Easy to use bank and app
Easy to use bank and app. Decided to drop the big banks for Starling.
New update- similar to Sonos
Starling what have you done. Has the developer who ruined Sonos messed with your app too. I’ve been a real fan of this bank from day one. I used to recommend you to everyone and rave about the app appearance and features. The new update has taken big steps back for this bank and makes the Home Screen nowhere near as good. What was a truly unique feature is now much worse than it’s competitors. It’s small and cluttered. What is the point in being able to hide your balance if your outgoings and immediate incoming is showing clearly below. The standing orders and direct debits are still showing in alphabetical order when they should be in date order. Surely this shows that the developer doesn’t use it. Like Sonos, they had everything and now it’s gone. It’s like no one is bothered. Starling I’m afraid you have dropped massively, read the reviews please and listen to the customers who use the app every day. If Starling intend to keep this an option to choose the old screen should be available. I doubt anyone (except the developer) would opt for the update. I understand people don’t like change but seriously nothing to like about this. A massive step backwards Starling sorry. I don’t like using your platform anymore.
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Response from developer
Hi there, Thank you for your updated review. We appreciate you taking the time to leave your feedback around the new Home screen design. We will ensure this fed back to our in house technical teams and product teams to review Team Starling
Even better with the new version!
Here’s the bad bit. You can’t reorder the multiple accounts in a payee’s account list. Here’s the good bit. Everything else.
The things I appreciate the most are: a proper iPad app and landscape layout; being able to have display names for payees which are shown in the transactions list; having multiple accounts for those payees; integrating with password managers so I can have a strong phrase that’s automatically pasted into the field; allowing multiple devices to be authenticated at the same time; well considered use of authentication when it’s needed… there’s more, and these are all features which go above and beyond many other banking apps.
With the latest update the app launches straight into the most important information, showing balance and transactions immediately. It’s tidy, uncluttered and easy to read. Making a payment is swift and reliable, Spaces are such a great feature for organising funds, and Starling don’t use the app as an obnoxious tool to market their products. The team behind the app clearly know what they’re doing, and I use Starling for all my personal banking almost entirely because it’s so well made. Great job!
The things I appreciate the most are: a proper iPad app and landscape layout; being able to have display names for payees which are shown in the transactions list; having multiple accounts for those payees; integrating with password managers so I can have a strong phrase that’s automatically pasted into the field; allowing multiple devices to be authenticated at the same time; well considered use of authentication when it’s needed… there’s more, and these are all features which go above and beyond many other banking apps.
With the latest update the app launches straight into the most important information, showing balance and transactions immediately. It’s tidy, uncluttered and easy to read. Making a payment is swift and reliable, Spaces are such a great feature for organising funds, and Starling don’t use the app as an obnoxious tool to market their products. The team behind the app clearly know what they’re doing, and I use Starling for all my personal banking almost entirely because it’s so well made. Great job!
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Revert to Old Layout
Starling has been a 5 star bank for me for the past 5 years or so - I loved the clean intuitive looks, the saving pot features, the ease of setting up and amending standing orders compared to normal high street banks, etc. Customer service has been fantastic when I’ve needed it, and the cherry on top was when they started offering in-account interest.
That being said, I’m a bit gutted about the recent changes to the home screen, and as many others have said it seems to have been a bit of a downgrade. Sorry to all the team who have probably worked hard on it, but one of the reasons I chose Starling was the clean UI compared to competitors eg. Monzo/Revolut - there used to be a lovely engaging home screen with a simple balance and a nice pie chart, but this has now been replaced with a cluttered home screen.
Whilst Starling is still a 5 star bank for me, I have deducted a couple of stars off my review of the app because the changes really do affect the usability for me, I hate opening the app and seeing how it looks now. I wonder if there are users who were clamouring for this, or perhaps many who just don’t care, would be interesting to understand why Starling even felt the need to make the changes. I really hope they bring back the option for users to choose to go back to the nice clean layout in future.
That being said, I’m a bit gutted about the recent changes to the home screen, and as many others have said it seems to have been a bit of a downgrade. Sorry to all the team who have probably worked hard on it, but one of the reasons I chose Starling was the clean UI compared to competitors eg. Monzo/Revolut - there used to be a lovely engaging home screen with a simple balance and a nice pie chart, but this has now been replaced with a cluttered home screen.
Whilst Starling is still a 5 star bank for me, I have deducted a couple of stars off my review of the app because the changes really do affect the usability for me, I hate opening the app and seeing how it looks now. I wonder if there are users who were clamouring for this, or perhaps many who just don’t care, would be interesting to understand why Starling even felt the need to make the changes. I really hope they bring back the option for users to choose to go back to the nice clean layout in future.
