Monzo/Starling Banking/Revolut

Soldato
OP
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We still use Monzo for our joint account where all of our bills come out of. I've mostly been using Chase this year though as the 1% cashback on all purchases is a nice-to-have benefit. Once that ends i'll probably go full back to Monzo though. Still haven't made the full time switch of being paid into it as I like the benefits with my Natwest account but I can't remember the last time I used my Natwest account beyond sending money to my Monzo or Chase accounts.
 
Caporegime
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Llaneirwg
We still use Monzo for our joint account where all of our bills come out of. I've mostly been using Chase this year though as the 1% cashback on all purchases is a nice-to-have benefit. Once that ends i'll probably go full back to Monzo though. Still haven't made the full time switch of being paid into it as I like the benefits with my Natwest account but I can't remember the last time I used my Natwest account beyond sending money to my Monzo or Chase accounts.

Same.
I have a personal nationwide account that gets paid into (did it for the 150 cashback)
That then gets paid to CCs, my Lloyd's joint bank account (taken for the 750 cashback)

I've never used my nationwide card except to withdraw cash.
 
Can't type for toffee
Don
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Most of our banking is still done via Santander tbh

I started with Monzo for the international side of things then when they brought in the limit on cash withdrawals setup a revolut.
tbh on our last trip I think the majority of places accepted the cards without worry and didnt really need to max out the fee free withdrawal in 2 weeks.
 

SPG

SPG

Soldato
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Have Monzo found a solid financial footing yet ? I used them for 18 months but the talk of their struggles and regulation breaches made me jump ship to Starling.

Superb banks and their app and general way of doing things are far better than the traditional banks.

Not even close to being as good as high-street bank. Mortgages no, savings no, ISA plus a list of other missing things. Sure you can buy this products elsewhere. But the only thing useful is using it as a firewall everyday banking account. Guess its fine if you live a hand to mouth existence though.
 
Associate
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Not even close to being as good as high-street bank. Mortgages no, savings no, ISA plus a list of other missing things. Sure you can buy this products elsewhere. But the only thing useful is using it as a firewall everyday banking account. Guess its fine if you live a hand to mouth existence though.

Monzo do offer savings accounts and cash ISA via 3rd parties but it is all integrated into their app. Not fantastic rates mind (0.31% last time I looked) but mainly use Starling now as it has less limits and restrictions. Also set up a Chase account for the cashback and 1.5% savings account.
 
Soldato
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Not even close to being as good as high-street bank. Mortgages no, savings no, ISA plus a list of other missing things. Sure you can buy this products elsewhere. But the only thing useful is using it as a firewall everyday banking account. Guess its fine if you live a hand to mouth existence though.
I think we are talking about different needs.. I was talking exclusively about day to day banking and budgeting. I think it’s optimistic to say the least that you will find a bank that does it all for you.
For me Starling for day to day stuff along with travelling, chase for savings and nationwide for mortgage.
 
Soldato
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Not even close to being as good as high-street bank. Mortgages no, savings no, ISA plus a list of other missing things. Sure you can buy this products elsewhere. But the only thing useful is using it as a firewall everyday banking account. Guess its fine if you live a hand to mouth existence though.

The best mortgages, and savings usually aren't with the same bank you have your current account with. Sometimes you might get an introductory rate for a year, but often it's best to shop around. Same for ISAs, all of these should be treated individually. Keep some highstreet accounts to unlock switching bonuses, and digital accounts for everyday banking.

Rinse all them for as much as you can. Banks after all are just dumb pipes these days. Same as mobile providers.

I have a Nationwide account as I can manage my mortgage through it, receive international payments, pay in cash, get a 2.9% loan, Junior ISA etc.

All my day to day stuff is Monzo. But I also have Starling (to pay in cheques), Chase for 1% debit card cash back (and it's my main boozing fund). Then there's Wise and Revolut for US shares and travelling. I use my Amex for as much spending as I can due to Avois point but not all places take it.

If you are receiving international payments into a Nationwide account you are doing it wrong. Starling would be better for that, especially for Euros. Better still would be Revolut. Wise isn't great, it's often beaten by Revolut, even for larger transfer when taking into account Revolut's subscription for plus/premium accounts.
 
Soldato
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Oxfordshire
Tried to open an Advance HSBC account to switch over to them to get the £175 and got rejected. Not sure why or what issue. So that has put me off even trying to move account otherwise then. Home owner, no debt but mortgage, earn over 40k a year. What the heck they want to qualify!
 
Man of Honour
Joined
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Tried to open an Advance HSBC account to switch over to them to get the £175 and got rejected. Not sure why or what issue. So that has put me off even trying to move account otherwise then. Home owner, no debt but mortgage, earn over 40k a year. What the heck they want to qualify!
It's more than likely a post code/address mismatch somewhere and they are unable to identify you.
 
Man of Honour
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If you are receiving international payments into a Nationwide account you are doing it wrong. Starling would be better for that, especially for Euros. Better still would be Revolut. Wise isn't great, it's often beaten by Revolut, even for larger transfer when taking into account Revolut's subscription for plus/premium accounts.
Good point I had forgotten about that.
 
Associate
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London
I had some interesting experiences with many of the accounts mentioned in this thread during my trip to New York last week.

