It’s a classic tale: she, a dog person, me, a cat lover. At first, neither of us were keen to switch teams. But then lockdown hit, what was 'normal' totally changed and we welcomed Mac, a lively border terrier, into our home. Before we got him though, we did talk about logistics. What would happen when we went away? What would it be like looking after a dog and a baby in the future? And the question often overlooked: how much would owning a dog cost ..read more

For my mum, the going rate was always £10 an hour, no matter the agreed chore. It's what she paid me for doing the ironing when I was 11 or 12 – and for doing a deep clean of the house when I was 25. Of course, every family has their own way of doing things ..read more

Credit scores are one of the many things we only seem to come across in adult life. And one of the many things that can add to the feeling of frustration that money wasn’t covered enough in school. Here, we offer an explanation and go through what you could do to help improve your credit score while renting a flat or house ..read more

Rachel Kerrone is Starling’s Director of Brand and Marketing and mum to three boys. Here she speaks with other parents about the best age to give pocket money to kids. When should parents start pocket money? When my youngest turned six, his present was his own bank card. My husband and I wrapped it up for him and gave him his own wallet. It's probably not what most parents would give their six-year-old, but he was so excited. As soon as he opened it, he asked if we could go to M&S and when we got there, he chose some Percy Pig sweets. He loved being able to tap his card and pay for it hims ..read more

When I opened the menu for the beautiful Mallorcan restaurant Es Taller, I expected to choose something familiar – an Aperol spritz or glass of white rioja. But, after taking a moment to think about what I really wanted, I chose a ginger mojito: lots of mint, lots of kick, no alcohol ..read more

Stepping into the Betsy Benn studio is the closest I’ve come to understanding what Santa Claus’ workshop might be like. I heard the hum of activity before I saw it: printers swishing from side to side over purple and teal notebooks, scissors gliding along hand-printed wrapping paper, fingers pattering over keyboards to write out the names of someone’s favourite songs to add to a poster ..read more

In the UK, a third of adults are owed money by friends or family. Of those, 35% are owed more than £500: Gemma Wright*, 28 and from Exeter, is one of them. To dig into the dynamics around lending and borrowing amongst friends, we shared her story with psychotherapist Tasha Bailey (@RealTalk.Therapist) and money expert Timi Merriman-Johnson (@MrMoneyJar), to hear their advice. Here, they share their thoughts on what we call 'the IOU taboo ..read more

Ever wondered how our techies land a job at Starling? For three women at Starling, the social enterprise Code First Girls (CFG) played a big role. CFG offers free coding courses to women and non-binary people, including a 12-week degree which Starling, among other companies, sponsor people to do ..read more

Hayley Quinn is a relationship expert whose TED talk has been seen by almost three million people. She’s appeared on BBC1, Channel 4 and Sky ..read more

Starling is a proud supporter of the Women in Finance Charter, having become a founding signatory in 2017. We believe that this voluntary ..read more