If you don’t have any credit history or are looking to rebuild your credit report, then specialist credit cards could help.
Want to get a mortgage, credit card, loan or other form of borrowing? A healthy credit report can be the difference between acceptance and rejection, a good rate or a bad rate.
There are plenty of things you can do to strengthen your credit file – registering to vote through, paying bills on time checking your report for errors and having a bank account all help. And alongside these is to spend on a credit card.
That might seem counter-intuitive. Using a credit card is to spend money that isn’t yours. If you don’t need to borrow then surely it’s better to not have a card?
Well, what you’re doing by using a card showing you are a responsible borrower. That you can be given credit and pay it back.
Here’s more on how this helps your credit report and how to find the best credit building cards.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
Watch my video looking at the best first-time credit cards for beginners
Using credit cards to boost your credit file
There are some key rules you need to follow to make sure spending on a credit card helps rather than hurts your credit report.
Use them only for everyday spending
A very simple one to start. Having a credit card shouldn’t encourage you to buy things you wouldn’t normally be able to afford.
Instead use it only for everyday spending. I often suggest something like supermarket shopping or filling up on petrol.
This way you’re just swapping spending on your debit card for spending on your credit card.
It helps to avoid temptation if you only take it with you when you are going to make that regular purchase, and leave it at home the rest of the time.
Clear the card every month
It’s vital that you remember to pay off the card in full. This shows you are responsible and can pay back what your borrow. Big tick for that credit report.
But it also means you’ll avoid getting charged interest. Credit cards have high-interest rates, generally starting at 19% and going above 50%. This is added on each month to any money not cleared.
Setting up a Direct Debit for the full amount means you won’t forget to do this, though you can instead just pay it when the statement is due. I used to set a reminder in my calender so I didn’t forget.
If you can’t afford to do this, then pay as much as you can. And that needs to be at least the minimum repayment. This varies and is set by the card provider. Fail to do this and you’ll be hit by charges and it’ll be shown on your credit file – going against the good work you’re doing to improve your credit score.
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Though you’ll be spending on things you’d normally buy, that money doesn’t leave your current account until your pay off the card.
There’s the risk that you’ll see the extra cash in your bank account and forget you need it to clear the card. So you spend it elsewhere.
If you are worried about this you can actually transfer the money from your current account into a sub account (either a “pot” or “space” or a completely different one just for credit card spending) as soon as you spend.
Then you can pay the credit card bill from this account and be guaranteed to have enough cash set aside. It might be sensible to add a little extra in there in case you forget, but to be extra safe just put a note in your diary before the direct debit is due to leave the account that the balance is high enough.
Try not to use more than 30% of your credit limit
Lenders often look at something called “credit utilisation”. This is how much of your available credit you use.
Though it’ll be different for every credit card company, a good rule of thumb is to keep that level below 30%. The closer you are to this level each month the better it reflects on your overall report.
So if you have a £500 credit limit you don’t want to owe more than £150 on that card.
There are a number of other reasons credit cards can be useful – extra consumer protection, cashback and rewards, 0% spending and cutting the cost of debts. But I’d try to not get distracted.
Keep it simple by just spending and repaying, spending and repaying, and so on, month after month. Once you’re comfortable with this, and your credit report has improved, you can look at better cards.
Some get caught in the vicious circle of not having enough of a credit history to get accepted for a credit card, but needing a credit card to help improve their report in order to get one. And every rejection makes it harder still to get another card.
So how do you avoid this?
Check your eligibility
Many credit card providers will let you undertake a ‘soft’ eligibility check before a full ‘hard’ application. Do this and you’ll know whether you’ll get the card or not, or at least see your chances of acceptance.
Personally, unless there’s a very specific card you are after, I’d go via a comparison site such as Money Saving Expert’s Credit Club. This will show you your chances against a range of different cards. You can then pick the card with the highest chance of acceptance.
Though any spending and repaying on any credit card will help you improve your credit report, if you’re starting from scratch or have had problems with credit in the past you’ll probably want to look at a specific credit building card.
These are easier to get, but often come with restrictions. The interest rate for a start is likely to be higher than you’ll see on other cards. But this shouldn’t be an issue if you are clearing the balance completely each month.
You’ll also probably get a relatively low credit limit. But that is no bad thing either as it prevents you spending too much on the cards.
Watch out for representative APR
Though I’d encourage you to not get a credit card if you think you’re going to pay the interest charges, it makes sense to be aware of what you could be charged just in case.
Sadly it’s not as easy as just picking the card with the lowest rate as only 51% of successful applicants need to be offered the advertised rate – meaning 49% could pay more, sometimes a lot more.
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New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.71% AER to 4.81% for 12 months
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.35%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
▲
Best first-time credit cards
The best first-time credit card is the one you’ve got the best chance of getting (so check that eligibility). But if you’ve got a choice I think these cards are worth considering as your first credit card. They’re designed for building credit and they come with some welcome cash if you’re accepted.
1 bonus Clubcard point for every £4 spent at Tesco
1 bonus Clubcard point for every £8 spent elsewhere
£250 to £1,500 credit limit
27.5% APR
Going via TopCashback will earn you around £30 (the amount can vary). Once you have this card it offers money back when you spend – but don’t get too excited. You’d need to spend £100 a month for a year outside of Tesco to even make £1.50 – and that’s only if you are spending full multiples of £8 each time.
My final pick also comes with cashback when you successfully apply, this time via Quidco. You’ll also get up to five months free Apple TV+, even if you’re not a new Apple user.
If you think you will have to pay interest then the rate will drop by 3% after year one and another 2% after year two if you make all your payments on time and stay within your credit limit. Of course, you might be able to get a lower rate straight off from another card.
One feature that’s also available is getting cashback on the bills you pay. So you could get 1% back on your Council Tax or water bills. It’s stuff we all pretty much pay for.
Since this type of account was introduced I’ve always said it makes sense for us to all have one of these current accounts – all offered by Santander.
If you’re looking to open a new account you can choose between the Edge or the Edge Up, while some of you might still have the 123 or 123 Lite.
So which is better? This article will help you decide on the best paying option for you.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
Santander cashback current accounts compared
First a look at what these accounts offer. The focus of this article is on the cashback on bills, but as you’ll see some of them offer extra ways to earn money.
Available to all customers
Santander Edge
The Edge doesn’t just offer cashback on bills as you can get money back on some spending and a decent interest rate.
I wouldn’t bother with the debit card cashback as you can earn the same rate elsewhere without the caps and retailer restrictions. The interest could be worth grabbing – as long as you’re covering the fee with your cashback.
The Edge Saver is unbeatable for the first year – though you do need to factor in the fee if that’s not covered by cashback Here’s more on the Edge Saver account (full review)
7% (including 2.5% bonus for 12 months) on balances up to £4,000 via a separate Edge Saver account
Cashback (capped at £10 per tier each month)
1% on Council Tax, phone, mobile, TV and broadband, gas and electricity, and water bills
1% back on spending at supermarkets and on travel (trains, buses & fuel)
Requirements
Pay in £500 a month
Pay out at least two Direct Debits
Santander Edge Up
The Edge Up keeps the same cashback rates, but increases the monthly cap to £15 a month. On
There’s no access to the Edge Saver. Instead you can earn 3.5% interest in the account on a hefty balance, but that can be beaten by savings rates at other banks.
