Number26 launching free mobile-first bank account in Ireland (Revolut alternative)

JTMan

theroomisonfire wrote: »

I signed up in Sunday and got my name card today. Extremely smooth service.

Interesting. You are the first person to report getting their card.

Does it work in ATM's? Stores? Is it transparent?

patricksmyth

Asmooh wrote: »

Yes, already did it using the app

it's funny, the link they want me to follow from the email starts with

number26.us5.list-manage2.com

whats with the domain?

soirish

patricksmyth wrote: »

it's funny, the link they want me to follow from the email starts with

number26.us5.list-manage2.com

whats with the domain?

That's Mailchimp, which is a legit email service. No worries.

patricksmyth

soirish wrote: »

That's Mailchimp, which is a legit email service. No worries.

"my bank" emailing me a "random" internet address to reset my pin due to technical issues?

they really really are setting up their customers to fall victim to scams

Quackster

Delta2113 wrote: »

StaticNoise -totally wrong info about stamp duty - we now have the 12 cent ATM withdrawal charge which I imagine you wont get hit with Number 26.

12c ATM charge from 1st January next year. The €2.50/€5 stamp duty for this calendar year will be charged as normal on 31st December on debit cards active on that date.

So if you're switching from an Irish account and intend to close the Irish account (or at least cancel the debit card), make sure to do so before this date to avoid this year's stamp duty.

soirish

patricksmyth wrote: »

"my bank" emailing me a "random" internet address to reset my pin due to technical issues?

they really really are setting up their customers to fall victim to scams

Check the email source, does it have SPF authentication?

Quackster

djmarkus wrote: »

So, seeing as this will look like a "credit card" to an online retailer, will that mean that for a 10 euro Ryanair flight, I'll be paying 10.50 as they like to charge more for credit cards?

Hopefully the coming into force today of a 0.3% cap on bank fees for businesses taking domestic credit card payments and a prohibition on businesses charging their customers any more than what their banks charge them for such credit card payments will see the removal of this 2% surcharge.

Hopefully...

patricksmyth

soirish wrote: »

Check the email source, does it have SPF authentication?

im not a complete computer newbie, but i dont know what that means. the fact i dont, i feel, validates my point about this bad practice from them. imo of course.

gctest50

patricksmyth wrote: »

im not a complete computer newbie, but i dont know what that means. the fact i dont, i feel, validates my point about this bad practice from them. imo of course.

.

http://mailchimp.com/about/mcsv/

You probably found this page because one of our subscribers used MailChimp to send you an email campaign, and you traced a link in the email back here to investigate. MailChimp is an email-marketing service that serves more than 10 million companies of all shapes and sizes, from all over the world. We send more than 600 million emails every day

patricksmyth

gctest50 wrote: »

.

im not sure what you are trying to prove to me? spammers also send millions of emails per day.

Satriale

Top tip.
When your doing the video verification they quickly switch the camera from the front to the back, so make sure you have your pants on.

soirish

patricksmyth wrote: »

im not sure what you are trying to prove to me? spammers also send millions of emails per day.

Spammers don't use Mailchimp and definitely don't have email authentication but I agree would have been better to get an email from number26.eu.

Bummer1234

Does a Garda id do the job for identification? Don't have my passport at the moment.

Nollog

patricksmyth wrote: »

im not sure what you are trying to prove to me? spammers also send millions of emails per day.

Top Tip: Never click a link in the email, just go to the app and see if it shows the old registration screen, do it; else ignore.

68508224

If using this card to withdraw foreign currency while on holidays is there a fee? For instance Ulster Back currently charge me 3.5% for this. Or can Revolut or any other options be used to do this for free? Cheers

The app's page on Google Play proclaims "withdraw and deposit cash at any partner store". I suppose there's no "partner store" in this country at the moment?

Nollog

68508224 wrote: »

If using this card to withdraw foreign currency while on holidays is there a fee? For instance Ulster Back currently charge me 3.5% for this. Or can Revolut or any other options be used to do this for free? Cheers

Yes, withdrawals globally are free unless the ATM notifies you of a charge on screen, which the bank that operates the ATM charges, which would apply to any card anyway.

Deleted User wrote: »

The app's page on Google Play proclaims "withdraw and deposit cash at any partner store". I suppose there's no "partner store" in this country at the moment?

Only Germany that I've read.

mrmcq2u

I registered for an account with them on Tuesday afternoon.
Transferred some money from my PermenentTSB account that evening and received a push notification on my MotoG to notify me that the money had been transferred into my account at around 10am the following day.

