Starling: most-reported complaints
Automated analysis of 981 public Trustpilot reviews published 2026-06-18 to 2026-09-23. TrustScore 4.3 from 47,903 total reviews — see the Trustpilot page. Quick answer: is Starling legit? Issues below reflect what reviewers reported, not findings of wrongdoing.
Across 981 Trustpilot reviews analysed, the most-reported issues with Starling were: Account/app problems (92 reports), Support unhelpful (55 reports), Support unreachable (19 reports).
How to reach Starling
These are the contact details Starling publishes on its Trustpilot profile, as of our last check on 2026-09-23 — it publishes no phone number there, address 5th Floor, London Fruit & Wool Exchange, Duval Square, London, E1 6PW, GB.
The company claimed its Trustpilot profile on 2017-07-28, uses Trustpilot’s paid features, uses Trustpilot’s AI-assisted replies, and last replied to a negative review on 2026-09-22. Trustpilot ranks it 36 of 50 in Bank. We last checked this profile on 2026-09-23 and found 74 new reviews. These are facts Trustpilot publishes about the profile, as of our last harvest.
Companies House: STARLING GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED (no. 13871603), active, incorporated 2022 (4.6 years); next accounts due 2027-12-31, last accounts filed 2026-07-12. 8 current officers (20 on record historically), 8 resignations in the last 24 months; 15 filings in the last 12 months (46 filings on record). official record — public register facts, not an indicator of wrongdoing; officer changes are routine in many company structures. Live Companies House status as of 2026-09-23.
Live service status: starlingbank.statuspage.io.
Forum footprint: 227 MoneySavingExpert forum discussions mention this company (browse). Roughly 0 of the top, relevance-sorted search results were posted in the last 90 days — an approximate figure by construction, not a true recency count. Recent thread titles: “Starling Bank - CIFAS Marker For Bank Transfer - False Instrument(s) Paid In”, “Push Fraud at Starling Bank”, “Starling Bank - Fraudulent Transactions & Resolution Time”.
Elsewhere: 3.3★ on Google (0 reviews) · 4.9★ App Store (617,058) · 4.8★ Google Play (138,229)
TrustScore over time
4.3 → 4.3 across 15 census measurements since 2026-08-12. Our own record, independent of Trustpilot’s display.
Reply behaviour over time
Solid: % of negative reviews replied to. Dashed: typical days to reply. Both as reported on this company’s Trustpilot profile, recorded whenever our census re-checked it and a figure had changed — the gaps between points are not equal: 2026-08-12 (96%, 0.5d) · 2026-08-15 (97%, 0.5d) · 2026-08-18 (97%, 0.5d) · 2026-08-21 (96%, 0.5d) · 2026-08-24 (97%, 0.5d) · 2026-08-27 (97%, 0.5d) · 2026-09-01 (97%, 0.5d) · 2026-09-04 (96%, 0.5d) · 2026-09-07 (96%, 0.5d) · 2026-09-11 (97%, 0.5d) · 2026-09-14 (97%, 0.5d) · 2026-09-17 (97%, 0.5d) · 2026-09-20 (97%, 0.5d) · 2026-09-23 (96%, 0.5d).
Severity: 40% of this company’s 155 graded complaints were classified as severe (money lost, an essential service cut off, or a problem unresolved for months). See the harm index.
1★ share of negative reviews over time
Share of 1–3★ Trustpilot reviews that were 1★
In April 2026, 78% of 64 one-to-three-star reviews were 1★; in September 2026, 71% of 49.
Counted from April 2026 onward — the period for which our capture of 1★, 2★ and 3★ reviews is complete for all three. Months with fewer than 10 such reviews are omitted.
Reviewers here waited a median of 0.9 days between the experience and publishing their negative review (652 reviews record both dates).
Ombudsman outcomes
The Financial Ombudsman Service has published 820 decisions naming this firm, of which 29.3% were upheld in the customer’s favour (216 upheld, 24 partly upheld, 580 not upheld).
Covers decisions dated 2018-12-01 to 2026-08-04, by the acceptance-deadline date the Ombudsman publishes — not the date the complaint was decided.
Official published outcomes from the Financial Ombudsman Service, not our analysis. Uphold rates reflect the cases that reached the ombudsman, not all complaints. source.
What their policy promises
refund window: as soon as possible
“If you think you’ve sent money that’s part of a scam, let us know as soon as possible by contacting us via the app or calling us.”
Quoted verbatim from the company’s own published policy (source page); complaint counts are census classifications. As of 2026-09-12.
Policy-page monitoring
We monitor this company’s published policy page for changes. No changes have been detected since we started watching on 2026-09-01.
Automated change detection on the company’s own published policy page — a record of when the page changed, not a judgement on what changed.
Measured reply time: across 631 negative reviews that received a public reply, the median wait was 0.3 days — the company profile reports an average of under a day.
Reply quality: of 631 company replies to negative reviews analysed, 27% engaged with the specific problem and 44% were generic templates.
What employees say
Employees rate Starling 3.3★ overall from 709 reviews on Glassdoor — the inside view, kept separate from customer complaint statistics. Read the reviews there.
Review provenance: 827 company-invited reviews in the recent window average 4.81★, while 84 organic (uninvited) reviews average 2.06★.
25% of its 760 recent 5★ reviews came from accounts that had written only that one review when we captured it (the median across companies is about 39%). A high share is a reason to look closer, not evidence of fake reviews.