1% on Council Tax, phone, mobile, TV and broadband, gas and electricity, and water bills
1% back on spending at supermarkets and on travel (trains, buses & fuel)
Requirements
Pay in £1,500 a month
Pay out at least two Direct Debits
Only available to existing customers
Santander 123
The Santander 123 current account is no longer available to new customers, but if you’ve already got one it’ll still earn you money back on your bills.
The 123 pays more cashback on some bills than the Edge, and you can earn money on Santander mortgages too. However, it comes with a higher fee and lower interest rates. I wouldn’t use this at all for interest as the rate can be easily beaten elsewhere.
Monthly Fee
£4
Interest %
2% on balances up to £20,000
Cashback (capped at £5 per tier each month)
1% on Council Tax, phone, mobile, TV and broadband bills and Santander mortgage repayments
2% on gas and electricity
3% on water bills
Requirements
Pay in £500 a month
Pay out at least two Direct Debits
Santander 123 Lite
This account is no longer available to new customers, but if you’ve already got one it’ll still earn you money back on your bills and with the lowest fee of the lot, so you need to know what it offers in comparison to the others.
Monthly Fee
£2
Interest %
None
Cashback (capped at £5 per tier each month)
1% on Council Tax, phone, mobile, TV and broadband bills and Santander mortgage repayments
2% on gas and electricity
3% on water bills
Requirements
Pay in £500 a month
Pay out at least two Direct Debits
Sign in to your online or app banking every three months
Go paperless
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Obviously there’s the chance to earn more from the 123 and 123 Lite due to the higher paying rates on gas, electricity and water. Plus if you have a Santander mortgage there’s extra you can earn there too.
However all three accounts have caps. For the 123 and 123 Lite it’s £5 cap per category, so the most you can possibly make each month is £15 – though for most homes that’s unlikely. The Edge caps bill cashback at £10 a month.
To work out how much you’ll make personally you’ll need to get your bills and put them into the cashback calculators on the Santander websites. Don’t forget to factor in the monthly fee, which will show in the calculator.
Santander cashback calculators
You can use a calculator on the Santander website to work out your return from both the Edge and Edge Up. It’s possible to also compare how much you’ll make to either the 123 or 123 Lite.
You’ll find this in the “Cashback” section when you click the arrow to expand. This calculator also has the option to work out how much you’d earn from debit card cashback and interest on savings, but I’d leave this blank unless you really don’t want to get better rates elsewhere.
A quick note: For Council Tax the cashback is calculated as if you pay it over 10 months rather than 12. Though the former is the default way I’ve always preferred the consistency of every month. If you pay by 12 months then you’ll need to multiply the amount you pay by 12, then divide by 10, and put that figure in the calculator. This applies to all three accounts.
Though the categories of cashback are quite broad and cover lots of bills, not every supplier will be included. For example, Giffgaff doesn’t appear in the eligible supplier search form. Do check how your supplier appears on your bank statement as that might be what’s listed.
Also, if you split bills with a partner or housemate and you pay from separate accounts then you won’t get the full benefit of this type of account. You could open up a joint account for these key bills, though there are risks you need to be aware of.
What I’d make in cashback on bills
Which account would be best for me?
If you’re a regular reader you won’t be surprised to know I’ve got as good a deal as possible on all my bills. I switch energy provider frequently (well, I did when this was possible) and ditched pay TV years ago. Plus I’ve haggled low prices on broadband and mobile phones.
Our water is on a meter and my Council Tax is quite high, but there’s not a huge amount we can do to reduce these further.
Bill
My monthly cost
123 Lite monthly cashback
123monthly cashback
Edge monthly cashback
Edge Up monthly cashback
Council Tax
£228
£2.28
£2.28
£2.28
£2.28
Broadband
£28
£0.28
£0.28
£0.28
£0.28
Mobile Phones (x2)
£16
£0.16
£0.16
£0.16
£0.16
Gas & Electricity
£250
£5
£5
£2.50
£2.50
Water
£40
£1.20
£1.20
£0.40
£0.40
Monthly fee
-£2
-£4
-£3
-£5
MONTHLYTOTAL
£6.92
£4.92
£2.62
£0.62
ANNUAL TOTAL
£83.04
£59.04
£31.44
£7.44
Cashback on bills vs interest in account
There is a extra option to consider. If your current account pays interest on the balance held there (rather than in a separate account that you’d have to transfer money over for), how much would that make? Could it better just to do that and forget about the cashback? Or does this help make the Edge Up more appealing as you’d automatically get both.
Let’s use my bills total from the table above, which comes in at £562 a month. If I left that cash in my account all month, and paid the direct debits on the last day, a rate of 3.5% (as Starling or the Santander Edge Up offers) would earn £19.67 interest if I did the same every month of the year.
That’s still not enough to chose this approach instead, or go for the Edge Up. You can of course combine the interest from Starling (or any other account) with cashback from Santander, by keeping the money in that account for as long as possible before you need to transfer it so the direct debits are paid.
Santander Edge accounts vs other interest rates
The table below shows how much interest you’d earn on £1,000, £4,000, £10,000, £20,000 and £25,000 when held in either the Santander 123, Santander Edge, Edge Up or a decent top-paying easy access account (at the time of writing) of 5%. The 123 Lite doesn’t pay interest.
These figures are without the fee, as I’m assuming that this is covered by the cashback you earn each year. If you aren’t earning the cashback I don’t see much point in using either the Edge or 123 for your savings.
The only exception is when you have a joint account which allows you to open two Edge Savers, and have at least £4,500 across the two accounts. And remember the 7% is only for one year and it then drops to 3.5%.
Anyway, back to the returns:
Amount saved
Interest earned in Santander 123 (2% up to £20,000)
Interest earned in Santander EdgeSaver (7% for 1st year only up to £4,000)
Interest earned in Santander Edge Up (3.5% up to £25,000)
Interest earned in 5% paying account
£1,000
£20
£70
£35
£50
£4,000
£80
£280
£150
£200
£10,000
£200
£280
£350
£500
£20,000
£400
£280
£700
£1,000
£25,000
£400
£280
£875
£1,250
It’s clear the Edge pays the most on up to £4,000, and for balances above that you’d want money in the best easy-access account.
Summary: Which is the best Santander account for you?
Should you get a Santander Edge or Edge Up account?
Let’s assume you don’t already have any of the accounts above (we’ll come back to whether you should swap from existing 123 accounts in a bit).
As long as you are paying those bills, and you’ll earn more than the monthly fee, it’s well worth getting one of these accounts. My preference is to go for the Edge as it’s cheaper and the extra features on the Edge Up won’t justify the additional £24 a year.
But I wouldn’t use it as my main account. There are far better options when it comes to the app and banking experience, plus a few with more lucrative extras.
Personally I’d set this up as an additional account solely to pay the bills. A standing order from your main account can transfer over the required cash each month, which will cover those bills.
Most of these bills are set amounts that won’t change without notice, so it requires little ongoing maintenance. Though obviously you’ll need to make sure you cover ones that can change each month – for example an increased mobile phone bill, or any annual increases to those bills (usually in April of each year).
Should you swap a Santander 123 for a Edge account?
