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Curious for those that use "upstart" banks, what convinced you to try out and move funds into that bank account? In the US at least, customer stickiness to thei

Curious for those that use "upstart" banks, what convinced you to try out and move funds into that bank account? In the US at least, customer stickiness to their financial institution is extremely high and personally, the last time I opened a new bank account and moved out all of my funds was due to how I was treated as a customer at my old bank. The other appealing draw for me was also high interest rate, but curious to hear what are the killer features for a digital bank.

nickonline 9y ago
Digital servicing and apps, no need to head into a branch, ever.
- walshemj 9y ago
  MM and you trust an easily losable, stealable, and hackable phone also prone to catastrophic failure with access to you bank account. The UK broadsheet weekend financial sections regularly future people who have lost life changing amounts to fraud and the banks response is to shrug and say "data protection" And you think an "app" based bank is going to be better.
  - dpwm 9y ago
    I sometimes wonder how much of the UK economy is actually built on this fraud. The vast majority of these accounts are with UK institutions, it should be rather trivial to track down. Just the sort code alone tells you the bank and very often the branch. I've heard it claimed that often the money gets transferred internationally from the shell account. Even so, the KYC for anti-money-laundering purposes should cover who owns the account it first lands in. The most benign sounding explanation I've heard that sounds plausible is that privacy is a key selling point for UK financial services (I hear Switzerland isn't so private any more) and that main parties that investigate organized fraud (typically City of London police -- distinct from the Metropolitan police) know where their money's coming from. Viewed from this perspective, every article on a couple being blatantly defrauded of their life savings is more like an advert for those international customers that might want a bank within a country that allows the whole banking system to take "data protection" to ridiculous levels.
    - blibble 9y ago
      very little I would imagine compared to the absolute vast amounts that travel around the financial system every day
blibble 9y ago
> new research reveals that account holders are more likely to stay with their bank – typically for 17 years – than remain loyal to their husband or wife, with the average British marriage lasting just 11 years and six months. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/07/switching-banks-seven-day https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/07/switching-bank...
tim333 9y ago
I use Monzo. Initially I was curious about the tech. I've since used it and Revolut for the cheap foreign exchange/cash withdrawal. I've still got my regular bank accounts.

nickonline 9y ago

Digital servicing and apps, no need to head into a branch, ever.

walshemj 9y ago
MM and you trust an easily losable, stealable, and hackable phone also prone to catastrophic failure with access to you bank account. The UK broadsheet weekend financial sections regularly future people who have lost life changing amounts to fraud and the banks response is to shrug and say "data protection" And you think an "app" based bank is going to be better.
- dpwm 9y ago
  I sometimes wonder how much of the UK economy is actually built on this fraud. The vast majority of these accounts are with UK institutions, it should be rather trivial to track down. Just the sort code alone tells you the bank and very often the branch. I've heard it claimed that often the money gets transferred internationally from the shell account. Even so, the KYC for anti-money-laundering purposes should cover who owns the account it first lands in. The most benign sounding explanation I've heard that sounds plausible is that privacy is a key selling point for UK financial services (I hear Switzerland isn't so private any more) and that main parties that investigate organized fraud (typically City of London police -- distinct from the Metropolitan police) know where their money's coming from. Viewed from this perspective, every article on a couple being blatantly defrauded of their life savings is more like an advert for those international customers that might want a bank within a country that allows the whole banking system to take "data protection" to ridiculous levels.
  - blibble 9y ago
    very little I would imagine compared to the absolute vast amounts that travel around the financial system every day

blibble 9y ago

> new research reveals that account holders are more likely to stay with their bank – typically for 17 years – than remain loyal to their husband or wife, with the average British marriage lasting just 11 years and six months. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/07/switching-banks-seven-day https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/07/switching-bank...

tim333 9y ago

I use Monzo. Initially I was curious about the tech. I've since used it and Revolut for the cheap foreign exchange/cash withdrawal. I've still got my regular bank accounts.