Introduction
Cash is less and less used and the different technologies, the regulations
and COVID-19 have all something to do with this. Although the future may
not be necessarily in the hands of cards, which are a product that has
barely evolved in the recent years, they are still the preferred paying
method.
In this post, we are including the best cards that you can find in the market. When I mention the best, I’m referring to the best quality price relationship. Therefore, if you are looking for products such as the American Express Centurion or alike, you will have to wait.
Please note that due to the banking licenses and regulations, some of these cards may not be available in some countries. This is because I just recommend what I use, or I have used.
Revolut
Revolut is one of the most valuable FinTech in the world and the most valuable fintech in UK, where it is based. It’s also probably the most famous company in this list.
Aside debit cards, they also offer other financial products such as vaults, trading and crypto. However, nothing against these services, but I think there are much better options out there if for example you are thinking on trading stocks or crypto.
Revolut has been growing exponentially in the last years thanks to their inexistent or low fees, application design and associated benefits.
The most known characteristic of Revolut is that there are no currency conversion fees on card payments.
Nonetheless, on weekends, the exchange rate fee is increased. In any case, even if there are some fees on the weekends, the rate is favorable than more traditional services.
Besides, if you use premium, you have unlimited transfer of foreign currencies. If you are abroad, you can also withdraw money from ATMs, up to a certain limit for free.
These characteristics make Revolut the perfect card for travelling and short stays in foreign countries. Furthermore, there were some great news at the end of 2021 since Revolut was granted the full banking license by the European Central Bank.
There are some options (Premium, Metal) for which the service will not be free and depending on your situation, it may be worth to check these. For example, if you transfer every month considerable amounts of foreign currency, it may be important to upgrade. At least on my case, this is more beneficial.
Revolut Business case
The most obvious case is for travelling to foreign countries, but there are many more usages.
Compared to other banks, one of the things I like most about Revolut is the instant transfer of money. If I transfer to my other accounts, the money is there in milliseconds. The other situation relevant on my case is to transfer different currencies. For example, if you can just deposit USD in your broker (e.g., crypto), this is a way method to transfer your local currency into USD without hidden fees.
Revolut Features
- Nice design of the app
- No currency conversion fees (except weekends) in transfers and card payments
- Immediate transfers without fees
- Excellent security management
- Different partnerships for cash back
- Getting more and more banking license (e.g., EU license)
In case you would like to open an account, you can open it from this link. You will receive a reward of 70 in your local currency when opening it with this link and following some steps: 70 EUR Referral
The usage of the real exchange rates is one of the most notories features of Revolut.
N26
The origin of the name comes from the number of smaller cubes in a Rubik’s cube. Founded in 2013 in Munich, N26 is a German neobank with a huge customer base in Europe and the US.
N26 offers a basic account and a debit card in the entry level. For these products, there are no fees. The customer can add more services (N26 You and N26 Metal) if needed and for these ones, there will be a monthly fee.
If you want to open the account, the registration will take around 10 minutes.
ATM withdrawals are also free up to a certain amount per month.
They will also send the card for free when you top up your account for the first time. In most countries you can also use your mobile to pay since it is compatible with Apple Pay and Google Pay.
In the case of exchange rates, there rate may be slightly worse than the ones from Revolut. However, the conversion is constant on all days of the week. For foreign currency transfers, they are since a few months with Wise.
N26 Business case
In my case, I use it as a daily card in Europe. One trick I use is the following one. DAZN is a streaming service from Germany and available in many locations. However, the offering of DAZN Germany is much better than the one for other countries. For that reason, I have an account in DAZN Germany and I use my N26 to pay with it, since they detect that it is a German bank.
N26 Features
- Great app
- No currency conversion fees card
- Cheap foreign currency transfers
- Good security management
- EU banking license
- Since it is a German account, you may use it to access services in Germany (e.g., DAZN Germany offers)
At the moment, there is no current promotion, but you may open an account from their website.
N26 is one of the application that has grown considerably in Europe.
Neon
The last one in the list is a Swiss digital bank, and it is just restricted to people living in Switzerland. Neon offers a bank, a phone application, and a debit card. Everything for free. Apart from not having any expenses, you can also have up to two ATM withdrawals per month.
Neon is also compatible with Apple Pay and Google Play. On top of this, Neon is also compatible with TWINT (if you are in Switzerland, you know what this is).
Although Neon does not have a banking license the Hypothekarbank Lenzburg manages the different accounts. For that reason, under the Swiss Banking Law, the deposited is insured up to 100,000 CHF.
If you are abroad, you don’t pay exchange rate fees in card transactions. On the other hand, for cash withdrawals in foreign currency, there is a 1.5% fee.
Neon also offers a more premium account, which is called Neon Green. The features of Neon Green are not focused mainly on the customer, but the society. For each Neon Green user, Neon plants 35trees every month. Further, for every 100 CHF spent, an additional tree is planted. For example, if you spend 4,000 CHF, they will plan 45 trees in one single month.
On top of that, you also have an extended warranty of 3 years, thanks that they have a partnership with hanks to our partner, Europäische Reiseversicherung (ERV) . All this is just for 5 CHF, which makes is quite reasonable.
Please note that even the registration process takes 10 minutes, you will need to show residency permit (e.g., if you just arrived in Switzerland).
Neon Business case
In my case, if you have Neon Green, you get a 3-year warranty extension for all electronic and electrical products. You always have two-year warrant for your products, so this means that you will have a total warranty of 5 years. Despite the different technological breakthroughs, planned obsolescence is at the order of the day. This way, we are more than covered.
If you live in Switzerland, Neon is a must for you.
Conclusion
In all these cases, for the basic service (account and debit card), there are no monthly fees or any disadvantage for using them. In my case I have all of these, but you can of course select just the one that suits you best. In case of emergency card, it is always a possibility to have others.
Please note that the promotions may vary from time to time and the amounts may also be bigger or lower. In all cases, if any reward, you and I get the same amount. However, the purpose of this article is just showing different advantages and help people move away from other banks with abusive fees and less benefits.
