Soldato
Monzo:
Monzo/Starling Banking/Revolut
- Thread starter Junglist
- Start date
Glad that Monzo are finally doing their own thing with instant access. Was a pain sometimes to wait 24h.
Soldato
Anyone tried Kroo?
Hadn't heard of Kroo until your message. FSCS protected and UK-based customer support doesn't sound too shabby. Over 3400 Truspilot reviews at 4.1/5 isn't bad. Google reviews averaging 3/5 raises an eyebrow for me though.
Might tempt me away from Chase.. Not sure.
Man of Honour
Had a look at them, didn't seem to offer anything different/better than the accounts I've already got so didn't bother.
Soldato
Yeah I closed my Chase. MSE mentioned Kroo only reason I’ve heard of them.
What accounts do you have? I have Monzo and just closed Chase. This Kroo offers a better rate than Monzo pot and it’s all part of the account.
Man of Honour
Monzo, Chase, Chip, Starling.
Monzo is literally just there as a legacy account that all my bills go out of, Chase for the cashback and a little bit of savings, Chip for our main savings and then Starling is the joint account.
Soldato
So you no longer have any “high street” bank account?
Man of Honour
Nope
Soldato
I have wanted to take that plunge but always kept hold of a high street bank account. No reason really
Man of Honour
I can't see a reason for one anymore, unless I take a day off work I couldn't nip into a branch and all the digital banks have decent online chat functions which have been much quicker and easier to use than any traditional banks call centre. Everything is protected to the same level and they generally offer better deals be that cashback/savings rates.
Soldato
Yeah, even if you don't use it much, it's worth just having open for that purpose for me.
I've just opened one with N26, don't think it's available for the UK yet, but it's gaining popularity here in Spain due to the extortionate costs of the main banks. It's a fairly horrifying system compared to the UK, and in many instances seems to just effectively be bribery!
"Oh we're going to charge you X now for your services, but if you invest €10k with us or take out some insurance, we'll waive the fees for 12 months, then come back and extort you again in a years time. Then we'll invite you into branch every 3 months to try another hard sell on something else!
N26 seems very similar to Starling with the various pots etc. I think my plan is to use a combination of N26 and Wise which is getting more and more "banky". It would've been my main choice except it's not FSCS protected.
Only reason I still have an RBS account is that I have to go into a branch to close it....and having to go into branches is precisely why I ditched it for Starling years ago.
Absolutely zero chance I will ever go back to a high street bank. Starling is better in every way.
Apparently you can just contact them to do a large cash withdrawal, though it's not something I ever need.
Soldato
N26 was in the UK then left the UK market. I’m assuming they couldn’t get a UK Banking Licence?
More likely that competing in the UK wasn't just worth the effort because it's highly saturated compared to other European markets. Lots of lower hanging fruits out there.
Last edited:
Soldato
Ah, i was never aware of them until recently. As above i imagine it's down to the wide range of options in the UK.
Soldato
Yeah N26 just couldn't compete. They didn't really have any compelling reasons to join.
Similarly, they pulled out of the US market too.
I've used them sparingly. But I found that even Revolut (which of course isn't a bank in the UK) was better.
Similarly, they pulled out of the US market too.
I've used them sparingly. But I found that even Revolut (which of course isn't a bank in the UK) was better.