Number26/N26 Mastercard/Account now for Irish Residents

Marlow

maik3n wrote: »

Have checked through the thread but things don't seem all that clear and the n26 website says something different too.

Can you top up your n26 account with a visa debit card or will i just have to go with revolut for that kind of facility?

No. Just by transfer using SEPA. N26 was always a full current account. Not a prepaid card.

/M

maik3n

bennyx_o wrote: »

Not possible to top up with a debit card unfortunately

Marlow wrote: »

No. Just by transfer using SEPA. N26 was always a full current account. Not a prepaid card.

/M

Thanks folks.
Back to revolut I go then. :P

jester77

jester77 wrote: »

Plus it doesn't have any of those top up nonsense.

Instant top up is a massive advantage of Revolut over N26. Personally I have both and have used N26 about 3 times and use Revolut for pretty much everything for the last year or more, its basically my main account. I find it excellent and much better than N26 with better features and more user friendly.

TheChizler

IMO instant top up is only really useful when you don't keep a balance in your account. Revolut I keep at 0 or close to when not using Fx so being able to top up right away is very useful. I use N26 as my main day-to-day account so always have a balance, I'm able to wait a few hours or a day when transferring my monthly 'pocket money' over.

Bob24

Leroy Sticky Polygamy wrote: »

Instant top up is a massive advantage of Revolut over N26. Personally I have both and have used N26 about 3 times and use Revolut for pretty much everything for the last year or more, its basically my main account. I find it excellent and much better than N26 with better features and more user friendly.

They are just 2 different products, and the very use of the concept of top-up often associated with Revolut shows that.

By definition, if you have to “top-up” a Revolut account with a card from a bank, that account being topped-up isn’t your main account - the one used to top it up is your main account (i.e. the source account is likely where your most of your funds reside and where your income is received). While the above might mean Revolut becomes the user’s main payment method (they mostly use the Revolut card to pay for things), it is not the same as being their main bank account.

N26 offers more of the standard banking features and is more interested in becoming the user’s main bank account, so I suspect it is a deliberate choice for them not to support credit card top-ups (if they wanted to, it would be very easy to implement). So while on the surface many people see Revolut and N26 as similar and direct competitors, it is not quite the case (although it could very likely change in the future as their service offerings evolve).

loyatemu

main issue I have with N26 is AIB not allowing me to store the details, so every month when I transfer money in I have to dig out the IBAN and card reader to make the transfer. Any way around this?

Bob24

loyatemu wrote: »

main issue I have with N26 is AIB not allowing me to store the details, so every month when I transfer money in I have to dig out the IBAN and card reader to make the transfer. Any way around this?

Yeah AIB are super annoying with SEPA transfers to non Irish accounts (the other drawback you didn’t mention is that you can’t use the mobile app for this and it has to be the website).

To my knowledge there is no way around using the card reader, but you don’t have to input the IBAN again every time. If you go to your payment log on the website and find a previous transfer you made to your N26 account, you can press on the circling arrows icon next to that payment and it will bring you to the international SEPA transfer screen with your bank details pre-populated.

Bob24

Bob24 wrote: »

They are just 2 different products, and the very use of the concept of top-up often associated with Revolut shows that.

By definition, if you have to “top-up” a Revolut account with a card from a bank, that account being topped-up isn’t your main account - the one used to top it up is your main account (i.e. the source account is likely where your most of your funds reside and where your income is received). While the above might mean Revolut becomes the user’s main payment method (they mostly use the Revolut card to pay for things), it is not the same as being their main bank account.

N26 offers more of the standard banking features and is more interested in becoming the user’s main bank account, so I suspect it is a deliberate choice for them not to support credit card top-ups (if they wanted to, it would be very easy to implement). So while on the surface many people see Revolut and N26 as similar and direct competitors, it is not quite the case (although it could very likely change in the future as their service offerings evolve).

You could move to Revolut as your main account also it has all the features required same as N26. I have no need to move as I have free banking on my Irish current accounts so its not worth the hassle of moving all my direct debits etc. It's also a potential for hassle as has been shown for many with issues having it both n26 and revolut accepted for payments due to not being Irish.

Bob24

Leroy Sticky Polygamy wrote: »

You could move to Revolut as your main account also it has all the features required same as N26. I have no need to move as I have free banking on my Irish current accounts so its not worth the hassle of moving all my direct debits etc. It's also a potential for hassle as has been shown for many with issues having it both n26 and revolut accepted for payments due to not being Irish.

In practice very few people are using it as their main account, which goes to show they do see it more as a side service (people say “I could move BUT” and don’t actually move for various reasons they might quote - but at the end of the day regardless of the reason the final outcome is they don’t see it as a good enough candidate to fully transition from their other account, otherwise they would move).

