Digital challenger bank Starling Bank announced on Thursday the launch of its first personal products. This news comes just after Starling Bank launched its Banking-as-a-Platform APIs to allow businesses to offer their own unique retail banking payments services, including card issuing as an API.
According to Starling Bank, the loan products will help customers plan their borrowing effectively and spread the cost of more expensive items. The products are flexible, competitive, and tailed to customers’ personal financial circumstances. Applying for the loans take minutes in-app and once approved, users will have access to the funds straight away. Users may now borrow up to £5,000 and will choose both the day a repayment is made and over what period. Starling Bank noted that the loans and overdrafts are connected, therefore anyone approved for the overdrafts may apply for a loan. It was explained:
“A customer with £2000 still to spend of a £4000 overdraft will be able to turn anything up to £2000 into a loan. When they do, Starling will reduce the overdraft by whatever they borrow – then it will bump the overdraft back up again when the loan is repaid.”
Starling Bank also reported that customers will have full visibility of what they are borrowing, for how long, their monthly payments and what the total repayment will be at the end of the term, through the bank’s mobile app. Speaking about the loans, Stuart Leak, Starling Bank’s head of lending, added:
“If an unexpected bill hits your account, or you are faced with an unavoidable large expense, you’ll be able to spread the cost with a loan and choose a repayment method, including both the time period and monthly repayment amount that suit you.”