Big bank with 3.6million customers makes huge change to accounts and customers are desperate for it come back

The Sun

5 days ago

A MAJOR bank with over 3.6million UK customers has made a big change to its current accounts.
Starling customers can no longer open a second personal current account with the digital bank - a feature used by many banking customers to help them manage their money.
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Starling told The Sun it had "temporarily" stopped allowing customers to open additional accounts while it makes improvements.
The bank quietly suspended additional accounts in 2024, the Sun understands, and customers have since been calling on the business to bring back the feature.
One customer posted to X this week: "@StarlingBank any idea when additional accounts will be back? I originally had one and would like to enable it again."
Another posted to the platform in January asking: "Can i create a second personal account in @StarlingBank?"
One customer asked on Reddit: "Have Starling stopped letting you open a second personal account for yourself?
"I'm sure it used to be a thing when I first started with Starling, but now I get 'you've reached your personal account limit' with one account, and a similar error ('you're not currently able to apply for this account') when I go to open a Personal Additional."
Starling previously allowed customers to open an extra everyday bank account, free of charge, alongside their personal current account.
The change only affects additional personal current accounts, and customers can still open joint and business accounts with the bank.
A spokesperson for Starling told the Sun: "We've paused applications for secondary personal accounts while we focus on improving our account offering.
"Customers are still able to apply for a joint account, provided both customers are Starling customers. Joint accounts remain limited to one per customer."
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Starling did not confirm when additional accounts would be returning to the banking app.
It comes after the bank scrapped interest payments on its current accounts for all customers in February.
Before February 10, Starling paid 3.25% interest on balances up to £5,000, meaning a customer with the maximum amount in their account could earn an extra £162.50 a year in interest.
For customers still wanting to save, the bank introduced an easy access savings account paying 4% interest.
Saving £5,000 into this account would yield £200 in interest over 12 months.
Other bank changes
The Sun revealed this week that NatWest is increasing fees for cash payments, cheque transactions and certain online transactions.
From August 30, cash payments into and out of business accounts will see their fees surge from 70p per £100 to 95p per £100.
Cheque payments, whether processed by hand or by mobile, will also jump from 70p to 75p per cheque.
The bank is also increasing some charges related to its BACS payment system, with processing fees rising from 18p to 21p.
Meanwhile, Santander recently revealed that it would start charging customers £120 a year for an account it promised would be "free forever".
Thousands of small business and self-employed account holders are facing £9.99 monthly charges from October for business accounts.
The changes come despite written assurances that their accounts would always remain free of fees, leaving customers feeling betrayed by the charges, which some branded "disgusting".
A spokesperson for Santander said: "The business banking landscape has changed significantly over the last decade.
"As such, we are simplifying our business banking offering as the first step to ensure that we can sustainably and efficiently evolve to better meet the needs of our business customers in the future."
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