The Santander 123 and 123 Lite current accounts closed to new customers in June 2023, but existing customers can keep their account open and continue to earn cashback.
I’d choose to keep hold of this account rather than opting for the Edge, especially if you have the 123 Lite. You’ll earn more back every month thanks to the higher rates on some bills.
Andy’s Analysis: Edge, 123 or 123 Lite?
If you have a 123 Lite then I’d absolutely keep it. If not, then my instinct is that the 123 will be the better account. That’s because despite a higher monthly fee you’ll get more cashback on energy bills, which can really add up while bills are so high.
Even if you’re also tempted by the Edge for the cashback at the supermarket, I’d look at alternatives that will earn you the same 1% at many more retailers.
And though the interest rate on the Edge Saver is hard to beat, I don’t think it’s enough to compensate for the lower cashback on your bills.
Santander switching bonus
Santander launched its first proper switching bonus in late 2021. The most recent offer, in March 2024 is for £185. This is a decent deal and is open to existing customers.
The faster you pay off debts, the less they’ll cost.
I use my credit card as much as I can for two reasons. One, I earn 1% cashback on most of my spending, and two, I know I can pay the full amount off every month.
Yet if those two weren’t the case, especially the last one, I’d avoid credit cards on almost all occasions (there are some exceptions). Misuse credit cards and the debts you build-up could cost you far more than you realise.
Here are six ways to clear your cards faster – whether you’re just mismanaging your repayments or you’re struggling with an unmanageable debt.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
Pay it off with savings
You’re probably being charged at least 20% interest on your credit card spending. Possibly 30%, if not more. So if there’s £500 on there, just 20% will add on nearly £10 for the first month alone.
So if you were to pay off the card rather than keep cash in savings you’d save £7.92 a month, or £94 a year. And it’ll be a much bigger saving if you’ve got a larger or more expensive card debt.
It’s good financial sense to have access to emergency cash, but if you have a credit card available, then consider that as your back up and clear the debt.
Transfer it to a 0% card
A zero percent balance transfer card allows you to move your existing credit card debt to a new one which doesn’t charge ANY interest for a set time.
This is a good alternative to paying off the debt straight away and it’ll give you some breathing space to cut down the card.
Have a plan of how you’ll pay off the card before the 0% period ends, ideally a set amount each month.
You can get ridiculously long 0% cards now, though if you think you can do this under 18 months it’s possible to avoid paying a transfer fee at all.
Pay as much as you can each month
It’s amazing how many people don’t realise just making the minimum repayments is a bad thing. Yes, though it’s vital to do this to avoid nasty extra fees, it won’t help you pay off a card.
Most minimum repayments are a percentage of the debt. So as you reduce the debt, the payments get smaller and smaller. This means it takes ages to pay off the debt. For example a £500 debt at 19% would take close to 18 years to clear and cost £842 in interest (based on paying just 2% each month).
Really you should be paying as much as you can. Doing this will reduce the interest you pay and clear the cards faster. So £25 a month will clear it a £500 debt in two years at the cost of £95. That’s a saving of more than £700!
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Prioritise multiple credit card debts
If you have more than one card you owe money on, don’t pay them off evenly. Instead focus the bulk of your cash on one of those until that is cleared, then move on to the next one.
If you go for the most expensive debt, i.e. the one with the highest interest rate, you’ll reduce the total interest cost faster. This is known as the “avalanche” method.
Or if you target the smallest debt first, you’ll reduce the total number of debts faster. This is known as “Snowballing”, and is popular to help with motivation.
What’s vital with either approach is that you still maintain the minimum repayments on the other cards while you do this.
Set up a direct debit
Even though I always pay off my cards in full, there was one time where I forgot to post the cheque (yes, this was a a long time ago). If I hadn’t remembered and phoned the card provider on the due day, the missed payment would have shown as a default my credit report and added penalty charges to my bill.
To avoid this, I set up a direct debit to guarantee payment is made every month. You do need to make sure you have enough in your current account though – otherwise you could get hit by overdraft charges.
Get a low rate, long-term card
If you’ve got large or multiple credit card debts, or don’t have the credit rating to get a 0% card, you could look to consolidate your cards at a lower monthly interest rate.
This could be around 5% or 6%, a significant reduction from the rate you’re currently paying. For example, a £500 debt at 6%, with £25 month payments, will cost £27 in interest – £68 less than keeping it on a 19% card.
Beat the queues (and closing branches) by depositing a cheque with a mobile banking app.
It’s been years since I received or wrote a cheque. But during the first lockdown I helped some elderly neighbours with their shopping. And since they were housebound and not online the easiest way for them to pay me was via cheque.
Normally that would mean a visit to the bank in order to deposit to my account, but it actually gave me a chance to try out an online banking feature I’ve been unable to use before.
Since late 2017, some banks have used cheque imaging software to scan your cheques using the banking apps on your phone.
More and more banks now let you do this, and it’s a handy feature for those too busy or unable to head to a bank, or perhaps have seen their local branch close down.
How to pay in a cheque with your banking app
If your bank has the feature (you can see a list of the banks that do and significant banks that don’t below), then it’s a similar process with each one.
You first take a photo of the front of the picture using the app. And once that’s gone through, you take a picture of the back – even if it’s completely blank!
The phone must be completely flat above the cheque, which must also be flat. You need to get the corners lined up to markers on the phone screen. And even if you nail this, it might not be enough. When I first tried it with Halifax it took about seven attempts to get the front to scan.
But once I worked out it needed to be on a dark background it took just seconds to snap each side and hit submit. Far quicker than heading out to the bank and queuing up.
You should see the money in your account by the end of the next working day, as long as you pay it in before a cut-off time (which varies by bank). Of course, make sure you keep the cheque until it has cleared just in case it’s rejected.
Andy’s top bank apps
Banking apps aren’t just useful for paying in cheques. If you’re like me, you’re doing most of your banking on one – and some are much better than others. Here are my top apps for managing your current account:
Banks where you can pay in cheques with your phone
These are the main banks I can find that offer this feature.
Bank of Scotland
Bank of Scotland is one where the app works in exactly the same way as Halifax’s (see below)
Barclays
You’ll find the feature on the Pay & Transfer tab of your Barclays app. You can pay in a maximum of four cheques every seven days, and a cheque can’t be for more than £500.
First Direct
Since there are no branches you’d normally need to go to an HSBC or a Post Office to pay in a cheque with First Direct. However, in June 2020 the bank added the option to do this via the app, or you can also post them to the bank.
Lloyds’s pay-in via the app feature lets you deposit a cheque with the bank in exactly the same way as Halifax.
Monzo
After years where the only options was to send it via the post, since late 2023 you can now pay in cheques up to £500 via the app. For larger amounts you’ll need to post it.
NatWest
Added in May 2021, you can pay in a cheque using the NatWest app. You need to select the account you want to use and you’ll see the option. I found it much harder than on other apps to get the camera to find the cheque and had to put it on a dark background for it to scan.
However, once I finally got far enough to submit the cheque, the app came back saying it “couldn’t process your cheque right now”. I tried a few times before giving up! I’m sure it’s just teething problems at launch but it’s frustrating.
RBS
RBS has the same app and functionality as NatWest, so it’ll follow the same process as above.
Santander
Since late 2022 you’ve finally been able to use the Santander app to pay in a cheque. It has to be less than £500 in value. There’s a £1,000 total cap per day.