Opted to use Chase as my default payment card on the trip to make the most of cash back + round up. As with most of the other digital bank cards, it's super useful seeing a clear daily spend whilst you're away and obviously reasonable FX rates by default. There was one issue with it though - see below

Long version -
I still use Revolut Premium for receiving US dividends or share sales and exchanging the dollars so I intended to use some spare dollars in the US account for one of the hotels. Frustratingly, and very likely due to the archaic payment system they use in the hotel, it didn't work out so well. The hotel employee swiped my card at check in, I immediately got the Revolut notification on my phone and watch that the pending payment of ~$700 had been taken. The confused employee confers with her colleague, swipes again, another notification for a payment of same amount taken. According to their stupid system, it was declined both times, but according to Revolut support they had received the request and allocated the funds, the hotel just hadn't confirmed receipt yet. Revolut support said I need to wait ~8 days for the transactions to be unclaimed before they revert.

Unfortunately, that resulted in me then trying to use my Chase card instead, which also apparently didn't work either because it's a numberless card (the card number and details are stored in the app) and they couldn't pick up the details from the magstrip. Even though I could provide them with the details from the app, they wouldn't accept it.

So I then resorted to use my Curve card (payment goes to a Barclays credit card) in the hope I'll at least save myself from a FX fee. As it turns out, the monthly FX limit for free Curve accounts is £500 so it did incur a small FX fee in the end.

TL;DR -
These cards and accounts are usually great for traveling, except for the many establishments in the US that still use backwards payment systems. You still need to bring a backup card.
 
Soldato
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Europe
TL;DR -
These cards and accounts are usually great for traveling, except for the many establishments in the US that still use backwards payment systems. You still need to bring a backup card.

Also rendered useless, along with every other UK card in some Dutch (and Dutch Caribbean) and German establishments that only take Maestro. Remember that? I thought it died 20 years or more ago.

that is where the cash withdrawal limits then come into play. Chase is the clear winner there, also beating most established banks and credit cards which often tend to have a £400-500 daily limit.
 
Don
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Telford, Shropshire
Exactly that, features, usability and customer service (which blows away the traditional banks) - there's FCA research on this.

Cash is pretty much dead, even with traditional accounts I don't recall ever paying more than the £1000 free lim you get with Starling unless selling a vehicle, and cash for vehicles died about 15 years ago.

I remember the hassle of having to notify the bank the day before about a large withdrawal, then collect it the next day, usually in a back pack since they only had £20 notes.

Or worse using cheques. I remember co-op were terrible for these. You'd take it into a branch but then it needed to be physically posted to wherever their processing centre was. If it wasn't for the new legislation on clearing, cheques would have died by now.

Exactly this; the new banks we're seeing are just Fintech companies which have passed regulation and ingrained themselves into the Open Banking ecosystem.

The bonus of Fintechs compared to 'high street banks'? Innovation - there's a reason why the majority of people find the Revolut, Monzo, Starling apps etc so good - is they're innovative (they have to be, they don't have any branches in a high street - why would you bank somewhere with no physical presence? Innovation, rewards, ease of use, etc). Your typical high street bank is archaic, still running on main frames which are older than the majority of users on this forum. When Open Banking hit in the UK these banks struggled to reach certification.

There's more revolutions to come for banking in the UK. The UK although was in front and leading the Open Banking revolution, they've fallen behind other implementations. So expect a shake up in OB UK soon and other innovations to shake up other parts of the economy utilising OpenBanking technology, but aren't tied in any way to the banking sector. There's a number of regions (like the US) which needs a good shaking to get up with current specifications.
 
Soldato
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why would you bank somewhere with no physical presence?

I did have a smirk at that comment, you can pretty much pick any town in the UK and I'd guarantee you'll find a high number of branch closures in the last 5 years.

Even traditional high street banks are realising they don't need vast numbers of branches, especially as a lot of people do most of their banking online.

I'm curious what else OB has to offer. I thought the whole premise was to be able to view balances from other institutions all within one app rather than needing needing an app for each of your 5 bank accounts with different providers.
 
Don
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Telford, Shropshire
I did have a smirk at that comment, you can pretty much pick any town in the UK and I'd guarantee you'll find a high number of branch closures in the last 5 years.

Even traditional high street banks are realising they don't need vast numbers of branches, especially as a lot of people do most of their banking online.

I'm curious what else OB has to offer. I thought the whole premise was to be able to view balances from other institutions all within one app rather than needing needing an app for each of your 5 bank accounts with different providers.
Course you do; but why do you think that is? Because OB came in and shook up the structure - which is exactly what the CMA9 needed; shake up, introduction of OB to allow Fintech to drive innovation;

it's not so much as what OB has to offer - but more of what the ecosystem which OB is running on, can be applied too also. There's lots of possibilities and movement, with multiple countries looking at utilising the same structure for different purposes.
 

SPG

SPG

Soldato
Joined
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Well it seems Starling are wanting war and peace on my employment status, income and a tirade of other questions now. The app is dumbed down to the lowest denominator and thats for a single mum on benefits who has just turned 18.

Time to get rid.
 
Permabanned
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Well it seems Starling are wanting war and peace on my employment status, income and a tirade of other questions now. The app is dumbed down to the lowest denominator and thats for a single mum on benefits who has just turned 18.

Time to get rid.

Would it not be easier just to provide that info? If there is nothing to hide then just give them it.
 
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