Sector benchmark: account/app problems makes up 59% of this company’s complaints vs a 25% median across 100 ranked companies in its sector.
Review velocity: 2,996 of this company’s 47,903 Trustpilot reviews (6%) were written in the last 12 months.
What are the most common complaints about Starling?
Account/app problems
92 reports · 59% of complaintssteady“starling restricted my account for that is that even normal it's 300 pound hardley anything massive amount of money”
The company replied on 2026-08-20: “Thanks for taking the time to leave your review, Michael. We’re sorry for the frustration — we know how worrying it can be when your account doesn’t work as expected. As a regulated bank, we’re…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“My funds were instantly frozen.”
The company replied on 2026-07-11: “Hi Matthew, Thank you for leaving a review. We apologise for any frustration this has caused— we understand how concerning it can be when your account isn’t functioning as expected. As a regulated…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Took them 3 days to credit the money to my account ( twice this happened)”
The company replied on 2026-09-07: “Hi Ricardo, We're sorry to hear about your experience. As a regulated bank, we're required to monitor accounts. Sometimes we may hold payments while we do some checks. We're sorry for the frustration…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Support unhelpful
55 reports · 36% of complaintsrising since 2026-09“withhold any credit from international bank transfers.”
The company replied on 2026-09-10: “Hi Valerie, Thanks for taking the time to share this with us. We're really sorry to hear about your experience. This is certainly not the impression we want to leave on our customers, especially when…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“they have had ,£63000 of my money in limbo somewhere for the whole weekend!!!”
The company replied on 2026-07-27: “Hi Diana, We're sorry to hear about your experience here. As a fully regulated bank, there are times when we may need a bit more information about a payment so we can keep you and your account safe.…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“My funds were instantly frozen.”
The company replied on 2026-07-11: “Hi Matthew, Thank you for leaving a review. We apologise for any frustration this has caused— we understand how concerning it can be when your account isn’t functioning as expected. As a regulated…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Support unreachable
19 reports · 12% of complaintsfalling“I provided the information requested and have tried repeatedly to get this matter resolved, but I’m now being completely ignored”
The company replied on 2026-08-19: “Hi there, We're sorry to hear about your experience and the frustration caused. Our team reviews disputes thoroughly and in line with Mastercard rules to reach a favourable outcome for our customers.…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Asked very personal questions and took so long that I missed on a purchase”
The company replied on 2026-09-18: “Hi Keith, Thanks for sharing this experience with us, and we're sorry to hear about it. If your card has been blocked, our team are always on hand to help resolve these issues for you. We can see a…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“can't access my own money for over two weeks”
The company replied on 2026-09-13: “Hi Kelly, We're sorry to hear about your experience. As a regulated bank, we're required to monitor accounts, which may result in restrictions. We appreciate how frustrating this must be and the…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Billing errors
13 reports · 8% of complaintsfalling“withhold any credit from international bank transfers.”
The company replied on 2026-09-10: “Hi Valerie, Thanks for taking the time to share this with us. We're really sorry to hear about your experience. This is certainly not the impression we want to leave on our customers, especially when…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“they have had ,£63000 of my money in limbo somewhere for the whole weekend!!!”
The company replied on 2026-07-27: “Hi Diana, We're sorry to hear about your experience here. As a fully regulated bank, there are times when we may need a bit more information about a payment so we can keep you and your account safe.…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“they said there's nothing they can do about it”
The company replied on 2026-07-19: “Hi James, As a fully regulated bank, there are times when we may need a bit more information about a payment so we can keep you and your account safe. We know it can feel frustrating when things take…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Delivery late
10 reports · 6% of complaintsrising since 2026-09“it isnot possible to speak to anyone else”
The company replied on 2026-07-23: “Hi there, Thanks for leaving a review. We're sorry to hear about your experience here. If you'd be able to get in touch we'd be able to take a better look into this for you. There'd also be…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“requested a new card over 5 times and has been over a month to receive.”
The company replied on 2026-09-18: “Hi there, Thanks for leaving a review. We're sorry to hear about this! Please reach out to our team if you have not done so already. We're on hand to help resolve this for you. Team Starling”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Still waiting for my bank card”
The company replied on 2026-09-13: “Hi Brian, Thanks for leaving a review. We're sorry to hear that hasn't arrived, cards normally arrive in 5-7 working days. If you could give us a call at 020 7930 4450 or start a live chat through…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Other
9 reports · 6% of complaintsrising since 2026-09“So frustrating that it takes so long to approve money that I am sending from my chinese account”
The company replied on 2026-08-03: “Hi there, As a fully regulated bank, there are times when we may need a bit more information about a payment so we can keep you and your account safe. We know it can feel frustrating when things take…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Home screen no good”
The company replied on 2026-09-19: “Hi there, We're sorry to hear this. We're keen to hear more about your feedback as we're always looking for ways to improve the app for our customers. Please feel free to get in touch with our…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“the bank completely abandoned saying you should talk to them cause we closed it they made things worse I dont recommend this bank at all”
The company replied on 2026-07-30: “Hi Zainab, Thanks for providing more information so we could take a look into this. We're sorry to hear about your experience. Our team reached out to you directly regarding your dispute, but since…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
Compare Starling with…
Method: reviews are classified into a fixed complaint taxonomy by an automated reader; every category shown is backed by at least two verbatim quotes from distinct reviews. Trends are computed from dated review counts only. Negative reviews are deliberately over-sampled for evidence depth; headline percentages use an unbiased recent sample only. Report updated 2026-09-23.