And to my knowledge it is incorrect to say Revolut has all the features of an actual bank account. The most obvious gap being that unless I am mistaken Revolut’s current service is not offered under their banking licence meaning that none of the regulatory protections offered to bank customers apply to Revolut users - being in terms of financial guarantees or standard banking services availability. N26 is clearly different from this perspective as their service is covered by a banking licence.

scarepanda

I've been using revolut and N26 for pretty much all my regular banking since I joined both in the last year. Revolut is my main day to day payment method, I find it helps an awful lot at budgeting and being able to separate regular and semi regular expenses. N26 is more of a short/medium savings account that I need easy access to.

There's 2 reasons why I haven't left the bricks and mortar bank and that's 1) credit card, I've a tiny limit, but it's handy to have incase of emergency and 2) cash deposits, I don't deposit much, but I do my mams grocery shopping online with mine and she gives me cash. It's deposited every few weeks and immediately transferred to revolut.

advertsfox

maik3n wrote: »

Thanks folks.
Back to revolut I go then. :P

Remember, N26 is a full fledged bank (just like TSB, AIB etc) and Revolut is an Electronic Money Institution (just like PayPal). They are similar but not the same. They go hand in hand very well, I highly recommend both esp. for budget control and sharing with friends easily (not to mention no fees, Google Pay etc).

Stratvs

I find N26 working very well but TX from Bank of Ireland to N26 is next working day provided done by around 3pm. So it's something to watch. Do a TX at 8pm on a Friday and it won't hit N26 until Tuesday. However recently received TX to N26 from AIB and it came in couple of hours same day.

The J Stands for Jay

Stratvs wrote: »

I find N26 working very well but TX from Bank of Ireland to N26 is next working day provided done by around 3pm. So it's something to watch. Do a TX at 8pm on a Friday and it won't hit N26 until Tuesday. However recently received TX to N26 from AIB and it came in couple of hours same day.

Logical solution is to remove the BoI step from your finances.

Stratvs

McGaggs wrote: »

Logical solution is to remove the BoI step from your finances.

N26 usage is primarily holiday spending / Internet purchases, not in use everyday. The locked spaces & phone notifications make it handy for those. BOI is main a/c through which everything else business etc. passes. Not worth moving primary bank to gain a day or two on TX time to N26 a/c.

user1842

Stratvs wrote: »

I find N26 working very well but TX from Bank of Ireland to N26 is next working day provided done by around 3pm. So it's something to watch. Do a TX at 8pm on a Friday and it won't hit N26 until Tuesday. However recently received TX to N26 from AIB and it came in couple of hours same day.

This will not be the case for much longer. Once the Irish banks join the SCT Inst scheme (instant payments) all single shot credit transfers will be completed under 10 seconds, 24/7, 365 days a year.

Unfortunately Irish banks seems to be very slow in implementing the SCT Inst scheme.

Yggr of Asgard

user1842 wrote: »

This will not be the case for much longer. Once the Irish banks join the SCTinst scheme (instant payments) all single shot credit transfers will be completed under 10 seconds, 24/7, 365 days a year.

Unfortunately Irish banks seems to be very slow in implementing the SCTinst scheme.

Slow is an understatement, there are still some of the big players which don't support Apple/Google pay, don't allow "foreign" accounts to be saved in online banking and have massive technology challenges.

This still might take years.

user1842

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

Slow is an understatement, there are still some of the big players which don't support Apple/Google pay, don't allow "foreign" accounts to be saved in online banking and have massive technology challenges.

This still might take years.

I agree, they are very slow.

With regard to:

Don't allow "EU" accounts to be saved in online banking

This is against the spirit of the reachability requirement of the SEPA end-date regulation (EU REG 260/2012) and a complaint should be made to both the Central Bank of Ireland and the EU Commission.

Bob24

user1842 wrote: »

I agree, they are very slow.

With regard to:

Don't allow "EU" accounts to be saved in online banking

This is against the spirit of the reachability requirement of the SEPA end-date regulation (EU REG 260/2012) and a complaint should be made to both the Central Bank of Ireland and the EU Commission.

It certainly is against the *spirit* of it (so it the fact that AIB only allows transfers to Irish SEPA accounts in its mobile app and forces people to use online banking and a card reader for non-Irish SEPA accounts).

But I don’t think it technically is an infringement of the regulation? (if it isn’t I don’t think there is any point in raising a complaint which will be declined)

jester77

user1842 wrote: »

This will not be the case for much longer. Once the Irish banks join the SCT Inst scheme (instant payments) all single shot credit transfers will be completed under 10 seconds, 24/7, 365 days a year.

