I don’t think they do, but I have only ever used Santander as I read about the tip on the MSE forum (I think it was) before I got the account.
Revolut should also be OK.
The good thing about SEPA Instant is that 1) Fineco have it in case you ever really need it in an emergency and 2) Since they support it, if somebody else sends you money via SEPA Instant you get it instantly (and, I think, for free as they only charge for outgoing payments?).
Ok, Starling say there’s no fee which is good news! Interestingly, HSBC have no fee if it’s under £100, but £6 if it’s over.
Ah, the chat advisor has just wanted me about the potential for intermediary bank fees when receiving via SWIFT. With Starling being such a small bank without the kind of international/partnership network that a bank like HSBC has, do you think these are likely to be an issue, even for just GBP transfers?
No, I think the payments pass through Fineco’s larger Italian parent UniCredit, possibly Lloyds (who seem to provide Fineco’s U.K. sort code) and maybe NatWest (for Starling, I know they provide some services for them) but I think fees for a GBP payment would be unlikely. There must be no fees at least until the end of the Fineco-related chain as otherwise I would have seen Santander charge.
They are right to raise it though, and there is no way to really know without trying it.
As a general rule, your payment would pass through more intermediaries and there would be a higher likelihood of them charging if it was sent from a country with a totally different currency to an account with another different currency further away.
Let’s unpack this
“You basically messed-up your own application”
No. They accepted an application that had a minor error in it, that almost every other system would either have flagged up (to me) or allowed it
“I’ve never needed to contact their support as I’ve never had an issue”
But then you pass judgement on the Customer Service function, even though you’ve never used it
"do you really need support all the time? "
No. But if I ask a question about something, I would expect someone to answer the question I asked. I asked how to input the number of a card I didn’t have. They didn’t answer that question. At all.
“Are you sure that the 8 digits they were asking for were not either 1) your account number or 2) one of the Fineco passwords/PINs to confirm the request?”
Absolutely. Infact they just confirmed to me that I couldn’t request a card because I didn’t have one. They have manually ordered one for me.
“I think it’s mainly just bad luck”
And a basic lack of competency
“I would expect trouble if I wrote my name with a full stop in the middle at, say, HSBC and then tried to change my application”
I didn’t. It was the end of the name.
“I have contacted bunq support in the past and experienced non-native English speakers and it has been fine”
Bunq just cut and paste stuff from their CRM system. You ask them 3 questions. They might answer one.
I didn’t pass judgement on the customer service, I simply talked about my experience with bunq and suggested that I’d be happy with Fineco’s service if it was similar, or even slightly worse.
I suggested that, pragmatically speaking, if Fineco are offering something nobody else is, I would be happy with the trade-off of potentially not-great support; given that they are operating from an non-English speaking country I wouldn’t have such high standards as I would from a British high street bank, and wouldn’t necessarily expect excellent service if it’s a mostly self-service online account - which it is.
I would still expect basic competence, obviously, and maybe you got unlucky with getting a less good support agent.
You also seem to have issues with bunq now - again, what is the problem with them pasting a response to me if it addresses my question? None, I would suggest.
I stand by everything I’ve said and, if Fineco isn’t for you, you are welcome to continue using Wise/Starling/Revolut either on their own or in some combination. Choice is out there!
“You also seem to have issues with bunq now - again, what is the problem with them pasting a response to me if it addresses my question?”
Well, it didn’t answer the question and there were 2 other questions they completely ignored.
OK - that’s a shame but if I were you I would just do one thing at a time if they are not assessing more than one thing at a time.
Trying to open eurozone accounts is a bit like delving into the wild west - no idea what will happen…
Yes it is - I also had a bit of a hard time back when I opened a KBC account years ago!
I got there in the end though and I have used the account quite a bit since, so it’s been worth it.
Could you share a screenshot of the Apple Pay image please?
Also, where does one go to sign up?
I would, but my Apple Pay is full from having already added the maximum number of cards, and I can’t be bothered to remove and re-add one of them just for that.
You can open an account at finecobank.co.uk but there is currently an account opening offer which you may be interested in if you think you might want to use the trading side of the product (it’s 100 free trades for both you and the person who refers you by using a “friend code”).
TIL there’s a limit to the number of cards you have in Apple Pay!
Not sure if I’ll use the trading portion, but feel free to refer me if you want the free trades! 
I’ll try to find out how to get a Friend Code, but it’s not too obvious from having a quick look!
The Apple Pay limit is due to the Secure Element of the devices only being able to store a limited amount of data. Originally, the limit was 8 cards, then it was increased to 12 for A11 devices and above. Now, with iOS 15, it seems to have increased to 16 but I’m not sure how they’ve managed it!
I’m now full at 16 cards.
I didn’t know that - that’s great news for a suffering card addict like myself!
Feel free to drop me your friend code when you find it as well 
@N26throwaway do you think you’ll go for the EUR or GBP card? (…or splash the £10pa for both)
I’m leaning more towards the euro card! I think I’ll find more use and value in that one in case I decide to make use of it.
I could be convinced to pay £10pa for both, but I’d need to see how I get on first!
Yep, I think Euro is definitely the sensible way to go, as much as I want to be able to use a pretty all black card day to day at home! I’d be very tempted to pay the £10 if the app was Monzo/Starling tier, but it seems quite a way off from that so I just can’t justify it when I have such great options from other banks at my disposal and totally for free.
@Seb out of interest, is the BIN of your Euro card Italian to match the account IBAN, or is the card UK registered?
Interesting question about the BIN, I’ll put it into a BIN Checker for you.
I found my friend code!
The code is: UK1533681
If you use the following link to apply it will fill it in automatically for you:
https://finecobank.com/uk/apriconto/scelta-online-uk?cp=UK1533681
The full details and terms are [here] (Invite a Friend initiative - Fineco Bank | FinecoBank) and here, it seems you do have to make one trade first before you get 100 free.
Worth having, potentially, although you can not using the trading at all (I haven’t so far).
I’ve checked the BIN.
It seems to come back as a U.K. Debit Visa (not prepaid, and under the card type of “traditional”).
I suppose this means that DCC to GBP may be offered abroad?