Simply go to menu in the top right hand corner and choose “Add money”. Then you’ll be able to take a photo of your cheque up to £500.
TSB
Since spring 2023, you can now scan cheques using the TSB app. Select the Payments tab at the bottom of the screen, then deposit cheque. There’s a £750 daily limit.
Virgin Money
The app for a Virgin Money, allows cheques up to £500 as long as they weren’t signed more than six months ago. You’ll find it via the menu in the top right-hand corner.
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Banks where you can’t pay in a cheque with your phone
Here are some of the notable banks which don’t have this feature. If you can’t get to any of these banks to pay in a cheque, you can head to your Post Office and deposit it there. However, all they’ll do is post it on for you so it can take a while to clear.
Chase Bank
Chase does not have the function to pay in a cheque via the app. In fact there are no ways to deposit a cheque. Instead you’ll need to pay it into a different account and transfer the money across.
Co-operative Bank
You’ll need to visit a branch or post cheques for Co-op Bank.
Kroo
It’s not possible to add a cheque to Kroo at all, so you’ll need to deposit one elsewhere and transfer over.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.71% AER to 4.81% for 12 months
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.35%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
▲
How to switch bank to one with this feature
It’s really simple to open up a new bank account at one of those listed above which do let you pay in a cheque with the app on your phone.
You can either open up a new account and keep your old one, or you can choose to switch using the Current Account Switch Service which moves all your standing orders, direct debits and future payments.
Get cashback at shops like Primark and Argos to bring down your phone bill
Airtime (formerly Airtime Rewards) is a cashback app that can help you cut down the cost of your mobile phone bill. Essentially, you just connect your cards to it and earn cashback on your spending. This can then be taken off your mobile phone bill. Here’s how it works and how much you can earn with Airtime.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
What is Airtime?
Airtime (formerly Airtime Rewards) is an app you download to your phone that you connect to your bank cards. Every time you use your connected card at participating retailers — found within the app — you’ll earn some money back that’ll go towards your phone bill.
For example, if you use your connected card at Oasis to buy a £30 shirt you’ll make the transaction as usual. You don’t have to follow a specific link or scan a code at the till.
Airtime will automatically track the transaction and calculate how much cashback you’re owed – in this example and at the time of writing, that’d be 3%, which means you’d earn 90p in cashback.
This all goes into the “Rewards” section in the app, then when you have £10, you can get it knocked off your phone bill.
How does Airtime work?
You can earn cashback in two different ways: from your connected cards and by buying gift cards. Here’s how each of them works.
Connected cards
As long as you’ve connected your card to Airtime, it’ll track your spending and automatically apply cashback to your account. You may see some transactions as “pending” for a while – this is normal, and it’ll be in your account in the period specified. It’s just to allow for things like refunds.
Buying gift cards
You can also earn cashback by buying gift cards through the app. This can be a little difficult to find, but if you go to “More”, you’ll see a link under the title “More ways to earn”. Here, you’ll see the option “Buy gift cards”.
Here you’ll be able to see a list of retailers available to buy gift cards from. It seems that the general reward available is 4% across the board, and we’ve not seen any fluctuation from this yet.
To purchase a gift card, you choose the one you want and the amount you want and pay with a credit or debit card or using Apple or Google Pay. The gift card will be emailed to you and can be used immediately. The card you use needs to be registered with your account, so it can be tracked in the usual way.
This is similar to what JamDoughnut offers. You get cashback in your Airtime account a few days after making the purchase.
How much can you earn with Airtime rewards?
The rates vary by retailer. Some offer just 1%, while others offer as much as 15%. The average is about 3-4%. There are plenty of retailers that you might use often, such as Argos and Waitrose, so you can pick up a lot of cashback from regular spending.
On average, I can cash out £10 every few months.
What cards can you add to Airtime?
The cards can be a debit or credit card, but only Mastercard or Visa. Sadly, American Express won’t work.
In addition, it’s best that you don’t use Curve as this can break the link between the retailer and Airtime needed to make it track.
You add a card in the app, either by using the camera icon in the top right corner of the app to scan your card, or by typing in your card number and expiry date.
It can take 24 hours for cards to be approved, so it’s worth getting as many of your cards on the app as soon as you get it. You need to have the card active before making a transaction for it to track.
What mobiles networks can you use with Airtime?
Sadly you can’t use Airtime with every network, and some are Pay As You Go (PAYG) only. At the time of writing it works with the following:
EE
Giffgaff
O2
Three
Vodafone
Lebara Mobile (PAYG only)
Lycamobile (PAYG only)
Now Mobile (PAYG)
If you aren’t with one of these networks you won’t be able to sign up just yet.
If you switch networks, you can still collect the rewards and then either save them up for if you switch networks or gift them to someone else to put towards their mobile bill.
How do you redeem Airtime rewards?
It’s very easy to redeem your rewards. You hit the rewards tab on the app (the little piggy bank), select the amount and hit redeem. The money will be sent to your phone network and knocked off your bill. This should take just 24 hours, however it can sometimes take longer.
You need to have earned at least £10 to activate your reward, and you can only redeem £20 at a time. You can repeat the process to get more, though.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.71% AER to 4.81% for 12 months
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.35%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
▲
How much you need to spend to get £10 with Airtime?
A typical rate is 3-4%, however some of the bigger brands are less than this. With an average of, say 3.5%, you’d need to spend just under £300 to get your first £10.
To boost your initial rewards, you can check out the sign-up bonus on our Airtime promo codes page. You can usually get £1.50 credit, and there are frequent bonus offers available.
Gifting your rewards
If you’re feeling generous, you can send reward credit to another user registered with the app. That means that if you happen to have more than you need or aren’t on a participating network you can gift £10 to £50.
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What retailers are on Airtime?
The big names are Argos, Waitrose, Boots and Primark, but there are dozens more you’ll know.
There are new retailers added all the time and if you sign up for emails you’ll be told when this happens. It sadly won’t let you know if one leaves the app.
Some shops let you earn the money back both online and in-store while others restrict you to just one. You might need to use the card itself and not Apple Pay or Google Pay in some cases. This information is all on the app, along with the current cashback rate.
Here are some of the retailers available to earn from via your connected cards. A lot of the same retailers are available to buy gift cards from, too.
Euro Car Parts Click Mechanic Halfords Halfords Autocentre
How to stack Airtime rewards with other offers
If your bank or credit card has a reward programme which offers extra cashback at participating retailers, then you should be able to get both those rewards.
You can take it a step further and connect your card to other cashback apps, like Cheddar. And, if the Airtime retailer allows online purchases then you could shop via a cashback site like Quidco or TopCashback and earn another set of cashback. Some people say that they have issues using Chase with Airtime due to its virtual cards, but it tends to work for online purchases.
Is Airtime any good?
If you pay some attention to which retailers are on the app, and what the rates are, then you can do pretty well from Airtime. You can also double (or even triple) this up with other cashback, such as the cashback offered by Chase, and by connecting your account to Cheddar, too. I did this recently, earning 3% from Decathlon from Airtime and another 7% with Cheddar, getting a total of 10% back on my spending. I could’ve improved this using Chase. Unfortunately, you can’t use Airtime with American Express.
