EU banks for UK residents

Prepare to have your bank account emptied! I mean, a dodgy organisation with an account with a dodgy Maltese bank staffed by 2 Russian Ukrainians with “customer services” being a mobile phone number in Germany - what could possibly go wrong?

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How could they empty my bank account :thinking:

Yes, Ziglu is refocussing on Crypto only, so no banking functions or card in the future.

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I don’t think Ziglu will last that long !

News to me about Bunq. They’ve not written to me yet. Bunq wouldn’t issue you with a Maestro card unless you lived in the Netherlands, Germany or Belgium in any case. Nuri closed a few months back, as did Amon. I never did get a card from them.

The only other banks I can think of that give you a euro account with a non-UK IBAN are Wise (the Euro account has Belgian IBAN), and Fineco (an Italian one). Monese and Starling give you a Euro account, albeit with a UK IBAN.

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Is there a link for this news?

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There’s a whole thread

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@pootle

See the thread here.

Maybe they weren’t supposed to, but there was nothing to stop you ordering one a few years ago. I got one sent to me in the UK, but I may have had to ask for it via their support. I can’t remember.

I can also only think of Wise (BE) and Fineco (IT) as in-Eurozone IBANs now.

Another thing of interest to me is “Eurozone-identifying BIN cards”, which I used to use my KBC Ireland debit card for to avoid DCC. The next best thing is a prepaid multi-currency Mastercard, which DCC is banned on, so Revolut Mastercards may suffice for this. I haven’t travelled extensively enough in the DCC-heavy countries lately to test that though.

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Thanks for the headsup :grinning:

There was a fiddle to get a Maestro card - you went into the address change bit - put a Dutch address in - then, before you had to provide proof, you headed over to the card ordering part, which allowed you then to order a Maestro Card - you then cancelled the address change request. Thank God they are being abolished - plenty of Dutch shops outside the capital only accept Maestro cards.

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Wise also gives you a Hungarian, a Turkish, and a Romanian IBAN as well !

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This one ?

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That was the plan I am on too!

Easy Travel only allows a virtual card for use online and in digital wallets, and this is being removed as the Easy Travel plan is being closed.

I have been told I can keep it until my card expires, which is next year. At one stage Easy Travel allowed you to order a physical card as well, but it does not seem to support that currently. I can’t remember when it changed.

My plan is to move to Easy Savings, keeping my IBAN but losing all card facilities, when the time comes.

I was aware of such a fiddle existing for Revolut, and some on the community tried it. I’m sure @Recchan did! I never did though, because I was worried they would rumble me and close my Revolut account for abusing it.

Since I wasn’t willing to use that method to obtain a Maestro card, I believe I enquired about it with Bunq and I think they manually ordered me one when I asked. I can’t be totally sure though, it was a while ago.

I agree that it’s good to see the back of Maestro though. Easier global online use for Dutch residents themselves and a much easier experience for visitors too!

Indeed, it’s a useful facility at Wise but not a great place to store funds with it’s lack of FSCS protection. I’m hoping Revolut will eventually get their UK banking license soon and then we will have a good FSCS-protected option.

HSBC Global Money, of course, does have FSCS protection but doesn’t currently support direct international transfers in and out.

I did, I think they took it off me recently though. I think they’re taking it from the Germans too and I’m pretty sure the switching process requires more documentation now we’re not in the Single Market.

Before it was “set yourself a German address [i used a McDonald’s in Berlin] and order it wherever

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We’re clearly harbouring a right dodgy bunch in this forum. Is there no end to the chicanery ? :scream:

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Dodgy? Mind your tongue sir, I am a Lord !

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One of my clients in Austria gets charged EUR 30 for each transfer to a GB IBAN and asked recently if I would accept another method of payment. They have been paying directly to my Starling account. Crazy really, but it seems many banks routinely get away with illegal IBAN discrimination.

Bunq Easy Travel and Wise seem to be the only options left to get around this while still using an account with deposit protection. Not keen on PayPal, Monese, any non-bank for larger incoming sums.

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They are lucky they even accept it. I have numerous experiences of German companies only accepting IBAN transfers from German (DE) accounts. The EU are supposed to be taking action against stuff like this, but it’s very difficult if one of the biggest countries in it routinely disregards it.

That said, some German shops regularly refuse non-German credit cards, solely based on risk.

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Easy Travel only allows a virtual card for use online and in digital wallets, and this is being removed as the Easy Travel plan is being closed.

I still have a physical card (valid for another 12 months) but haven’t used it for ages. I’ve used it via Apple Pay recently

Will they allow UK citizens to open an account ? I know they stopped UK citizens from getting an Easy Travel account not long after I got mine. Their blurb said that they “would set up an IBAN appropriate to the country you live in”, so perhaps not

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Fineco Bank is another option, as they use an IT IBAN for Italy.

I’m not sure whether they do or not.
All I know is I’ve been allowed to keep my long-held account so far, so they do seem to want to serve customers based in the UK.

Perhaps you were lucky with the date your card was originally issued, so managed to get a long expiry date before the option to have a physical card was restricted. I don’t have the option to have a physical card any more - if I select to order one, the app prompts me to upgrade to the Easy Money plan.

I think that is a bit of a red-herring, as it refers to giving customers in Spain, Germany, etc a country-specific IBAN. I believe the default, including for us, is still the NL Dutch IBAN.

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