So far the web, tablet and phone apps are beyond comparison to anything I have experienced with an Irish bank.

It took me about 10 minutes to open my account and afterwards I had full access to it online, I am still waiting for my card so cant give much input on that yet but have set my pin already while opening my account.

Logging in is a breeze, no convoluted open24 type id number followed by password and whack a mole style pin.

I don't find the lack of cashback to be a problem, I used it with my debit card but I only to avoid charges from lots of small payments, seeing as there aren't any charges there really isn't a need for me anymore.

Hopefully Ireland will start to catch up when it comes to nfc payments.

The Cash26 (lodge money at till) concept is something that would be more appealing for me compared to cash back but that feature is only available in Germany right now.

Number26 partnered with another company called Barzahlen for that functionality and have mentioned that they would like to work with other fintech startups so no idea as to whether Barzahlen will be approached about expanding or whether they will use different partners for different countries.

The way I'm going to deal with lodgements personally going forward is to join my local credit union and use it for my savings account. That way I can make lodgements on Saturdays as well anyway and its more convenient than getting a train to the bank.

Will be closing my Irish bank accounts by the new year. Its credit union and number26 for me going forward.

Yggr of Asgard

theroomisonfire wrote: »

I signed up in Sunday and got my name card today. Extremely smooth service.

In which country are you living?

Luckycharms_74

Any implications with the Revenue from having bank account in another country.
I found this information online about other accounts for irish residents.

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/want-to-open-an-overseas-bank-account-its-a-bit-harder-than-you-might-expect-31369075.html

wrote:

Thanks to all the controversy surrounding secretive off-shore banking arrangements, the temptation not to declare these accounts to the Revenue is probably best avoided.

"Generally, individuals are aware of their responsibilities when opening foreign bank accounts," said a Revenue spokeswoman. "In addition to the obligation on the account holder to report the opening of such accounts, intermediaries that assist Irish residents in the opening of the accounts are obliged to make a return of all foreign bank accounts opened by the intermediary on behalf of Irish residents."

The Revenue has also established tax information exchange agreements with offshore havens like the Isle of Man, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, Cayman Islands and Guernsey, as well as double taxation agreements with 72 countries, including Switzerland.

soirish

Luckycharms_74 wrote: »

"In addition to the obligation on the account holder to report the opening of such accounts, intermediaries that assist Irish residents in the opening of the accounts are obliged to make a return of all foreign bank accounts opened by the intermediary on behalf of Irish residents."

What exactly does this mean?

soirish

soirish wrote: »

What exactly does this mean?

My uninformed reading of that is that they have to pay the dirt to revenue for you like Irish banks do.

bk

mrmcq2u wrote: »

The Cash26 (lodge money at till) concept is something that would be more appealing for me compared to cash back but that feature is only available in Germany right now.

Number26 partnered with another company called Barzahlen for that functionality and have mentioned that they would like to work with other fintech startups so no idea as to whether Barzahlen will be approached about expanding or whether they will use different partners for different countries.

I could imagine them partnering with someone like Payzone or An Post here to allow people to deposit money at a tell.

Cheques could be handled like they do in the US, by simply taking a picture of it using a phone app.

Savman

bk wrote: »

I could imagine them partnering with someone like Payzone or An Post here to allow people to deposit money at a tell.

An Post are the obvious solution and hopefully it's in the pipeline. The only drawback for N26 is no means to lodge cash (at present).

Cheques I'd be glad to see the back of tbh.

daheff

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

In any case, the number26 statement does not have an address on it and even if it would, I don't think any Irish bank/institution would accept it as proof because it's quite clearly not your residential address.

you'd be surprised. Its an address on a statement from another financial institution. The KYC/AML world is like a merry-go-round. Once you are on (have a statement with a bogus address) then its a lot easier to have other financial institutions accept the address. They tend to believe & rely on other banks having correctly followed AML/KYC legislation.

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

Now there are genuine reasons why you would have your Parcelmotel / Parcelwizard address on file for example if you do shop a lot and billing and shipping address need to be the same. Loads of existing companies already allow you that. AnPost Currency Card or Revolut for example.

Maybe so...but these statements from these companies are not generally accepted as address verification documents (bizarrely neither are mobile phone statements).

curiosity wrote: »

You had explained elsewhere about how German ID cards have address information linked to them, so that makes perfect sense.