Unfortunately Irish banks seems to be very slow in implementing the SCT Inst scheme.

N26 was supposed to launch instant payments this week, based on the regulation docs. I have seen no updates to this, I presume it didn't happen.

Bummer1234

jester77 wrote: »

N26 was supposed to launch instant payments this week, based on the regulation docs. I have seen no updates to this, I presume it didn't happen.

Seen a reply tweet to a person yesterday that its not ready yet.

https://twitter.com/N26_Support/status/1191644645215870976?s=20

Bob24

jester77 wrote: »

N26 was supposed to launch instant payments this week, based on the regulation docs. I have seen no updates to this, I presume it didn't happen.

I am not familiar with how this works. Does the receiving bank need to have something specific implemented so that money is received instantly? (If yes and the implementation is not a regulatory requirement on the receiver bank’s side, I guess initially this will not be very useful in practice as many banks would drags their feeds to support it as receivers).

jester77

Bummer1234 wrote: »

Seen a reply tweet to a person yesterday that its not ready yet.

https://twitter.com/N26_Support/status/1191644645215870976?s=20

Nice, that sounds like it is not far away.

Bob24 wrote: »

I am familiar with how this works. Does the receiving bank need to have something specific implemented so that money is received instantly? (If yes and the implementation is not a regulatory requirement on the receiver bank’s side, I guess initially this will not be very useful in practice as many banks would drags their feeds to support it as receivers).

I am also not fully up to date on it. There is a 10 second window for the payment to happen, so I would guess that if the recipient bank are not implementing instant transfer yet, then they would not be capable of verifying the transaction in that time.

There are already a lot of banks onboard, so there is good progress.

bennyx_o

jester77 wrote: »

There are already a lot of banks onboard, so there is good progress.

Quick scan through and disappointing to see no Irish retail banks on the list, though not surprising

Bob24

jester77 wrote: »

Nice, that sounds like it is not far away.



I am also not fully up to date on it. There is a 10 second window for the payment to happen, so I would guess that if the recipient bank are not implementing instant transfer yet, then they would not be capable of verifying the transaction in that time.

There are already a lot of banks onboard, so there is good progress.

Interestingly I just made a transfer with another bank I have an account with (and which is on your above list), and they did offer a “10 seconds transfer”. This is something new and I hadn’t seen this before, so it indeed looks like it is being rolled out at the moment.

Not surprised, but I don’t see any Irish retail bank on the list though :-/

jester77

Bob24 wrote: »

Interestingly I just made a transfer with another bank I have an account with (and which is on your above list), and they did offer a “10 seconds transfer”. This is something new and I hadn’t seen this before, so it indeed looks like it is being rolled out at the moment.

Not surprised, but I don’t see any Irish retail bank on the list though :-/

I can do with one of my accounts as well, just checked and it states the recipient bank must have it implemented as well. I haven't used it as they charge 50c for it. :mad: Does your bank charge for it?

user1842

jester77 wrote: »

I can do with one of my accounts as well, just checked and it states the recipient bank must have it implemented as well. I haven't used it as they charge 50c for it. :mad: Does your bank charge for it?

Can you name and shame the bank charging 50cent per instant payment?

Bob24

jester77 wrote: »

I can do with one of my accounts as well, just checked and it states the recipient bank must have it implemented as well. I haven't used it as they charge 50c for it. :mad: Does your bank charge for it?

I hope they don’t as it was definitely not specified in the app when I made the transfer! But to be honest I didn’t even thing about it and I would have to dig up the Ts&Cs.

Edit: Just checked their website, it is free for transfers up to 300 euros and there is a fee above that. The fee structure is not very clear, the website just says the fee amount will be displayed in the app is the transfer is above 300 euros. It also says the service will only be offered by the app if the recipient’s bank does support SEPA instant transfers, so I guess receiver banks need to do something and it is easy to lookup which ones have it live based on the IBAN.

jester77

user1842 wrote: »

Can you name and shame the bank charging 50cent per instant payment?

Postbank, they are really bad. I am actually surprised they even offer the service.

Bob24

I just made a transfer to N26 from my bank which support instant SEPA outbound transfers, and the option was not offered. So I guess N26 hasn’t enabled it as a receiver bank either.

user1842

Bob24 wrote: »

I just made a transfer to N26 from my bank which support instant SEPA outbound transfers, and the option was not offered. So I guess N26 hasn’t enabled it as a receiver bank either.

Yup both banks need to offer the service for it to work (both sender and receiver).

Once this is fully rolled out in the euro area it will be a great new service (although 20 years late )