With so many apps offering solutions for different aspects of modern life, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. But what if it could all be simplified?
Starling is designed to make managing your money simple. But it’s not just your banking with Starling we want to streamline for you, it’s also how your Starling account links to the rest of your financial life. From long-term savings and investments, to insurance and credit scores - every penny, wherever it is, matters. That’s why we built the Starling Marketplace.
A new way to bank
By using open APIs, our Marketplace offers you access to a range of third-party products which you can link to your Starling account. For some of these services, once you give your consent to data sharing, we can save you time on form filling by entering some details for you. It’s one of the many benefits of Starling being a fully digital, 21st century bank.
You can then check certain details of that service within the Starling app rather than having to juggle lots of different apps. This is how the Starling Marketplace provides you oversight of your whole financial life from one single place. And because these open APIs work in real-time, the details displayed in the Marketplace will continue to update.
You’ll never pay more for accessing a service in the Marketplace than if you had signed up to the provider directly on their website or app - that’s our Starling Promise. And, if you’re already an existing user of one of the Marketplace services, you can simply link your account and enjoy the benefits of a more connected financial life.
Insurance
When it comes to money management, looking at regular outgoings such as insurance is key. Could you save with a better deal?
With Starling’s Marketplace, customers can arrange or connect existing home insurance through Churchill, life insurance through Anorak and phone insurance through so-sure. For new customers, with your permission, data from Starling can be used to fill in your name and address when you sign up to these services.
For most of these services, whether you’re signing up for the first time or an existing customer of that provider, you can monitor key details from within your Starling app. For example, with Churchill you can see the renewal date for each policy within your Starling app.
Investments
The money management benefits of the Marketplace aren’t just for outgoings. It can also help you keep track of the money you set aside for your future, such as your investments.
Many people still think that investing is only for people with lots of spare cash and stock market expertise. But Marketplace services such as WealthSimple and Wealthify aim to change that. They enable you to start investing from just £1 per month and walk you through all the complicated language and processes so that you can start investing in your future.
If you sign up to WealthSimple or Wealthify through the Starling’s Marketplace, or link an existing account, you’ll be able to check your balance with these providers in the Starling app, just like you check your everyday current account balance. This way our open APIs and the data exchange they enable between Starling and these providers help you track your investment products’ performance every single day.
It’s important to note that investments can go down as well as up, which is why financial advisors recommend that you leave investments in place for the long term, so that your money has more time to grow.
Pensions
A key part of most people’s future is building up a pension to help make sure you have sufficient money when you retire. Pensions are a type of long-term investment, typically built up through regular contributions from you and your employer. At Starling, we’re committed to using technology to help customers manage their money more easily. That’s why we’ve joined up with fellow innovators PensionBee, to help make managing your pension easier.
If you sign up to PensionBee or link an existing PensionBee account with your Starling account, you’ll be able to monitor your balance whenever you login to your Starling app. Regularly checking in this way may help motivate you to keep up your contributions - it allows you to see how you’re creating a cushion of savings.
Mortgages & Credit Scores
For some people, planning for the future can also mean getting your first step on the property ladder. But for many, a home is also the most expensive and stressful purchase they will ever make, which is why Starling’s Marketplace includes services such as digital mortgage brokers Habito.
When it comes to mortgages, it pays to plan ahead. Ideally, you want to arrive at your mortgage broker with a relatively high credit score. Credit scores can be confusing, but they’re essentially a measure of how well you handle debt. A credit score is a three digit number that enables lenders to assess your likelihood or ability to repay debts such as a mortgage. Typically, the number is calculated using data sources such as your previous credit card repayments. Which means, if you don’t use a credit card, it can be hard to build up a credit score.
Enter CreditLadder, a novel digital platform that allows your rental payments to count towards your credit score.
If you pay your rent through your Starling account, our open APIs mean CreditLadder can scan your transaction feed, identify the rental payments and pass on this data to the credit agency Experian. As long as you pay on time every month, your rent payments can have a positive impact on your credit score, making that mortgage easier to secure and hopefully with a better rate if you want to buy in future. In the Starling app, you’ll see the total amount of rent that has been registered through CreditLadder’s solution, as well as the value of the most recent rental payment you made.
The future of the Starling Marketplace
Today, there are 10 integrations available in the Personal Marketplace. We also have a separate Marketplace for our business customers with 14 services spanning accounting solutions and legal guidance. And truth to tell, we’re constantly on the lookout for new services - so watch this space.
What’s more, we’re always thinking about how we can improve our Marketplace services so they can provide more value to you. This is why we’re doing customer research and data analysis to understand better what you need and how to deliver it.
The above is intended as general information and does not constitute advice in any way. You should take independent advice if you have any questions about your specific circumstances. Remember that with investments, your capital is at risk. Pensions can go down in value as well as up, so you could get back less than you invest
Article updated: 13th October 2022