Monzo/Starling Banking/Revolut

[Raymond Lin]

It's easier to split bills as well as give away as gifts, etc.

I know it will be difficult to understand but in my culture gifting a relative like a brother/sister or a nephew/niece $200 would be seen as normal. Times that by multiple relatives then it is a lot of cash.

I've also had it the opposite way where I was gifted £200 when they came over here, etc. So it works both ways. Other gifts are also usually given along with the cash.

I understand the money gift thing completely, the Chinese do it too, in the red envelopes, call Lucky Money. But generally these things I would know beforehand, like to visit someone, not random, urgent on the day. You kind of know who you are visiting, and how much you are gifting.

 

[Basher]

Whats with the 0.4% conversion charge on Starling - surely this makes it more expensive than Clarity for purchases?

I think that's for a Euro account, not when you're using your GBP account in other countries. I've never noticed any fees and I travel at least once a week to non-GBP countries.

 

[pinkpound]

Whats with the 0.4% conversion charge on Starling - surely this makes it more expensive than Clarity for purchases?

Just when convert from EU accounts GB


Here is the email I got June


Thanks for testing out Starling’s euro account in beta over the past few months. We hope you’ve been enjoying it!



Today we’re making the account available to all customers with a personal account. Mostly it’s staying exactly the same, but we’ve made one small change to the currency conversion.



From 1st September 2019, we’ll be charging a 0.4% fee when you convert currency between your EUR and GBP accounts. We’re introducing this fee to make sure we can cover the costs that running a euro account demands, because it’s not really sustainable for us to keep offering the service without it – and we know that would disappoint a lot of people.



As you know, we don’t charge any fees for sending or receiving euros – and that’s definitely not going anywhere.


Team Starling


Just sent £10 to my € account and got €11.23 with the 0.4 deducted at source so still better than most high street banks/Asda etc

 

[Psycho Sonny]

I understand the money gift thing completely, the Chinese do it too, in the red envelopes, call Lucky Money. But generally these things I would know beforehand, like to visit someone, not random, urgent on the day. You kind of know who you are visiting, and how much you are gifting.

I'm not as well organised as most folk. I'll leave it to the last minute. The other stuff I'll buy before hand but if I withdraw a large sum of cash I'll just spend it then have to withdraw again. Also with large family gatherings there will be unexpected folk too. Then you have to split someones gifts and give half each, etc or do some re-organisation not my problem though other half deals with that I just deal with the cash side of things.

 

[mrkev]

Monzo or Starling, it is the Mastercard logo that you want to get the exchange rate.

I just got a replacement Revolut card (last one expired) and that is now a Visa but not sure that makes a difference to the rates they use.

 

[randomshenans]

Don't think there is any difference. Mine are all Mastercard over here. Just got a new one too and still mastercard. Setup some recurring payments on revolut last night, submitted another 4 transfers internationally. All got there within an hour. **** you French banks, those transfers would have cost me 16EUR pre transfer, plus 3.50 for being in another currency and then poor FX rates. Oh, and they'd take about 5 days to arrive

Although I wouldn't keep a ton of cash in my revolut, I've used it a ton without issue. Like a lot. I think my dashboard analytics thing said I'd had over 100k go through revolut and I have had no problems with them.

 

[DiG]

I just got a replacement Revolut card (last one expired) and that is now a Visa but not sure that makes a difference to the rates they use.

Starling and Monzo use MasterCard spot rate (very close to the interbank rate). Revolut do it themselves and so can offer whatever rate they want - used to be (and I presume still is) the interbank rate so marginally better most of the time.

 

[Liquidfox]

Having to remember 3-4 different login details

Revolut and Starling are simply your fingerprint, I expect Monzo is the same.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Revolut and Starling are simply your fingerprint, I expect Monzo is the same.

i take it you keep the same phone until you die?

 

[Kemik]

i take it you keep the same phone until you die?

Monzo send you an email to login. You click the link. It logs in. No additional login details to remember.

 

[englishpremier]

I just got a replacement Revolut card (last one expired) and that is now a Visa but not sure that makes a difference to the rates they use.

Revolut have signed a new deal with VISA that is helping them expand into 24 countries. That's why you ended up with a VISA as your new card.

 

[chris.tarry85]

Just when convert from EU accounts GB


Here is the email I got June


Thanks for testing out Starling’s euro account in beta over the past few months. We hope you’ve been enjoying it!



Today we’re making the account available to all customers with a personal account. Mostly it’s staying exactly the same, but we’ve made one small change to the currency conversion.



From 1st September 2019, we’ll be charging a 0.4% fee when you convert currency between your EUR and GBP accounts. We’re introducing this fee to make sure we can cover the costs that running a euro account demands, because it’s not really sustainable for us to keep offering the service without it – and we know that would disappoint a lot of people.



As you know, we don’t charge any fees for sending or receiving euros – and that’s definitely not going anywhere.


Team Starling


Just sent £10 to my € account and got €11.23 with the 0.4 deducted at source so still better than most high street banks/Asda etc

So I guess the question is is Starling's security worth losing 0.4% compared to Revolut - I think it probably is?

Presume the Euro account is still FSCS protected?

