Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Nov 2005
- Posts
- 12,613
My hero! Thanks
Monzo/Starling Banking/Revolut
- Thread starter Junglist
- Start date
My hero! Thanks
Soldato
Starling for me. Monzo has been slower and/or worse at implementing pretty much every feature I'd be interested in. Additionally they went back on their foreign spending promise. They've raised massive amounts of investment, but don't seem to be doing much with it, Starling just continues on in the background without the fanfare.
Is anyone using the Starling Euro acct in which to place savings to give them a form of stability compared to the £? It's a bit late to ask this considering the £ has tanked already, but I can't see it getting any better even if the Euro takes small hit within the upcoming months.
You're trying to predict the market essentially. I wouldn't bother unless you wanted certainty now for any future Euro spend. Even then, I'd only do it if it was a large amount coming out on a known date.
I have no real use for Euros in all honesty and typically all my foreign spend has been in HKD over the last few years. I was just thinking of holding a sum in another currency that'll likely have better stability than GBP. I doubt Starlings euro account is the best way to do this but it seems to be one of the easiest.
Caporegime
Well the benefit of using GBP is that if you pay in £10, then it isn't going to be worth less in the UK day to day. I presume if you held an account in Euro then it can fluctuate where one day something that converts to £10, the next day could cost you £10.50.
That is the risk yes. And while I know nothing is risk free, I can't see GBP doing anything but declining further and if I keep a close eye any losses would surely be minimal if I transferred it back to my regular Starling account.
*note I'm not even remotely any kind of financial expert. Just trying to hedge my bets.
Caporegime
Why not put it in an investment like Index fund instead?
They are all a risk, just the same. If I had put £8k into Vanguard in January, it would be worth £9,100 today.
The downside obvious its the stock market and also it takes about 5 days to withdraw.
That is another option I'd quickly looked at, but with the amount feeling small (I'm not even remotely wealthy), it feels like most investment/savings options are more or less reserved for the big hitters.
I wouldn't call this £8k disposable. I'm willing to risk a minor loss on it if there's a chance for profit. At the moment it's simply sat in a current account doing nothing.
Caporegime
I’m not a financial advisor and this isn’t financial advise so take it with a huge pinch of salt. it depends how liquid you want to be, and at minimum your money is worth less each day with the little interest you are getting vs inflation, that is before the pound getting weaker. Whereas the little money I have in vanguard index fund has grew 14% since January, granted its for long term, so less concern about market fluctuations but so far, it is performing well above expectation. It can crash 10% tomorrow and I’m still ahead.
Soldato
That is the risk yes. And while I know nothing is risk free, I can't see GBP doing anything but declining further and if I keep a close eye any losses would surely be minimal if I transferred it back to my regular Starling account.
*note I'm not even remotely any kind of financial expert. Just trying to hedge my bets.
Its not about risk, its about where you use your money, you live in the UK and do not need euros, keep your money in GBP.
Why do you think that? It is wrong.
Stocks and shares are pretty much the only option, the only things better are essentially setting up your own business or property, in theory anyway.
Soldato
No, it is a bank account not a forex trading account.
https://help.starlingbank.com/hc/en...6179-Why-do-I-have-a-Direct-Debit-to-Spotify-
Just a heads up to anyone who may be affected as this was new to me this month. Had 2 direct debits showing for Spotify for weird amounts that I didn't recognise. Spotify support was very helpful and pointed me in the direction of the above. Turns out 2 uber trips I took and paid for via Paypal showed up as Spotify in my Starling account causing all sorts of confusion.
Just a heads up to anyone who may be affected as this was new to me this month. Had 2 direct debits showing for Spotify for weird amounts that I didn't recognise. Spotify support was very helpful and pointed me in the direction of the above. Turns out 2 uber trips I took and paid for via Paypal showed up as Spotify in my Starling account causing all sorts of confusion.
Thanks for all the responses.
It does look as though I have much to learn as expected. Think I'll spend some time this afternoon putting in some proper research, and if anybody knows of any good sources please send them my way.
Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Sep 2015
- Posts
- 3,926
A bit of a whoopsie from Monzo - under certain circumstances the PIN could be stored in a plain text log file. At least they found out about it, sorted it and notified affected people.
Man of Honour
The way they say unauthorised users could see it implies that they have some users which can see full PIN codes, I was under the impression that no user should have access to that data and it was all encrypted away so only the user can access it with the correct credentials or the system sends it out without human intervention.