Personal Finance Bank accounts

Starling Bank limits: transfers, withdrawal, spending

Gert Svaiko

12.12.24

Read time 3 minutes

Just joined Starling Bank as a new customer? You’ll need to know what you can do with your new account. And just as importantly, what you can’t do.

Nearly all UK bank accounts come with some limits on transfers, cash withdrawals and spending. Many of these limits are in place for security purposes. It’s important to know what they are, just in case you ever need to withdraw a large amount of cash quickly or send a particularly large transfer.

In this guide, we’ll give you the lowdown on Starling Bank limits. This includes limits on both UK and international transfers, ATM withdrawals and card spending (plus limits for contactless payments and virtual cards).

We’ll also show you an alternative for sending, spending and withdrawing money worldwide from the money services provider Wise - the Wise account. It’s an ideal alternative to a bank account, especially if you need to make international transfers and overseas card payments.

Learn more about the Wise account 🚀

Starling Bank limits for transfers

Let’s start with Starling Bank’s limits on sending money. Read on to find out how much you can send to another UK bank account and to an overseas account with your Starling personal account.

Domestic payments

Starling Bank uses the Faster Payments system to send domestic payments, which are transfers between UK bank accounts.

Faster Payments has a limit of £1 million, which should cover almost every transaction you’d want to make. If you need to send more than this though, you can send a CHAPS payment for a fee.¹

Bear in mind that if you’re sending a very large payment, Starling Bank may get in touch with you to verify the details for security and fraud prevention purposes.

International transfers

If you hold a GBP account with Starling Bank, you’ll need to get in touch with customer services to find out your international payment limits. You can send a quick message via in-app chat to do this.²

But if you want to send money abroad from a euro account you hold with Starling, you’ll be able to send a maximum of 250,000 EUR per transaction. The total amount you can send in a day is 500,000 EUR.³

It’s important to note that this is only for SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) payments, where you’re sending EUR to a country in the EU or SEPA area.

ATM withdrawal limits for Starling Bank

Like most UK banks, Starling does have some limits on cash withdrawals at ATM machines. Personal customers can withdraw a maximum of £300 per day, across no more than 6 separate withdrawals.⁴

This limit applies to the withdrawal of cash in all currencies, so it’ll apply when you take out money overseas too.

You can’t ask Starling Bank for this limit to be raised either, as it’s fixed for all Starling cards and personal account customers.

How much can I spend with Starling Bank?

Lastly, we come to Starling Bank spending limits for personal customers. This is how much you can spend on your card per day, whether it’s online or real-world shopping.

The maximum you can spend per day with a Starling Bank card is £10,000, or the currency equivalent.⁵

Contactless payments are limited to £100 per transaction, as is the case for all bank cards in the UK. If you reach £300 in contactless spending, you’ll be asked to enter your card into the terminal and tap in your PIN - this is a security measure.⁵

If you’re spending on a Starling Bank virtual card, the spending limit is £500 per payment/day.⁵

Send, receive and spend money worldwide with Wise

If you’re looking for an alternative to a bank account, make sure to check out the Wise account. It’s especially good if you need to spend overseas or send transfers between countries.

With Wise, there are no sign up or monthly fees to pay. You’ll get a powerful account for managing your money in 40+ currencies, including making international transfers for low fees* and mid-market exchange rates.

For a one-time cost of just £7, you can also get a Wise debit card which has no foreign transaction fees for spending abroad, just a small conversion fee for cross-currency transactions.

Here are the main benefits for using Wise:
Fast and easy setup with no physical paperwork Dedicated support for large transfers Low, upfront, transparent fees* Mid-market exchange rate for currency conversions 24/7 Fully trackable transfers Fast transfer times Two-factor authentication and real-time notifications

And that’s it - everything you need to know about limits with Starling Bank. We’ve covered the limits on UK and international transfers, ATM withdrawals and card spending.

This should help you work out what you can and can’t do with your Starling Bank personal account, and plan ahead (or find alternatives) if you need to make a transaction over the permitted limit.

Sources used:

Starling Bank - Help - What is the maximum amount I can send via a bank transfer?
Starling Bank - Help - Is there a limit to the value of the payments I can make overseas?
Starling Bank - Help - What are the bank transfer limits for my personal euro account?
Starling Bank - Help - What is the ATM withdrawal limit?
Starling Bank - Help - What limits does my card have?

Sources last checked on date: 11-Nov-2024

*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.

We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.