With this in mind, there’s the potential to earn some decent cashback with Airtime, especially if you don’t use an Amex. If you do, then you’ll need to keep an eye on the retailers on the app. It’s worth doing this anyway as some of the shops do come and go.
Good news for anyone who signed up for Chase Bank’s current account as the 1% cashback will be extended – though you’ll need to add more money to your account each month. Here’s what you need to know.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
When will Chase’s cashback now end?
Since launch, Chase Bank has offered new account holders 1% cashback for 12 months, which is activated when you open the account.
It’s already been extended twice. Those who opened the account before 1 March 2022 were able to keep earning cashback until 28 February 2023, and then last year another year was added on to at least 31 March 2024.
And now it will continue indefinitely, now called “Everyday cashback”. It applies to all customers, new and old, though it only begins once your current offer ends.
You’ll still be capped at £15 of cashback a month, but there are changes to the qualifying conditions this time around.
How to extend your Chase cashback
You don’t need to activate the offer in the app as it’ll automatically start when your current 12 month offer ends. For those who’s cashback is due to end on 31 March 2024, you’ll keep earning as normal until the end of the month as long as you deposited £500 in February.
But from 1 March that monthly requirement is going to increase to £1,500 a month. As long as you do this, you’ll earn your 1% cashback on spending in April. You’ll then need to add the same amount in April to get cashback in May, and so on.
If your offer doesn’t end until later, say 18 September 2024, then the new rules will apply from 19 September 2024, meaning you’ll need to have paid in the higher £1,500 in August.
The money has to come from an external source, and can’t be an internal transfer between your different sub-Chase accounts. Refunds also won’t count.
This time it can also be added to your Chase savings account as well or instead of the current account. At the moment this pays 4.1%, which is decent but can be beaten with more than 5% available elsewhere.
Don’t worry if you don’t have £1,500 a month to add in one go as the terms and conditions don’t state this must be a single payment (we’ve had this confirmed by Chase too). That means you’ll be able to hit this threshold in increments. In fact, you could add a smaller amount, withdraw it to a different account, and pay it in again, and both deposits would count towards the total.
This will apply to all existing customers once their existing cashback offer ends. However, new customers signing up won’t have to do this until their first year is complete.
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How much cashback can you earn?
The 1% rate remains the same, as does the £15 monthly cap. This means you’ll only get it on spending of up to £1,500 each month. That’s pretty generous for most everyday spending as there are already some exclusions.
However, you will likely miss out if you are making a large purchase – though since it’s often wise to use a credit card for anything really expensive to get additional consumer protection.
Where to earn cashback with Chase
You’ll get 1% back on most purchases made with your debit card, but there are some exceptions.
You won’t get the money back from financial transactions, such as clearing credit card bills, paying tax bills, buying crypto and cash withdrawals.
Also exempt are things like hospital bills and vehicle purchases. You can see the full list here.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.71% AER to 4.81% for 12 months
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.35%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
▲
Can the cashback be beaten?
The 1% rate is the best rate out there for most purchases. Though you might get a slightly better rate on retailer specific cards, they tend to offer much lower cashback when you spend elsewhere.
The only other card offering the same 1% is the American Express Nectar card, offering 2 points per £1, with each point worth 0.5p at Sainsbury’s, eBay and Argos. However in year two this card has an annual fee that needs to be factored in.
It’s also worth checking if you’re eligible for any welcome bonuses that could make your spending much more rewarding. Personally I’d wait until these are boosted so you earn even more, though you might also need to time them for when you have larger amounts of spending.
Cashback credit cards can also be better when you’re buying items costing more than £100 as you’ll get improved consumer protections.
Moving bank can bring you savings and make it easier to manage your money. But what does it do to your credit report?
I’ve had a few readers ask me recently about the impact of switching bank or opening up new accounts on their credit score.
When you switch bank there are two things you’re doing. Opening a new current account and closing an old one. Both these actions could have an impact on your credit report.
Though for most people the odd switch won’t make much difference, the more you do it, the bigger the impact. Here’s what you need to know.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
New bank accounts and credit checks
Each time you open a new current account to switch to, the new bank will look at your credit report. There are two ways they can do this.
One is known as a ‘soft check’. For a current account, this is essentially just to verify you are who you say you are. Although it could potentially be used to let you know the chances of getting an overdraft – perhaps even a pre-approved one.
Just performing a soft check won’t appear on your file. This is also what happens when you get comparison sites to provide a load of quotes or when you check your own file.
However, most banks and lenders will instead conduct a ‘hard check’. This is where the result of the application – good or bad – will appear on your report, usually for a year. With most bank account applications it will be one of these hard checks.
I’ve shared further down the article which main banks won’t hard search a new current account, so you can use it as a dummy account for switching.
When opening a bank account can hurt your credit score
Multiple hard checks on your report
If the bank is running a hard check when you apply for an account, this mark will appear on your report. Now, if you’re just opening a new bank account that’s not really going to be much of an issue.
But if you’re opening more than one current account in a short space of time, or also opening a credit card, switching your energy, applying for a loan and so on, they’ll see multiple searches.
This could indicate to a lender that you’re desperate for credit, and therefore not a good person to accept.
That doesn’t mean you can’t do it. If you have a healthy credit report and don’t have any essential applications for credit coming up you can probably get away with a number of applications – though your score will dip, it will recover.
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Just applying for one as part of your application can have a negative impact on your credit score – even if you don’t use it.
It’s not just that if you do this the bank will conduct one of those hard searches on your report. The overdraft itself will also show future lenders that you already have access to credit and they might not want to lend you more.
There’s a chance an unused overdraft could help your credit report in the longer term if it helps you keep your credit utilisation (i.e. the percent of borrowing you’re actually using) at under 25%. But using one will cost you unless it’s at 0%.
So if you don’t need an overdraft with your new account then don’t apply for it. And I’d suggest you look elsewhere for cheaper lending IF you eventually need it.
Opening a joint account
When you open any financial product with another person, your credit files become linked. So if the person you run the account with has a bad credit score then it could bring your rating down too. And it goes both ways, so you could hurt someone else’s ability to get credit.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.71% AER to 4.81% for 12 months
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.35%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
▲
When switching a bank account can hurt your credit score
Losing longevity
This is one to consider if you’re switching from an older bank account. A good signal for your credit score is a long relationship with a financial provider.
Often the longest one we have is with our bank, so switching away replaces years and years of this for an account with no history.
So even if the new account is just a soft search on your credit report, switching could still see a knock-on effect.
There are a few ways around this. First, it’s all your credit accounts, including credit cards, which are looked at, and it’s often the average age. So if you have an older credit card, that mitigates moving away from a long-term bank.
Or you avoid closing the old account completely. If you open a new account and can run a partial switch rather than a full switch. This will help you move all your direct debits, standing orders and balance without you having to close the old account.
However, you won’t be able to claim any of the free cash from bank switch offers or get the benefits of the seven-day Current Account Switching Guarantee.
Alternatively, you can open a new account designed just for switching. You might have to set up a couple of direct debits or make a minimum deposit each month, but you can use this to switch for bonuses.
Now we know the impact of bank switching, it’s important to clarify a few things about credit scores. First up, there are three different scores from three different credit reference agencies. They all assess your credit report differently, so each contributing factor might have a different impact on each score.
