The Verdict
Average Success Rate
Starling Bank 5-Year Avg The following dataset includes the performances of ready-made portfolios/funds offered by investment platforms and may include both actively and passively managed ready-made portfolios/funds. Performance indicated is also net of all fees to 31st January 2024, unless stated otherwise; any tiered fee structure will be disclosed. Ready-made portfolios/funds that include cryptocurrencies or any other securities outside cash and equities are not included in the dataset. The dataset only includes ready-made portfolios/funds which are explicitly advertised by their respective platforms as being for ‘beginners’, and which are exclusively offered by the platform itself. Funds which are managed by other providers and may be identically offered across multiple platforms were not included in this dataset. For example, the Vanguard UK All Share Acc. ETF was offered by Plum, but as it is not directly managed by Plum and customers could reasonably access it on multiple platforms, it was not included for the purposes of this research. Other discretely advertised securities or investments are not included.
Industry avg. The industry average is the median average of all fund/ready-made portfolio performance figures we collated from 23 investment providers. To see the full dataset, visit X page.
I've had a Starling account for a few years now and it's always felt like a reliable, trustworthy provider. It has great UK-based customer service, and offers what I can only think to call "good-natured" banking. By which I mean it feels like they're actually on your side - rather than just saying they are. But I don't think I'd truly appreciated what a gem Starling is until I did some focused, side-by-side analysis of Starling vs its competitors for this review.
Starling is refreshingly consumer-friendly. Here are a few examples of what I mean: they don't charge interest for unarranged overdraft usage; there's no penalty if Starling need to refuse a payment due to lack of funds in your account; they pay interest on your current account balance (I'm talking about the money in your day-to-day account, not a savings account, although they also pay a decent rate of interest on that too).
The differences are even more impressive when you look at their travel money proposition. Unlike other top players in the travel money market, such as Monzo and Revolut, there are no 'ifs' and 'buts' to get your head around if you want to take advantage of fee-free debit card use abroad. With Starling, it's all free, all of the time. No 'between these days and times' or 'only if you're in these countries'. The terms on withdrawing cash from foreign ATMs are the best I've come across; a £300-a-day limit is far more generous than Revolut's (£200 per month for the free account) or Monzo's (unlimited within the European Economic Area, but £200 per month in the rest of the world if you're a free account-holder). Wise charges an FX fee on all card use abroad and limits you to 2 free withdrawals per month and no more than £200. So £300 per day is leaps ahead. And, although Chase allows up to £500 per day, there's a monthly limit of £1,500 to factor in with them.
These differences all add up. The result? Starling is hard to beat for home banking. I'd go as far as to say it's impossible to beat for travel money banking.
Read More Pros
- No fees for spending abroad
- No mark-up on the Mastercard exchange rate
- Innovative features such as splitting bills with a single tap
- Budgeting tools
- Spending habits insights and analytics
- Award-winning, UK-based teams customer services team available 24/7
- Scan cheques in-app
- 3.25% The annual equivalent rate (AER) is used to describe the percentage of interest you’ll receive on your savings and investments. AER accounts for compound interest whereas the gross interest rate does not. AER is also known as APY (the annual percentage yield). AER* (3.19% gross) interest paid on current account balances
- 4.48% AER/gross interest on 1-year fixed savings account
- Which? Banking Brand of the Year, 2024 and 2023
Cons
- No in-house ISAs
- No general investing accounts
- No cash back on spending
- Need to download the app to apply so must have a smartphone
Account Opening
Opening an account is a very smooth process with Starling, and is 100% digital. You'll need an identity document to verify your identity as is standard across all UK banks. You'll also need to download the app to apply so, although you can use online banking once you're set up, you'll need a smartphone to get started.
Pros
- 100% digital sign up
- Takes just 5 minutes
- The Starling user interface is clear and easy to use
Safety
Starling is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority. As it is a bank, customers also fall under the umbrella of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). That means, in the event of Starling Bank going out of business, your eligible deposits are protected up to a value of £85,000 per person.
Starling has suffered some recent repetitional damage after being fined £28.9m for "shockingly lax" financial crime controls by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The regulator found that Starling’s financial crime measures “did not keep pace” with its growing customer base, so this could have been as a result of fast growth and not being able to manage their own success. However, it does beg questions about how Starling could have got something so crucial, so wrong. And, undoubtedly serves a big blow to their reputation as one of the most solid, trustworthy challenger banks.
Pros
- Authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority
- Up to £85,000 protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme
- Biometric login
- As a digital-first bank, it has invested heavily in online security technology
Cons
- Recently fined £28.9m by the Financial Conduct Authority for "shockingly lax" financial crime controls
Education
Starling does a good job on personal finance education with a wealth of articles covering a wide range of topics.
Pros
- Large library of articles and blog posts
- Clearly communicated
Cons
Customer Service
Starling has recently won awards for its customer services, has one of the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any UK bank, and has an "Excellent" rating on Trustpilot of 4.3 out of 5 stars. Reviews stand out for their praise of the availability and service level of the customer support team, saying Starling "sets the standard".
Pros
- Lots of happy customers!
- 24/7 customer support
- In-app live chat for existing customers
- If it’s not urgent, you can send a message through the app and the customer service team will respond
- Phoneline to speak to UK-based customer services
- Email address for queries
- SignVideo gives customers who would like to make contact using British Sign Language access to an online interpreter