal as a result

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43

This isn’t really a fin tech thing. Santander we’re doing it before Monzo, and other banks also have this feature.

I verify card payments on Starling once a week, and this has never happened to me. It has happened with my Monzo card, though.

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44

Yes, I should have added that caveat. But of course I am comparing the fintech offerings

As for card payments, for what it’s worth I find verifying via the app a lot less reliable with Monzo than I do with Revolut (and so I have requested Monzo to send me an SMS in the past)

I did close my Starling account over a year ago, so perhaps things have changed…back then though, they did also have continual issues with card payments appearing in the app late…again it may have improved…

I’m feeling slightly similar towards Monzo as I did Starling back then at present, but I’m tied in as my partner uses it for everything and we have shared finances.

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45

Possibly. I only opened mine last year.

46

For what’s it worth, having, like many here, tried just about every bank out there, I’ve settled on a legacy bank as primary. I dropped Monzo some time back and continued with Starling as the more “adult” offering.

Not requiring budgeting aids, I concluded that instant notifications was the key feature for me. Together with an increasingly pleasing UX and credit card offering, I’ve settled on Lloyds Bank. CS has been remarkably responsive when needed. (Starling account is open but dormant).

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