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Response from developer
Hi there, We appreciate your thoughtful review. We're glad to know everything is going smoothly with your account and that you're benefiting from all the great perks! It's always lovely to hear that you're getting the support you need from out customer support team. It's a shame about that you're not fully onboard with the new update. But we understand this, and we'll certainly take your feedback onboard and share it with our products team. Reviews like yours gives us new ideas for future redesigns. Again, thanks for sharing your review and feedback. Team Starling
Refreshing new approach to banking
I initially looked at Starling Bank due to its implementation of virtual debit cards which you can use to isolate your online spending to what they term a "space" which is a chunk of your money you assign to a separate pot. I did not want to give the card details to my main current account when shopping somewhere new online. This way isolated just the amount I had transferred to this space and made it available via its own virtual debit card. Its BRILLIANTLY done ✅ Now I have had the account for over a month I am getting to like the way all its features have been implemented. First off being used to other apps I was a bit lost but soon found all the features I was used to and more. Like pie charts of spending by category or by merchant. Online paperless statements are nicely handled with a verified option for printing out. I am sure I have not found all the good points yet and that they will be adding more. Like the latest when I found you can add additional account payment details for the same payee name. Not needed often but a godsend when you do to save you keep editing just the one payment entry account details you simply select from two ! Like we have two accounts with the same energy supplier.
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Best Bank I've used
The US banking system needs to change and more banks need to be convenient like Starling with doing everything. Fast and reliable
USA
I would love to see this app become available for US residents.
Easy to use
I find the app and access to account data very easy to use.
Works seamlessly as an Internet bank. Tho’ room for improvement.
Have had Starling personal & joint accounts for a few years now, and it works wonderfully. Payments are instant, user-interface is consistent and clear. The “saving spaces” feature is pretty good (though that’s one thing that I think could be improved). As a bank, I’m very, very happy with Starling.
What could be improved: the Saving Spaces (sub accounts) are not integrated properly into the payment analysis feature. Payments to and from spaces (and from spaces to payees) are ‘invisible’ to the payment analysis features, which limits their use. Also joint account Spaces cannot have their own debit card(s). That would be a very useful feature for household management (and for letting kids have a debit card).
Potential improvements: Spaces should be able to designated as “Sub-Accounts” with a spending category, so movements to and from them are counted as credits and debits to the main balance (useful for planing for a wedding, or large project); or as “Budgets”, for which movements would be transparent, but payments from them would count against spending analysis on the main account (useful for budgeting everyday expenses). Also, every Space should get its own virtual Debit Card, for use in Apple Pay. And spending transactions should be able to be moved into a budgeting space retrospectively.
What could be improved: the Saving Spaces (sub accounts) are not integrated properly into the payment analysis feature. Payments to and from spaces (and from spaces to payees) are ‘invisible’ to the payment analysis features, which limits their use. Also joint account Spaces cannot have their own debit card(s). That would be a very useful feature for household management (and for letting kids have a debit card).
Potential improvements: Spaces should be able to designated as “Sub-Accounts” with a spending category, so movements to and from them are counted as credits and debits to the main balance (useful for planing for a wedding, or large project); or as “Budgets”, for which movements would be transparent, but payments from them would count against spending analysis on the main account (useful for budgeting everyday expenses). Also, every Space should get its own virtual Debit Card, for use in Apple Pay. And spending transactions should be able to be moved into a budgeting space retrospectively.
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Response from developer
Hi there, Thanks so much for the review and feedback. We're delighted to hear Starling is working so well for you, and you're happy overall. We also really appreciate the detailed suggestions around Spaces. We've raised them with our team for you, so they can look into this in more detail for the future. Keep an eye out for any improvements! Many thanks, Team Starling
Accused me of money laundering and closed my account
I don’t usually write reviews but this bank was great, until it wasn’t. I was selling some possessions on a trading forum to gather funds to pay for the house I was purchasing. Starling decided these funds were suspicious and therefore blocked my account until I showed the proof of the 4 payments in question. I sent the conversations with the buyers, the tracking information, their feedback/ratings & their confirmation they had received the items. As well as these I sent the proof of the house sale (hence the money was leaving my account). They then reinstated my account for about 3 full days if I remember correctly, before AGAIN blocking my account about another 4 payments, 1 of which was THE SAME payment they had flagged before. At this point I had lost multiple buyers as they had no way of paying me so I decided to just move to Monzo which has a MUCH better customer service team. I ignored the request for more proof for those 4 payments and I was notified my account would be closed in 7 days & that if in those 7 days my account balance wasn’t £0 then ALL MONEY LEFT IN MY ACCOUNT would be AUTOMATICALLY donated to whatever the f starling charity is. AVOID THIS BANK IF YOU EVER GET PAID OR SELL ANYTHING OR VALUE YOUR MONEY.
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Response from developer
Hi there, We’re very sorry to hear about your experience. As a fully regulated bank we may ask you some further information about payments as security and fraud prevention is a priority at Starling. We can see you’ve been in contact with our team regarding this, unfortunately this isn’t something we’re able to elaborate on further. We’re really sorry we're not able to help any further in this case. Team Starling.
