Monzo/Starling Banking/Revolut

PiKe · 26 Jul 2020 at 20:34

Bit late to the party but signed up for a Curve card which gives me some cashback at 3 select retailers but the promotion is only for 90 days.

Is there anything else that's not an Amex which is similar?

Raymond Lin · 26 Jul 2020 at 20:40

Did you see Curve got hacked about a month back?

PiKe · 26 Jul 2020 at 20:48

I did not.

Steeps · 26 Jul 2020 at 21:54

I have Barclays Freedom Rewards (used to be goldfish card decades ago) and every purchase goes on it. The cashback rate isn't great but it does add up.

Kol · 26 Jul 2020 at 22:30

Raymond Lin said:
Did you see Curve got hacked about a month back?

Was it? Or are you getting confused with the wirecard fiasco which affected several merchants?

Martynt74 · 27 Jul 2020 at 11:24

Well Curve have really annoyed me with their latest change to refunds.

Now refunds go into the "Curve Cash" account, so that you're not waiting for processing time to receive it back into your bank. I like the idea in concept, but they've implemented it before they've worked out a way to give an option to recover it back to your bank.

I've been waiting on a refund for about 3 weeks and have kept checking my bank and hassling the retailer about it only to find it's been sat in my Curve Cash for ages with no ability to receive it back into my bank. They "hope" to have something in place by the end of the month, but it's disappointing they've not held off until they had something workable. It's not like it was a feature that couldn't wait. Luckily it's not a huge amount for me, but imagine people waiting on refunds that they needed for living expenses etc.

It'd also be interesting to know how much they earn by kindly holding all that refund cash.

PiKe · 27 Jul 2020 at 11:50

They are working on being able to transfer the curve cash.

Martynt74 · 27 Jul 2020 at 11:53

Yeah i know, i just think it's a bit ridiculous to implement something before they offer that as an option.

HACO · 27 Jul 2020 at 11:57

Marvt74 said:
Well Curve have really annoyed me with their latest change to refunds.

Now refunds go into the "Curve Cash" account, so that you're not waiting for processing time to receive it back into your bank. I like the idea in concept, but they've implemented it before they've worked out a way to give an option to recover it back to your bank.

I've been waiting on a refund for about 3 weeks and have kept checking my bank and hassling the retailer about it only to find it's been sat in my Curve Cash for ages with no ability to receive it back into my bank. They "hope" to have something in place by the end of the month, but it's disappointing they've not held off until they had something workable. It's not like it was a feature that couldn't wait. Luckily it's not a huge amount for me, but imagine people waiting on refunds that they needed for living expenses etc.

It'd also be interesting to know how much they earn by kindly holding all that refund cash.

The whole Wirecard business completely messed up their refunds systems. The funds are ring-fenced from their own funds (Curve are not a bank), so they won't be earning anything on them.

uvarvu · 27 Jul 2020 at 12:11

I heard they're also working on a way for transactions to be debited from the curve cash pot automatically (if there is enough) so you don't have to worry about the cash building up and then expiring. That's really handy as I always forget how much is in my pot.

Martynt74 · 27 Jul 2020 at 15:59

uvarvu said:
I heard they're also working on a way for transactions to be debited from the curve cash pot automatically (if there is enough) so you don't have to worry about the cash building up and then expiring. That's really handy as I always forget how much is in my pot.

Agreed, i usually have pretty pathetic amounts in there as i don't use it much, so the chance of me remembering to use it to buy something for £1.80 is minimal, at least that way it just goes out automatically.

They've got some good features coming in, it was just the release of the refund change before they had a solution to give an option felt a little daft.

Marky · 27 Jul 2020 at 19:57

I’ve been using my Personal Starling account, and I’m pretty much fully sold. So much better than what any of the high street banks can offer at the moment (in terms of app usability mainly). Very tempted to make a full switch with the current account switcher to be honest! Anyone found any disadvantages using Starling as their daily driver?

LiE · 27 Jul 2020 at 20:14

Marky said:
I’ve been using my Personal Starling account, and I’m pretty much fully sold. So much better than what any of the high street banks can offer at the moment (in terms of app usability mainly). Very tempted to make a full switch with the current account switcher to be honest! Anyone found any disadvantages using Starling as their daily driver?

Try Monzo as well before settling on Starling

MissChief · 27 Jul 2020 at 20:27

LiE said:
Try Monzo as well before settling on Starling

Thinking about changing myself, the Interest Starling pays on current account balances alone is more than I'd get with my current bank's savings account and that's apparently a preferential rate!

Marky · 27 Jul 2020 at 20:30

LiE said:
Try Monzo as well before settling on Starling

Yeah I have an account but haven’t used it yet. I wasn’t too keen on the app to be honest - and with my business using Starling as well, it makes a lot of sense for me.

@MissChief - As far as I know, Monzo provide a better interest rate than Starling but you have to put the money in a pot that is restricted (I think you have to wait 48 hours before you can withdraw).

LiE · 27 Jul 2020 at 20:37

MissChief said:
Thinking about changing myself, the Interest Starling pays on current account balances alone is more than I'd get with my current bank's savings account and that's apparently a preferential rate!

The paying DD from pots is essential for me, it’s a killer feature.

Marky · 27 Jul 2020 at 20:45

LiE said:
The paying DD from pots is essential for me, it’s a killer feature.

Yeah I don’t think I can do that with Starling can I? That is one thing I could see being really beneficial.

Stu999 · 27 Jul 2020 at 21:39

Marky said:
I’ve been using my Personal Starling account, and I’m pretty much fully sold. So much better than what any of the high street banks can offer at the moment (in terms of app usability mainly). Very tempted to make a full switch with the current account switcher to be honest! Anyone found any disadvantages using Starling as their daily driver?

No downsides for a long time. At the start there were sometimes outages but they seem to have been resolved now.

Stu999 · 27 Jul 2020 at 21:40

LiE said:
The paying DD from pots is essential for me, it’s a killer feature.

What’s the point of it? My financial affairs are very simple so makes no difference to me.

Mekrel · 27 Jul 2020 at 23:36

Stu999 said:
What’s the point of it? My financial affairs are very simple so makes no difference to me.

For me it's great to ring fence money and it's just set aside and I can concentrate on what's left for the month discretionary spend wise.

Every time my salary comes in, 40% of it goes into a bills pot 30% goes into a savings pot and the other 30% is my disposable spend that I set at my spending target for the month. I only started using Monzo this year, just after lockdown and whilst my budgeting before was very good, Monzo just makes it simpler.