I’m literally using Chase for the cashback currently - it has no other redeeming features in my book. Round ups in general are only useful (imo) if your monthly spending budget isn’t set tight, otherwise it throws things off. It doesn’t seem like the best place to move large funds as the limit lifting seems long winded a la Monzo.
If it weren’t for the penny chasing, I wouldn’t use it. I’m becoming more inclined to just reserve the card for large purchases to tap it at least a little, rather than use it for my daily spend. The reason being is it is an add on to my personal finance infrastructure, as I’m not paid into it, don’t pay bills from it & don’t use it to manage a group bill.
Brilliant! I tested it and same here. Hopefully they will speed up faster payments too. Really good that they have been listening to feedback about notification alerts
It may been mentioned earlier, but I’ve noticed there’s next to no friction around creating a new payee with a modified account name. It’s a darn sort more difficult elsewhere…
There was an article on the head for points website, called something like “how much is an Avios point worth” that valued it at somewhere between 1 and 1.5p, depending on what you spent it on.
That would equate to “up to” 1.5% cashback from Amex’s basic free BA card and more if making use of Amex offers. Of course, you only maximise the value if you spend the Avios at British Airways or, possibly, transfer to Nectar points for spending at Sainsbury’s (which I think is quite a favourable conversion).
Personally, my current setup is to use the BA Amex for anything I buy in the U.K. that I want Section 75 protection on, use Aqua Reward for large purchases or credit-card type spend abroad (for 0.5% cashback and fee-free exchange rate; also used where Amex or Chase aren’t accepted) and Chase for everything else - usually via Curve’s Go Back in Time, so I can just spend first on a credit card and “move” the transaction to Chase later. This avoids the need to keep a large balance in the Chase account.
It should work as Chase seem to be using Mastercard tokenisation, similar to Apple Pay and Google Pay, which ultimately “links back” to the main card number.
I posted a more in-depth explanation, I think possibly on the Monzo community, if you’re interested in reading about how it works. @Lonford may remember where that was?
Yes, every bank does this as Chase doesn’t (yet) support Confirmation of Payee.
Most banks only nag once, though, and allow you to proceed if it’s to the same saved payee, even if you bypassed the warning initially on saving the payee. It seems to be unique to Starling that they flag no CoP match every time, even on a saved payee.
I agree with both points.
Fidor Bank (another German effort) also allowed the same £2,000 maximum limit, but exited the market like N26.
Haha!
Part of a nudge to online, it seems, which makes sense.
Assuming you also have a non-Amex credit card, you could always just use that via Curve and then Go Back in Time your transactions at the end of the month, moving them to Chase.
That way, you only have to top-up Chase once (when you already know how much you’ve spent) and don’t have to keep monitoring it on an ongoing daily basis, and you still benefit from an interest-free period on your purchases.
Yes, and the other two big-name culprits are Co-operative Bank/Smile and John Lewis Finance (for the Partnership Card credit card).
I absolutely agree.
If they dump the cashback and round-up features “cold turkey” after the first year, I personally will have no reason to continue using them. I’d keep my account open, but I wouldn’t spend on the card any more.
I did find scanning my passport slightly fiddly, but when I say that I mean it took 30 seconds rather than 10 as I had to find a part of the room that was optimally lit. There was no big drama, and once I had taken the selfie my application was approved within about 2 minutes.
It was partly my fault anyway as my passport picture isn’t the best!
I think it’s the “micro-earnings” thing.
Seeing the cashback on every transaction, accruing “live” as you use the account, is more satisfying and feels more rewarding than a lump-sum payment monthly, even if the lump-sum turns out to be more.
Oddly, mine didn’t do this when I attempted to add the card to my MacBook Pro. It only showed a phone option, which I selected, and that immediately triggered a notification to verify through the Chase app - no phone call needed.
I think it was probably supposed to show both but didn’t, for whatever reason. Anyway, I have the card in Apple Pay on my iPhone, Apple Watch (via the in-app button) and MacBook Pro now. I too initially tried adding it to my new watch last week via the Watch app (which they seem to have blocked) but them remembered the instructions from here about how to add it via the button and it worked!
This is going to be their main problem: getting people to actually use it when it doesn’t have Direct Debit support.
They really need to remedy that soon or early customers will lose interest and it will struggle to attract more mainstream punters.
Even for fintech enthusiasts, a “bolt-on” account just isn’t sticky enough to keep people interested - and because it is really being used like a pre-paid card, doesn’t inspire much customer loyalty either.
I find it particularly remarkable given you can access a DD function through nearly all other ‘neo-banks’ including e-money licensees such as Dozens, Monese and Revolut (albeit usually through a third party payments processor)
I agree, although I suspect the reason is that they want to develop the platform themselves and not rely on those usual third parties (mainly to save money).
