Starling Bank: Fee Free Spending Abroad and up to £300 Cash Withdrawals Per Day!
It’s definitely worth getting one of the bright teal Starling debit cards if you’re going on holiday this summer. Unlike loads of banks they don’t charge you any fees abroad – you can get money out of ATMs or pay for stuff in shops and restaurants, as long as they take Mastercard. Some of their competitors charge up to 3% and have a limit of up to £200 a month, but not Starling (they let you withdraw up to £300 a day with no fees from them). They use the Mastercard exchange rate, too, which is generally one of the best ones you can get as a consumer – oh and they send you instant notifications in both currencies whenever you spend!
It only takes a few minutes to apply for an account and they send your card out by Royal Mail 1st Class too, so it arrives pretty quickly. You can also use your account as soon it's activated through your mobile wallet. Download the app in the iTunes store or Google Play – happy holidays!
Benefits of a standard Starling Current Account
- Set up is easy and can be done in minutes. The bank card is typically delivered within a week
- Real-time notifications e.g. spending, ATM withdrawal etc
- Fee free spending when you travel abroad. Starling Bank does not charge for ATM withdrawals (there may be local charges), you can withdraw up to £300 per day
- Deposit cash at Post Office branches across the UK
- Record and categorisation of your spending
- Eligible deposits are FSCS protected for up to £85,000 and are authorised and regulated by the PRA and FCA
- Starling Bank pays a 0.5% AER to account balances below £2,000, and 0.25% to those under £85,000. Whilst traditional banks may offer you a better rate on credit balances, am not aware that other fintech banks offer interest on credit balances.
- Create Goals and round-up purchases to save towards them
- Nearby payments straight from your phone
- Settle your IOUs in-app
- 24/7 UK customer support
And a Trustpilot score of 8.8
It’s well worth getting if you are going abroad. Using it at the moment, one of the best exchange rates.
It's just the basic Mastercard exchange rate. Exchange rates fluctuate with market instability. Here today, gone tomorrow cheers Brexit!
MaxJanvier Brexit should be the least of anyone's concerns. Look at the crime in London and other big UK cities, try to fix that. Leaving the EU is good for UK but a little too late, the damage had been done and if lucky it'll take a few decades to repair.
Yeah, this isn't really a deal though. It's just what the bank offer to all customers as part of their banking services.
It isn’t a deal but it is useful as many people I know would just put it onto their normal cards not realising the fees, especially cards like Santander’s Debit Card which hits £1.25 minimum!
KelanOK so if it isn't a deal surely it shouldn't be on "latest deals". That and the button at the top says "Get Deal"
MaxJanvier it’s still useful as a money saving tip which most people on this site come for. I’m certain there have been some people that didn’t know about this that can now save a bit of money and it’s not that the main thing?
Not sure how will benefit this when we go abroad. I never used. Will try and post my review. Thanks for sharing
I've been with Starling for a while now, and although this isn't a deal as such, I can highly recommend as a bank in general. Customer service is faultless (so far) love the real time updates on what you've spent, what's due out of your account and then again when it does. The savings option "spaces" is great you can save for more than one thing in different "spaces" ie one for hols, one for Xmas etc and you can choose to round up your spending to nearest pound (x1 x2 x5) and put it in whatever pot you need. Also if you did have an overdraft and got a fee your savings are offset against your main account so you are technically not as much into your OD and get charged less. Not used abroad yet, but going to South West France in a month so will be partly funding the spends from my account there alongside physical euros 
Omg, just what I have been looking for 
I have been going blind trying to find a card that I can use abroad and not get charged an arm and leg in fees. So for me this is a fantastic share thanks
Am I missing something? This has been out for years. I've had mine a while.
I particularly like the instant notifications in your phone when spending.
I've been using Monzo Bank with their bright orange Mastercard abroad for a couple of short trips into Europe last month, and found the forex rate to be really good. I can top up from my online banking to my Monzo acct and it does all that the Starling acct does. The only advantage is the daily withdrawal amount is way better than Monzo which is £200 pm before they charge fees.
Are there any ways of benefiting from setting up an account, new user deals, referrals, vouchers etc?
As far as I’m aware Starling don’t use referal codes but Monzo and Curve cars both do (£5 each)
I'm with starling but they're removing the fee free spending abroad function however if your going away before the 14th Sept then I'd get it. I'm hoping I'll be able to switch this account for another bank account that pays a cash incentive for switching
I can’t seem to find where they say there will be no more fee free spending abroad? Perhaps you’re confusing it with the Euro account, which will charge a 0.4% fee from 1st September.
Never used this card. will buy a one today and use it for my abroad trip. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for sharing, I've been using Fairfax currency cards for the last few years, will check how they compare against Starling...
Thanks for posting! I have an account with them and very happy so far. The only bug bear is that it's mobile only which means you can be stuck if your phone is not working
Good heads up but this has been out for some time now. Would've been cool if this post had a code to get like £5/10 as an incentive.
I’ve had this card for a while and brilliant when abroad. Pay in euros or £, doesn’t matter, no charge
I got my travel.money card from mh local post office ...really good ive used it few times away now .. I'm sticking with this one ....
Planning to go to multiple europe trip in this month and next month. This will be definitely useful for me. Thanks for posting.
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