Changing your name with Starling Bank

How do I change my name with Starling?#

In the app. Starling calls itself a digital bank with no physical branches, and its help centre answer on updating your personal details says a new name needs a document, which you send through the app:

1. Open the menu at the top right of the app and tap Help.
2. Tap Talk to Starling, then Start a new conversation.
3. Tap I need to get in touch, then Send a message.
4. Attach your document to the message.

Starling says it will let you know as soon as your name is updated. Its help centre gives the same answer to personal, joint and business customers, and its page on major life events lists marriages and changes of name among the things to tell it about, the quickest way being the chat in the app.

Your address, email address and mobile number work differently: you change those yourself in the app's settings and confirm with your password. Starling's contact page also gives an email address, but asks you not to put personal or account details in an email, so send your deed poll through the app.

What does Starling need to see?#

One document, "depending on your situation", in Starling's words: a deed poll, a marriage certificate or a divorce certificate. That is the whole list. It draws no line between a new surname and a new first name, does not ask for an enrolled deed poll, and does not ask for photo ID in the new name. That sets Starling apart from Lloyds and Santander, which accept an unenrolled deed poll only with a passport or driving licence in the new name, and from Barclays, which wants photo ID for a new first name.

Starling's page does not say how a deed poll must be made. HM Passport Office's guidance to its own staff accepts one signed in the old and new names, witnessed by at least one person, signed in wet ink and dated; the deed polls we draft have space for two witnesses. Nor does the page ask for an original, a certified copy or anything by post: the document goes as an attachment. The list does not mention a civil partnership certificate, so if that is your document, ask in the same conversation.

Where Starling fits in the order#

Because Starling takes a deed poll with no further condition, it can come early, before your passport and driving licence, and help with both. HM Passport Office asks for your deed poll and one document showing you already use the new name, and the guidance its staff work from includes a bank statement issued in the last 12 months. DVLA, when your evidence is a deed poll, asks for one document in the new name, issued in the last 12 months and after the deed, such as a UK bank statement, or your new passport number.

Starling's statements are PDFs you download in the app: open the account menu, tap Statements and documents, then Statement history. Since August 2026 each one carries a "True Copy" stamp with a verification number that others can check, and Starling says to print the download if you need it on paper. The statement for a month becomes available between the 4th and the 10th of the next, so allow for that while you wait for the first one in your new name. Changing your name with HM Passport Office and with DVLA set out each step.

Money coming in#

After the change, payers need your new name. Starling's cheque guidance says the name on a cheque must match the name on your account and include your first name or initial as well as your surname, and a mismatch is the first reason it gives for rejecting one. Transfers are checked too: under Confirmation of Payee, the name a payer types is compared with the name on your account. Give the new name to your employer and anyone else who pays you, and Starling's personal account terms add that you must keep the details in your app correct and up to date.

Joint accounts, cards and children#

• Joint accounts. Starling describes a joint account as separate from each holder's personal account, and publishes the same change of name answer for both, so say in your message which accounts should change.
• Cards. Starling's pages do not say whether a card in the new name is sent automatically. A replacement is ordered under Cards, then Cancel & Replace, and choosing Replace Card keeps the current card working until the new one arrives.
• Under 16s. When you set up an Under 16s account, Starling asks for the child's legal name and a photo of their birth certificate, passport or adoption certificate. It publishes nothing on changing the child's name later, so ask in the app. Changing a child's name covers the deed poll itself.

For every other bank, changing your name with your bank compares how they work.