Yeah, you haven’t got your pots, the apps do some quirky things and you have to wait for something in the post once in a while, but they are secure and a financial anchor.
If you’re with a big 4 banking group and you have a good credit rating you can have anything you want from them.
The new online banks are great, and I still use them for various bits but they don’t give you full financial service functionality, and there are a number of issues once deeper in than the shiny interface.
I’ve been out there in the new world for 3 or 4 years but have found myself back re-rooted into a big bank, and life is easier.
Well, this subjective of course but FWIW I agree having gone ‘full circle’ as my needs have grown.
Started with a big bank, went “full monzo” and steadily started moving back to HSBC. Mainly because as you say, I couldn’t find a challenger that offered a range of products that suited. They all did some, or none, but never all.
I think that’s going to be the big challenge for full acquisition and moving folk away from “day to day spending” over time. Now, if Chase let people back in and release a credit card…
I took on “whatever I needed” mortgage, credit card etc when I banked with Dozens. That said, pre approval can make things clearer, but whether you’d be approved anyway is another question.
With quite possibly the vast majority of the big four banks branches shutting down almost completely, from my own perspective I don’t see them as any better or worse than the new fintechs.
Chase is now my fully functional everyday banking provider. My mortgage is held with one of the large banks not because I approached them, but because my mortgage advisor/broker had access to a better range of products than I could source myself and I wound up with an interest rate of 1.59 percent over 5 years just a few months before the massive wobbles started.
I sort my own savings out. I have literally no need to ever communicate with my banking providers. Unless one of the big four is prepared to chuck a couple of hundred quid at me to CASS with few strings attached, I genuinely couldn’t care less about them. And I’ve made around £750 over the last 6 years or so just by CASSing out accounts; but I’ve now burned my bridges because I no longer qualify for any more incentives
Reading their post it sounds more like praise of just being full service banks.
The upstarts have barely broken beyond the basics, and you don’t build rapport through your custom open doors to other products.
Barclays were my first bank account in this country, and whilst I wasn’t really eligible for anything beyond a basic bank account to start with, after a while, for no reason other than the way I managed my bank account with them, they started inviting me other products to say I’d now be eligible or pre-approved even. You really don’t get this from the neobanks.
Monzo have been my main bank account since N26 left now. They flip flop as to whether I’m allowed an overdraft, and give me the worst rate, though I’ve never purposefully used it (only on accidental occasion during summer because they live in UTC year around so midnight is not midnight). I’m not eligible for loans from them, and whilst they did let me have flex, it was a lowball limit and has never gone up, whilst I rent to get annual increase offers everywhere else.
In essence, being a good banking citizen rewards you with traditionals. It opens doors and they’re fully featured product wise. None of which seems to be the case with new banks.
I guess I’ve never really made use of the big banks in house products, except that is for the Nationwide packaged account to get the insurance. I don’t have nor have I made use of an overdraft facility for the best part of 27 years. I have to admit, I’m very much a fan of fintech over High Street banking providers.
You’re just describing the old fashioned banking model of the past…
I imagine most people who actually look around will find they’re not being best served by having everything with one bank. People just do it out of convenience which is fine but you will probably pay for it.
Yes you’re right you can’t get those with a fintech bank but you can get them elsewhere and without limiting yourself to only what your bank offers.
Starling is my bank so I have no choice but to use other companies for everything but I don’t think that’s really a big deal unless you want everything with the same bank.
The best easy access savings rate isn’t with a high street bank. My overdraft with Starling has a better rate than any of the high street banks. Most people just get car finance through a dealership. If you want the best rate for a mortgage you don’t go to your bank you go to a broker. I just use comparison sites for credit cards.
I just don’t see the importance of having everything with one bank anymore.
My disillusion with Fintech “banks” has been their utter uselessness at customer services and compliance. Generally an area that they have classically neglected and where it takes weeks - months even - to resolve issues that a larger bank would have done in days at the moment. Money transfers are blocked for anti-money laundering reasons and the company only has a few people looking at this area of work, as it doesn’t generate any income.
Yes I remember the days Santander would send me a letter saying you’ve been pre-approved for a credit card I didn’t even apply for and threw all their other offerings at me. Didn’t make me stay though. You can get credit products anywhere with not much more effort.
People are switching to Starling and Monzo so maybe people here should be asking why if being with the bigger banks is so great.
It’s more that the big banks aren’t so bad as people make out. Old and new both have pros and cons which overall close the gap more than what is first perceived when you switch to the new world. Neither are perfect. Using them in combination gives you a lot more.
I seem to remember for a number of years Monzo was all about #fullmonzo but then quietly dropped it when they realised people didn’t want to do it, for a number of reasons.
I think @Shivers77 and you are right, combinations are there and a great thing. For me personally, I don’t see the hassle of having two different bank accounts anymore, and as a result of this none of my spending is with FinTech. That’s because everything else is with HSBC as has always been my salary therefore why would I bother.
Others can and do mix and match.
Having said all that, if Chase let folk back in and release a credit card, I think that would have the right features, customer support (big one why no more Monzo) and product offerings to make me consider it.
Monzo can’t do basic things like incoming SEPA / SWIFT credits and even says in those instances to use a ‘real’ bank. I don’t agree it will ever been very profitable as it’s customer base isn’t affluent and the big banks provide current accounts to cross-sell products - Monzo has very little of value.