Second, though scores can give you an idea of how healthy your credit report is, it’s the credit file itself that banks and lenders look at – not the score.
The way they will interpret the data on the report will change from institution to institution, so they might not agree with the scoring set by the credit reference agency.
And the credit report isn’t even the only thing banks will look at. For example, they might have their own data about if you’re an existing or past customer, and you’ll provide some additional information when you apply.
That means even with a great score you could get turned down for certain applications, or even if you’re rejected for one product, another might accept you.
So the point is, though credit scores are useful for us as customers, it’s what appears in the file that matters to those doing the checks. And that means don’t get too caught up in your score dropping after a bank switch.
Saying that it’s still very important to keep your credit score in mind when thinking about the latest switch offer.
In particular, if you’re planning to apply for anything major in the next six months, such as a credit card or loan, and especially a mortgage, then it makes sense to avoid opening a new account and switching for six months to a year.
Are multiple bank switches a bad idea?
The more you switch, especially in a short space of time, the bigger the drop in your credit score. So it’ll make short-term applications harder.
Experian recommends spacing out new applications for any type of credit every three months or so. At best that’s four bank switches per year. And if you factor in other things like credit cards that could reduce further.
But you can switch more than this – I once switched three accounts in the same month, and I’ve regularly opened new types of credit in concurrent months. But I also didn’t have anything important to apply for that year.
Of course, this won’t be a probem if you’ve been switching for a while as you might find you’re only eligible for new switch deals once or twice a year, if that.
Bank accounts that won’t hard credit check you
No credit check bank accounts are obviously useful if you need a new current account to switch from.
Full current accounts
Starling Bank
This digital bank will only do a soft check when you apply. They’ll use that to verify who you are and check what overdraft they could offer you, but they won’t do the full hard search unless you say you’d like the overdraft. Here’s a full Starling Bank review.
Monzo Bank
There’s also no hard check for Monzo, another digital bank. Here’s a full Monzo Bank review.
Chase Bank
You can now switch in and out of Chase, though if you switch away you won’t ever be able to open another. Here’s a full Chase Bank review.
Basic bank accounts
Most major banks will offer these free accounts. They won’t be subject to a credit check and you can open one with just one form of ID. You can do everything with one that you can with a standard account. However if you’re eligible for a full account you probably won’t be able to get a basic account.
Some additional accounts
If you already have a current account with a bank, it might be possible to open an extra one without a hard search. Over on the Facebook group, some readers have reported this for Lloyds, Halifax and Santander, and I had the same experience. However I’d always approach doing this with the expectation that a hard search could happen.
If you’ve recently had a Totum discount card you might be able to renew it or get an Alumni card.
It looks like this hack is back, meaning even non-students can buy a cheap online course and get access to dozens of student discounts.
Or, if you previously took advantage of this trick, or graduated in the last three years, then you might be able to get a new Totum (formerly NUS) card without buying a course! Here’s how:
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
What is an NUS / Totum card?
If you’ve ever been a student, you’ll know that your ID often doubled up as an NUS (National Union of Students) card and gave you discounts in shops, cinemas and more.
A good few years ago NUS started charging students to get an NUS Extra card, which as the name suggests, gave even more discounts. It’s since been rebranded to Totum.
The cards also now come with a Tastecard and an ISIC (International Student Identity Card), giving student prices overseas and on travel.
It’s a great way to save, even if there is a £14.99 annual cost plus £1.50 delivery. It’s cheaper to get a three-year card (at £29.99), though that only has the ISIC card for one year.
How much money can I save?
Potentially a huge amount.
Of course, it depends on what you buy. There are still thousands of ways to save. Plenty of high street shops will give a 10% discount, including Leon, Boots and Apple. Add on the discounts you can get at cinemas, theatres, galleries and thousands of shops and you should easily make your money back. Anything after that is a massive bonus.
Unfortunately, some student discounts (eg Young Persons Railcard), require a student ID. And some discounts – such as Spotify and Asos – are only available via sites like MyUniDays and StudentBeans which require a full .ac.uk email address.
Totum alumni card for previous cardholders
If you’re a recent graduate, or if you got a Totum card via the old version of the trick, you should be able to pick up an alumni card. This will give you all the same discounts, without you having to still be at university.
There are a few ways to get this. First you can log in to your NUS/Totum account and see if you’ve got the option to just buy a new card. I had a look at my old account and this was there ready for me to get. One thing I noticed was that this didn’t seem to be an alumni card, but it worked in the same way – as long as I didn’t change my place of study (doing this required a new verification).
It might be that your old log-in doesn’t work anymore as I recall having to change my password when NUS changed to Totum. In that case, try the following.
First thing to do is set up a support ticket with Totum. Ideally you’ll need your card number, but hopefully your email will suffice. You’ll then be sent a verification link to order your new alumni Totum card.
Or if you were an actual student who graduated within the last three years then follow the same link and upload proof of graduation.
This is the best option as you’ll only need to pay for the Totum card itself, and not an online course too.
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Get a new student discount card when you aren’t a student
One of the first articles I wrote on the blog, and one of the most popular for years, was a hack to get a student discount if you weren’t a student. The trick was to sign up for an online course at certain providers where you’d be eligible for the NUS / Totum card.
I first signed up back in 2013 for an online Photoshop card, and repeated it a number of times until these online education businesses were all removed by NUS in 2018. Sad times.
However, since March 2023 it now looks like some online providers are offering access to the Totum card again. I’ve not tried it personally, so proceed with caution.
Which online courses make you eligible for a Totum (formerly NUS) card?
There are a few course providers, found via Reed, which promise eligibility for a Totum card. Ones I’ve spotted in mid-February 2024 include:
Global Edulink
1 Training
Study365
Oxford Home Study Centre
Lead Academy
e-courses4you
e-careers
Prices seem to start at £12 for an online course.
The problem is that for most of these the reference to Totum doesn’t actually appear on the individual course descriptions. Instead it appears on the search results. But I’ve cross-referenced each of these providers and they do appear on the Totum application page.
So hopefully you’ll be able to request a code from the training provider once you’ve paid for your course. You’ll need this to verify on the Totum site that you are doing a course.
Of course there’s a risk that you won’t be able to get the verification code. If that happens then you could try to get a refund on the course bought.
Also be very careful that these providers don’t try to sell you their own student discount card. A number of them have these for between £8 and £14 but they are not the NUS / Totum cards. The only people you should be giving money to are whoever sells you the initial course and Totum’s own website.
Cheapest course I can find (14/2/2024):
The cheapest paid course I can find is £12 – not bad as long as you aren’t bothered about the actual course content. These were all via Reed, though it’s worth checking sites like Groupon and Living Social.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.71% AER to 4.81% for 12 months
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.35%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
▲
How to apply for your Totum card
Once you’ve signed up to your course, you can simply apply for a Totum card on the Totum website. You may need to contact the course provider to get the verification or voucher code.
Step 3: Type in the course provider as your place of study. This should auto-populate the box after three characters. Once it appears hit continue.
Step 4: Enter the verification code
Step 5: Here you pick the length of Totum card you are buying and any add-ons (more on these later)
Step 6: Next upload a photo of yourself (this will be displayed on the card).
Step 7: Enter your personal details. You may be asked for a student number or password. You should be able to find this in the account you’ve set up for your online course.