 

[Eliot]

So I guess the question is is Starling's security worth losing 0.4% compared to Revolut - I think it probably is?

Presume the Euro account is still FSCS protected?

Well, Actually Starling Monzo and Clarity rates are all based off Mastercard rates, Where as Revolut is based off the interbank rate (which is better).

I myself have Revolut Metal for travel, Before that I had normal Revolut and was happy with that

 

[Bazzards]

I guess the key is not to hold too much cash on the Revolut card. It works fine for me. Love the transfer to other currencies at the best rates.

 

[Eliot]

yeah sure, there no reason to have more than you need in it at anyone time really, I've have about 500 in it at any one time, That was because I bought EUR when it wasnt so bad about 6 months or so ago in advance of a holiday, then placed it in a vault so i didn't spend it.

I like the ability to make Virtual cards and bin them after, for example, when buying from a Chinese online seller/ecommerce site or a windows key from some dodgy key place.

Means there's no financial risk associated with them losing my card details, as the moment after i pay, that card is no longer valid

 

[Vanquish-Storm]

Monzo was never meant to be an account for people who spend most of their time abroad though. There was no way they could continue to fund the high cost of overseas ATM withdrawals for such individuals.

Maybe true that was one of their big sell points when they came on the scene.

 

[Russinating]

What's the actual benefit of any of these challenger fintechs? I'm certainly not late to the party so to speak, been aware of them since day zero pretty much and had a digital Revolut account for transferring to USD for crypto.

I use Curve as well, have since beta, and whilst useful I don't think it's worth the hype and recent round of funding.

But now for example Starling are pushing out their business accounts and literally all of the features aren't unique. For example some of their blurb states "you can even link to Xero" etc, which you can do with pretty much any account, especially now open banking is being fully rolled out.

Plus I trust one of the big banks for more to not lose my/my businesses money than a fintech.

What am I missing?

 

[englishpremier]

What's the actual benefit of any of these challenger fintechs? I'm certainly not late to the party so to speak, been aware of them since day zero pretty much and had a digital Revolut account for transferring to USD for crypto.

I use Curve as well, have since beta, and whilst useful I don't think it's worth the hype and recent round of funding.

But now for example Starling are pushing out their business accounts and literally all of the features aren't unique. For example some of their blurb states "you can even link to Xero" etc, which you can do with pretty much any account, especially now open banking is being fully rolled out.

Plus I trust one of the big banks for more to not lose my/my businesses money than a fintech.

What am I missing?

Trusting one UK bank over another is a bit daft since they all have to meet the same standards and all have FSCS protection.

The benefit for me in any of them is their modern approach. When I was using Coop, Barclays, Nationwide, Santander, and Halifax I never got instant push notifications and receipts for items I'd just purchased. I never got the exchange rate given/shown to me for foreign purchased immediately after the sale, transactions were always slow to show up in live statements. With the digital banks these are all instant.

The lack of physical mail. All the big banks even using paper free options would still have to send things like terms and conditions via regular mail. New pins, and an assortment of other crap. Updating addresses doesn't require telephoning or worse going into a branch. In app customer support etc..

Interbank exchange rates, fee free foreign spending. In terms of the business accounts, again these are fee free until you reach a certain size.

The big one for me, is no card reader nonsense or OTP or anything like that. To add a new payee to most traditional accounts you need your card and card reader, and some you still can't do in app. It's a joke.

For their target market i.e. millennials so those now in their thirties, these are all big things. That free them up to just get on with things.

 

[randomshenans]

Better rates, transparent rates, faster transfers, better mobile features (controlling my own features, etc. so easily)... so many things that take me so long with a traditional bank take me no time. I sent 4 transfers the other day, 2 new beneficiaries and it took me about 5 mins and they got them that day, in 3 currencies, no charges to me and great rates. My bank would have cost me 79EUR for those transfers and I'd have spent more due to rates. Oh, and it would have taken about 3 days for them to bother their ass to do them.

 

[Russinating]

Trusting one UK bank over another is a bit daft since they all have to meet the same standards and all have FSCS protection.

Only up to £85,000. That wouldn't cover a lot of business balances. Plus even with cover it's still less faff to not have to claim it back in the first place.

The benefit for me in any of them is their modern approach. When I was using Coop, Barclays, Nationwide, Santander, and Halifax I never got instant push notifications and receipts for items I'd just purchased. I never got the exchange rate given/shown to me for foreign purchased immediately after the sale, transactions were always slow to show up in live statements. With the digital banks these are all instant.

The lack of physical mail. All the big banks even using paper free options would still have to send things like terms and conditions via regular mail. New pins, and an assortment of other crap. Updating addresses doesn't require telephoning or worse going into a branch. In app customer support etc..

Interbank exchange rates, fee free foreign spending. In terms of the business accounts, again these are fee free until you reach a certain size.

The big one for me, is no card reader nonsense or OTP or anything like that. To add a new payee to most traditional accounts you need your card and card reader, and some you still can't do in app. It's a joke.

For their target market i.e. millennials so those now in their thirties, these are all big things. That free them up to just get on with things.

I use Barclays and Lloyds and they both do all of the above (other than paper T&Cs which is once in a blue moon), so yeah, as I thought, no benefit really unless you regularly do forex which I/we don't.