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Review of the Starling Bank, Current account:

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i have saved a bomb in overseas payment costs!

As I was going to spend 3 months abroad in 2018, I decided to research cheaper methods of paying bills, because I was fed up with losing large amounts of money in currency conversion when taking cash and on overseas spending on cards. I decided on Starling Bank because it looked extremely competitive and had a UK banking licence and full regulatory protection of my money. My experience far exceeded my expectations. Some banks in Australia even gave me free ATM withdrawals (though most charged $2 to $4 per withdrawal despite Australian banking law changes), and the same was true in New Zealand. Only 2 suppliers there could not process the transaction (out of more than 100) using the Starling Bank card, and it was clearly their systems that were the problem, not Starling's. Taxis had no problems taking payment. Nor did hotels, Princess Cruises and Holland America, that simply put a hold on the amount due before checkout, and even my hire car companies (Hertz in Australia and the USA, and Omega Car Rentals in New Zealand) accepted the debit card despite insisting on credit cards on their websites. In the USA in January, 2 car park machines in Crystal River, Florida, did not accept the Starling Bank card, 1 supermarket in Orlando struggled to get the card accepted by their till, and as usual, garages would not accept any foreign plastic cards at the pump and wanted pre-authorisation before switching on the pump - again the problem is their systems, not that of Starling Bank. Overall, I thoroughly recommend the Starling Bank debit card for overseas use, though as always, I suggest that a backup card is to hand for the odd establishment that has outdated systems. Reviewed on: 9th February 2019

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