Step 8: You pay! It’s £14.99 for a one-year membership, £24.99 for two-years and £29.99 for three. There’s a £1.50 charge for delivery.
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You can search the NUS Totum website to see where you can use it, though many businesses won’t be listed there so ask in-store or look for signs.
I’ve shared a list of some of the top places to look here. However, there are a few which I think are particularly special:
Apple student discount
If you’re going to buy an iMac, iPad or Macbook then having an NUS card means you can get the Education Discount worth up to 10% off.
Plus if you buy in August and September you can get a freebie. In 2023 it was an Apple gift card worth up to £120, in previous years it’s been headphones! To use online you click through from the NUS website. More on saving at Apple with a student discount
Boots student discount
Take your Totum card into a Boots store and ask them to link it to your Advantage card. You’ll need to do this each September.
We’ve rated and tested Starling Bank to find out if it’s any good
Starling was the first digital bank to get a banking licence, potentially altering our expectations of bank accounts for good with its budgeting features, handy app and generous spend abroad allowances. Here’s what we think of Starling.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
What is Starling?
Starling is a digital bank meaning it’s all managed within the app – there aren’t any branches. It’s pretty similar to Monzo and Revolut in that respect, though other than that it works the same as traditional bank accounts.
Types of Starling account
Starling has four accounts: a personal, joint, teen and business account.
Unlike some of its competitors, Starling doesn’t have additional tiers of accounts that offer extra features for a cost. This is quite refreshing – you know that what you see is what you get, and there aren’t better savings rates, features or card types hidden behind a paywall.
This does mean that you can’t pay for additional rewards such as insurance, lounge access or investing.
This review is focused on the standard and joint current account, although many of the features are the same on the teen and business versions.
The Starling app
The app is the main reason you’d sign up for a Starling account – this is where you can see how digital banks have an edge against traditional banks and their banking apps.
Design and customisation
From the moment you download the Starling app, you can see that it’s definitely a new take on the way bank accounts typically look. It’s got a modern and sleek design, with a broad overview of your account as soon as you log in.
However you might have to tap a little more than you’d like to find some of the less used features.
You can’t customise Starling as much as with other apps – the best you can do is have all the Spaces that work for you, which we get to later. But you can’t get the homepage to show you specific analysis that you care about.
Desktop banking
One thing you can do with Starling, and something not offered by its closest digital-only competitors, is that you can also access your account online, not just within the app. There aren’t as many features available, but you can see your spending insights, set up payments and manage your card.
Categorisation and notifications
When you spend money or money leaves your account, you’ll get an instant notification. Starling will automatically categorise the money you’ve spent, which allows you to get a better understanding of where your money is going. There are at least 40 categories, including eating out, bills, groceries, pets and shopping.
Within the app, you can see a pie chart of your spending, giving you a good insight into how you spend proportionately.
You can easily change the category for a transaction. This can be handy in circumstances where your spending doesn’t quite match the category it is assumed to be — for example, if you spend a fortune at John Lewis on a new bed for your dog, you can categorise it as “pets” rather than “shopping”.
Budgeting features
Within the app, you can set a budget for each category. Starling keeps track of how you’re doing against your budget as you go, telling you how far over or below your budget for each category that you are. You can adjust this whenever you want, so you can set really strict never-gonna-happen goals on day one and make them a bit more realistic down the line.
In addition, you can set up “Spaces”, which allow you to set aside money from your main account – really handy if you want to ring fence cash for certain expenditure or savings goals.
Best of all though you can use this for your bills, whether a space for all bills or create spaces for individual categories. Starling lets you pay your bills straight from these Spaces. You do this by tapping “Manage Space” and “Pay bills from this Space”. Here, you’ll get to choose the direct debits and standing orders that you want to go from this space. You can also set an automatic top-up from your main balance to make sure the payment doesn’t bounce. Starling will top the Space up with the required amount to pay your bills.
You can also activate a round-up feature to help passively move money to one of your Spaces to boost how much goes to your savings.
And though it’s not actually related to the app itself, Starling can help you with your budgeting even if you don’t open an account – you can access a budgeting calculator on its website. This is simply a calculator – you could easily do it yourself with a piece of paper and the calculator app on your phone – but it does help you think more logically about your money.
Card controls
Once you’ve made an account with Starling and it’s all set up, you can order yourself a physical card in the app, but you can also set it up as a virtual card with Apple Pay and Google Pay. If you want to set it up with your Fitbit, Garmin Watch or on Samsung Pay, you’ll need the physical card.
As seems to be standard with digital banks, you can grab all of your card details from the app when making payments online. You can also view your PIN, freeze (and unfreeze) your card and order a new card.
If you’d like to, you can reduce your contactless limit down to as little as £10. You can have individual contactless limits for all of your cards, too. The magstripe is disabled by default, but you can turn this on in your settings.
Virtual cards
With Starling, you can have up to five virtual cards, each with their own card number, expiry date and CVV. You can set these up with Apple and Google Pay and have them take money from specific “Spaces”, which we mentioned in the budgeting features section above.
For someone who’s dedicated to budgeting, this could be a great tool as it allows you to make payments straight from your dedicated budget. However, you might just find yourself a little confused about which card to use when you’re standing at the checkout.
These virtual cards can be used multiple times, unlike Revolut’s single-use cards, which you might opt for if you’re concerned about your card details being shared.
Sending and receiving money in the Starling app
Starling makes it easy to send and receive money, as well as view how much you owe friends — or they owe you.
If you head out to dinner with friends, you can use Starling’s Settle Up feature to split the bill, even if your friends don’t use Starling. You can drop them a link and they can make a payment to you without your bank details.
You can receive up to £250 per day with this method, so it’s not ideal if you’re splitting a holiday, certainly if your friends all pay you back immediately (though how realistic is that?).
When sending the link, you can request a specific amount, avoiding those awkward back-and-forths of “how much is my part again?”.
If anyone wants to send you money via a bank transfer, then you can share your account details and copy your account details with them and pop them a text with a message about how old fashioned they are – just kidding.
When sending money via a bank transfer, you can set up payees directly from the app, as well as set up and amend standing orders. If you’re texted the details, you can even copy and paste the details straight in.
Integrations
Like most banking apps, the Starling app is secured with biometrics or a passcode.
You’re able to make payments with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Garmin Pay and Fitbit Pay. Plus, if you want to connect external apps, such as Emma, Cheddar or Airtime Rewards then you can do so with Open Banking.
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Starling rewards and extras
Rewards aren’t really something Starling does, though the option to earn interest on in-account balances is better than most other banks.
Saving rates with Starling
Unlike most banks, you can earn interest in the main Starling account at 3.25% AER variable on up to £5,000.
This is actually pretty decent for in-account interest, so at least you’re earning on money that needs to sit in your account for things like bills and daily spending.
Though this rate also applies to money held in separate Spaces, you’d be better off moving that cash to a higher paying account elsewhere.
There’s also a separate fixed-rate savings Space you can open, where you can lock away your money for a year. At the time of writing it offers 4.48% AER fixed. This can be beaten elsewhere, so it’s not necessarily worthwhile.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.71% AER to 4.81% for 12 months
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.35%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
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Cashback with Starling
While you can’t get cashback directly from Starling, you can access it using the Tail app, which has regularly changing retailer specific offers. Tail can be connected up to a Starling (or a Monzo) account and will track the spending you do with the card.
