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Comment by thomersch_ | Hacker News Reader

"How hard must being a bank be, it's just a few numbers in a database."

After all those new-ish, app-based banks are for people with too much time on their hands. You mostly can't talk to anyone, and when they answer it's just a copy-paste from their FAQ. They also lack features, e.g. Kontist doesn't support international bank transfers. Support will tell you "well it could work, but we can't give you any assistance". I don't have six months until your development team understands and implements some protocol!

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> You mostly can't talk to anyone

No phone number should be a dealbreaker for banking. 99% of the time, you don’t want to talk to a banker. But that 1% of the time can make or break you for months or years.

These start-ups (e.g. Bank Simple, Revolut, et cetera) prey on consumers who have only experienced the 99%. You don’t want to have a 1% event, like fraud, or an issue overseas, or a liquidity crisis, with a service you can’t talk to. (It’s also bad enough when it’s your first time with an issue. You don’t want to be banking with someone who’s (a) never solved that problem before either and (b) not available to talk to.)

> 99% of the time, you don’t want to talk to a banker. But that 1% of the time can make or break you for months or years.

This is why I still use my local Sparkasse (credit union) and pay ~9€ a month. They can sort out pretty much everything instantly - need a second card for your s/o, a secondary account for handling freelancer income, or a loan? No problem, show up and get what you want.

Additionally: when you're up for buying a house and all the lender bank has to look is the credit score, you will be paying more interest than if you apply for a credit at the bank that has handled your business over decades. None of the "new online banks" does real estate financing.

> Additionally: when you're up for buying a house and all the lender bank has to look is the credit score, you will be paying more interest than if you apply for a credit at the bank that has handled your business over decades

[citation required]

In my experience neither credit score nor past business have a significant impact on interest rate. Price and value of the house is everything.

Which country are you in? This has most definitely not been the case for me anywhere I've lived. It's irrelevant if you were a customer with the bank before the mortgage application or not.

> you will be paying more interest than if you apply for a credit at the bank that has handled your business over decades.

Is this actually true? That would be a real reason for me to do the same, but if not I would prefer my money to stay with the GLS, which invests it ethically.

> No phone number should be a dealbreaker for banking. 99% of the time, you don’t want to talk to a banker. But that 1% of the time can make or break you for months or years.

To be fair, even having a phone number may not help. I spent four months at the beginning of the year trying to get HSBC to close a business account. When visiting the branch I was told I needed to phone head office as they deal with business accounts. After speaking to first line customer support I was told many times "someone will call you back" but nobody did.

Eventually they closed it, but I never received a refund for the account charges between when I requested the closure and it actually being closed, which I was promised.

For what it's worth, Monzo seems to be the only 'challenger bank' that's getting this right. They have the 24/7 in-app chat support that's super helpful, but then also a phone number you can call if you're into that. My every interaction with them as a customer has been fantastic.

I called the phone number on the back of the Monzo card today a few times. There's a recorded message saying that they're too busy and then they hang up. That phone number is bogus.

Hey, thanks for flagging. I will look into that. The number is definitely meant to be staffed at all times

I've had negative but acceptable experiences with Monzo and Starling. Would recommend both of them, and actively use both myself.

I've had negative and intolerable experiences with Curve, TransferWise, Tide, and Revolut. I would recommend avoiding all of them. Not all of them offer banking solutions (Curve being the odd one out in that list), but the three that do are all e-money, which I guess speaks for itself.

What was wrong with transferwise out of interest?

My experience with Curve has always been great.

I was impressed at first with the chat support but each time they've been unable to solve my problem and promised to get back to me, but never did. So, while you don't have to hold for 20 mins on the phone and get passed around like a normal bank, it takes literally days to sort something out. But they're great otherwise!

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