I think this point is key here for Number26 address verification. In Germany people are required to register with their local authorities. Local authorities provide ID cards with the address on it. Passports are linked to local authorities also...so the bank in GERMANY can verify the address from the passport of German passport holders(via the local authority). I wouldnt be surprised to see somebody cop this and change the requirements in the future.

My guess here is that Number26 have agreed this process with BaFin, but somebody has overlooked allowing this for other countries. So while they are in accordance with the local German legislation, they arent with the local Irish legislation (CJA 2014)- both being based on EU AML legislation from 2013 (i believe)

curiosity wrote: »

I take it that Number26 did not have to deal with banking regulators in Austria, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Slovakia and Greece? I wonder if Irish banks will object, in an effort to protect their customer base? (I should let them worry about that, this is Bargain alerts, not Banking!)

There is something known as a Financial passport for Financial institutions in Europe. Once you have been approved to operate in your home country, its a lot easier to get approval to operate in other EU jurisdictions (probably just a rubber stamp knowing the CBI). Previous example of where this went wrong is Setanta insurance (regulated in Malta)....sold Van insurance here.

mrmcq2u

Thanks for the info, need to look up payzone some more. Don't think approaching outlets directly is a good idea to be honest. I would much prefer that they go for a solution that allows to the account holder to deposit money at the post office but also the local shop, supermarket, petrol station etc.

bk

mrmcq2u wrote: »

Thanks for the info, need to look up payzone some more. Don't think approaching outlets directly is a good idea to be honest. I would much prefer that they go for a solution that allows to the account holder to deposit money at the post office but also the local shop, supermarket, petrol station etc.

Payzone is the obvious contender for them to do this. Payzone operate out of some 2,000 shops across Ireland. Mostly local shops, petrol stations, etc.

You can pay bills, put money on leap cards, add money to prepaid debit cards, etc. via payzone, so they already very much handle this sort of thing and have plenty of experience in it and a large network in Ireland. It would be very easy for Number26 to partner with them on this.

If Number26 or similar "virtual" banks were to add cash deposits via payzone. It would actually mean they would have vastly superior cash handling abilities compared to the Irish Banks.

All the banks in Ireland combined have only around 650 branches, most of which open only 10 to 4pm Monday to Friday! versus payzone with 2000 outlets, many of them open 24 hours, 7 days a week!

Number26 + Payzone Cash lodgements would be an absolutely killer combination.

BTW I would expect there to be a fee for lodging money via Payzone, etc. It wouldn't really make sense for people who regularly need to deposit cash, but perfectly fine for most people who might need to do it once or twice a year.

long_b

Here's how they make their money

"One challenge that Number26 will face is the European Union’s plan to cap interchange fees for card payments. The startup’s current revenue model is based on a commission it receives from MasterCard each time a Number26 customer pays somewhere with the card. If the E.U. forces banks and MasterCard to dramatically cut the fees that retailers pay to them for card transactions, then MasterCard will have to cut or completely cancel the commission it offers card resellers such as Number26. The actual implementation of the fee cap could still be many months away. But when it happens, the company will have to come up with new revenue streams. Apart from that there of course is no guarantee yet that the commission alone is sufficient to create a profitable banking endeavor anyway."

Nollog

My passport has my parents address, which is at the other end of the country.
I don't think they care about the address being faked.

Yggr of Asgard

long_b wrote: »

Here's how they make their money

"One challenge that Number26 will face is the European Union’s plan to cap interchange fees for card payments. The startup’s current revenue model is based on a commission it receives from MasterCard each time a Number26 customer pays somewhere with the card. If the E.U. forces banks and MasterCard to dramatically cut the fees that retailers pay to them for card transactions, then MasterCard will have to cut or completely cancel the commission it offers card resellers such as Number26. The actual implementation of the fee cap could still be many months away. But when it happens, the company will have to come up with new revenue streams. Apart from that there of course is no guarantee yet that the commission alone is sufficient to create a profitable banking endeavor anyway."

This must be quote from an old article because the interchange fee cap is in place now.

The interchange fee cap is in place since the 1st of December. It's now limited to 0.3% of the transaction for credit cards and 0.2% for debit cards.

Thanks to the EU mingling here products indeed need an additional revenue stream and most cashback/miles earning cards have modified their earning levels because they suddenly have lost massive revenue streams.

Unfortunately while the cap is in effect businesses still pay very high processing cost, the EU speculated that this might go down with a low interchange fee, but that is to be seen.