The retailers available are pretty much the same as you get with most other cashback sites, and in some cases, you can only get cashback on the first tracked purchase.
You have to set this up separately to your Starling account, and you need to let it access your Starling transaction history using Open Banking.
Starling doesn’t have a switch offer or welcome offer, but you can get a free National Trust day pass and a tree planted in your name if you refer a friend, and the friend you refer gets a day pass, too. This is obviously not a benefit to sign up for, but could be a nice-to-have if you want a Starling account anyway.
If you’re looking for banks with good switching, referral or welcome offers available, there are a few available at the moment that you could choose to go with.
Starling is a fully licensed bank and is signed up to the Current Account Switching Service (CASS), which means that you can switch in and out of it and it could be used as a “burner account” for switching from.
However, be careful with this as you’ll have to wait a year before you’re able to reapply for a new account. We’ve heard of people that have been successful in getting in touch to bypass this.
As a current account, Starling is really good. It scores well all round, with all the basics you’d expect from a current account and great for use abroad.
Account basics
If you want to set up or amend standing orders or direct debits, you can do this directly from the app or using online banking.
To pay in cash, you’ll have to head to the Post Office (there’s a branch locator within the app), but that’s better than the other digital-only banks.
If you’re given a cheque, you can pay it in directly from the app as long as it’s under £1,000. Cheques over this amount need to be posted to Starling.
You can withdraw up to £300 in cash per day, which is in line with most traditional bank accounts.
There’s a huge £1m daily transfer limit to UK bank accounts. Most banks allow around £25,000 while Monzo and Nationwide are capped at £10,000, so this is decent if you are likely to send large amounts.
However, really large payments can take a while to be manually approved (they’re looked at from 9 to 5 on weekdays, so avoid doing this after Friday afternoon as nothing will happen until Monday!).
Debit card
This account comes with a Mastercard debit card that you can order as soon as your account is set up. You don’t have to pay for delivery. It’s teal green and has the important card details on the back rather than the front.
You can use the virtual cards straight away, so it can be added to your Google Pay or Apple Pay from the get-go.
Going abroad with Starling
Starling is one of the best options for going abroad. You can spend as much as you like without incurring any fees — the spending limit and ATM withdrawal limits are exactly the same as when you’re at home, just be careful of ATMs that charge, and make sure you pay in the local currency.
You get the Mastercard exchange rate when you spend abroad. If you want an account that uses the interbank rate, Revolut does, but it’s more restricted for use abroad.
Starling is a free bank account – there aren’t any paid upgrades except for if you have a connected card.
You don’t have to pay for the card to be delivered, though you have to pay £5 for a replacement if you lose your card.
Starling overdraft
Starling offers an overdraft facility for short-term borrowing. You might be offered 15%, 25% or 35% once you’ve had a credit check. Since most other bank’s overdrafts are at 40% these are all lower cost, but it’s still better to avoid using one if you can avoid it and there are better options.
Joint accounts
In addition to its personal account, you can have a joint account to help simplify shared payments, whether you’re sharing the cost for bills, fuel, dog food or meals out. It works the same as above but you can both access it.
To get a Starling joint account, you need to both register for a personal account, then once it’s set up and you’re in the same room, you can do it from the account switcher above your balance and select “open a new account”.
Starling Kite children’s card
Starling account holders can get a free children’s debit card called Starling Kite that’s linked to a Space in your own account. It’s for 6-15 year olds and comes with its own version of the app to help children learn about money and budgeting.
You’ll be able to set limits and goals and keep an eye on things from your own app. They’ll also get the 3.25% interest here – though that £5,000 limit is across all of your different Spaces.
Connected cards
In addition, you can have a “Connected Card”. This is a card that’s connected to a specific Space within your app that you can give to trusted friends and family. They’ll be able to spend with the card but won’t be able to access your account or spend over the amount that’s in the dedicated Space.
This could be good if there’s someone who shops on your behalf, like a nanny or carer. If you subscribed to this on or after 3 September 2020, it costs £2 per month.
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Over at Smart Money People, customers have scored the Starling Current account 4.94 out of 5.
When we look at just the customer service scores, customers gave a rating of 4.93 out of 5.
Positive reviewers feel that the customer service is exceptional, even though it has no branches, although some of the negative reviews mentioned that they felt that the lack of branches was a let down. Customers rave about all of the analysis features available and love that the child debit card is free.
The fact that you can use the account fee-free abroad is a favourite among customers.
Negative reviewers don’t like that Starling blocks the purchase of cryptocurrencies and feel that they should be allowed to spend their money how they wish. They also feel that the savings rates could be better.
Your deposits into Starling are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This means that if Starling were to go bust, up to £85,000 is protected and can be reimbursed to you.
Is Starling a bank?
Yes, Starling is a fully licensed UK bank. This means that it’s got a banking licence for every region that it operates in.
Pros and cons of Starling
Pros
Attractive and easy-to-use app
Fee-free spending when using abroad
Great budgeting and money management tools
Virtual cards connected to Spaces
In-account interest is better than most other banks
Free connected children’s debit card
Free cash deposits at Post Office and online cheque uploads
Potential 15% APR overdraft available if you really need one
Cons
No branches
Poor rewards and cashback offering
Pretty naff referral freebie and no bank switch offers
Is Starling any good?
Starling is one of the best banks on the market at the moment. It can be a fantastic tool for helping you manage your money and budget more effectively, especially with the virtual cards linked to the “Spaces” within the app.
Though there’s no branch access, it does offer free cash deposits at the Post Office, and the support is pretty good.
If you’re a frequent holiday goer, it’s a really good choice for use abroad, with no additional spending or withdrawal limits when you go abroad, though we favour Chase Bank here as you’ll also get 1% cashback.
The savings rates can be beaten, but it’s a decent enough rate for money that you haven’t moved elsewhere. We love that the additional children’s card is completely free, too.
The lack of other rewards is disappointing, but you can always open additional accounts with those banks if you want to take advantage of those, and use Starling for your everyday banking.
Starling is one of the easiest bank accounts to apply for — you don’t even have to get up from your seat. To apply, you just need to download the app and follow the instructions. The whole process takes less than 15 minutes.
Do you need ID for Starling?
Yes, you’ll need to submit photos of your ID and take a video selfie to create a Starling account.
How to add money to Starling
There are a couple of ways to add money to your Starling account. You can do so with a bank transfer using your Starling account number and sort code — these can be found by pressing the + next to your balance in the app.
If you’ve got cold hard cash, you can deposit it into your account at a Post Office branch.
Alternatively, you can pay in a cheque — cheques under £1,000 can be deposited in the app and ones over £1,000 need to be posted to Starling to process.
If you want your income paid straight into Starling then you just give your employer your account details and they’ll be able to do this.
How to get help with Starling
There aren’t any Starling branches, but you can contact its help centre over the phone. It offers 24/7 help, which means you can deal with stressful scenarios at any time. In addition, you can get help over email or using the in-app chat.
In Smart Money People reviews, people rated Starling’s customer service at 4.93/5, with lots of reviews saying that the staff were extremely helpful and professional, though some did miss having a branch.
