New Dutch bank bunq launches current account with Irish IBAN

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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www.rte.ie

Dutch bunq launches accounts with Irish IBAN

Dutch digital bank bunq enters the Irish market today with a banking service that uses Irish international bank account numbers.
www.rte.ie www.rte.ie

Irish consumers interested in signing up for a bunq account should download the bunq app today from the Apple App Store or Google Play. bunq has a banking licence from the Dutch Central Bank.

CiaranT wrote about it 6 years ago.

Bunq - New Current Account Entrant

A Dutch bank, called Bunq.com, has entered the Irish, and EU wide, current account market via an app based service. [broken link removed] Some interesting features: - 10 IBAN's linked to your current account. - Direct Debit requiring approval each time (instead of automatic approval). -...
www.askaboutmoney.com
 
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Well my first attempt to find out about them is not good.

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Neither of which looks very attractive. I wonder if users outside Ireland have to pay the same charges.
 
That is from the .com website, so I would say that they are standard.

If you get a fully functioning bank account for €3 a month, I think it's good value.

Depends on the level of service.
 
Happy user for the last few years. Quick and flexible service. App is good, great for joint current account/savings etc. Pay the fee to avoid having to deal with Irish bank bureaucracy (paperwork, time delays etc.). Loads of facilities, receive credit card payments, instant transfers etc. I intend to use this as my main current account after KBC leave. The look and feel is very different to an Irish bank and its European in design i.e. there will be a small fee for most services. SEPA, DD, Google/Apple pay all included. Some fees for cash withdrawals. More comprehensive than Revolut but I'm not familiar with the banking service yet.
 
There may be 0.09% interest up to 10,000 (massinterest they call it - not sure if it applies to the Irish accounts), if so that's 9e a year, so could bring the annual cost to 27e. (BOI is 72e a year at the moment by contrast)

I'd be interested to see how the "investing in stock automatically" works - if that's just shares in companies that might be useful as the taxation side should be straightforward enough.

But all I can see online seems to be a choice of 3 funds (low, medium, high risk) - which would be fine except for deemed disposal etc.. I could see them running up with the same problem as Rabobank did with complicated fund taxation that was the responsibility of the customer.
 
A fee for an Irish IBAN. Assuming the service matches up with the likes of Revolut or N26 it'll be worth it. While SEPA discrimination isn't meant to be a thing, it is still widespread enough that even RTE mention it in their coverage
RTE said:
It is the first so-called neobank to offer accounts with Irish IBAN, which means customers will be able to set up direct debits, and make and receive payments including monthly salaries - services not available to Irish customers without an Irish IBAN.
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ryaner said:
Actually based on https://www.bunq.com/benefits/local-iban, the local IBAN may be €8.99 per month
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Looks to me like "bank like a local" is a facility to have an IBAN in a different country.

www.bunq.com

Compare bunq Plans | Find the Perfect Bank Account for You

Explore and compare bunqâs personal account plans to find the best fit for your needs. Sign up in just 5 minutes with your phone and ID.
www.bunq.com www.bunq.com

Spanish, French, German and Dutch IBANs are all available on the €2.99 a month package so maybe they just haven't updated that yet.
 
I also see they have the option for business to open accounts, providing director has an account in own name. Maybe an option for small 2 person LTDs to replace existing UB current account.

Only quickly looked at it online, so maybe it's jot suitable/available
 
Reviews on the app store are poor - even taking into account the usual distain for any financial institution

Main issue seems to be the near non-existent customer service if something goes wrong. Same as revolut.

So effectively its Revolut with an Irish Iban. So unlikely to be a contender as a primary bank account for many people
 
The Oggster said:
Looks to me like "bank like a local" is a facility to have an IBAN in a different country.

www.bunq.com

Compare bunq Plans | Find the Perfect Bank Account for You

Explore and compare bunqâs personal account plans to find the best fit for your needs. Sign up in just 5 minutes with your phone and ID.
www.bunq.com www.bunq.com

Spanish, French, German and Dutch IBANs are all available on the €2.99 a month package so maybe they just haven't updated that yet.
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I just completed the sign up for a saving account and it appears to come with an Irish IBAN.

The signup itself was painless and one of the better ones compared to other banks, Revolut/N26 included there. I definitely am not a fan of how unclear the pricing is. For foreign payments via card as an example, Fee_Information_Document_Easy_Bank_Personal_EN.pdf says "Mastercard exchange rates" while consumers_business_pricing_EN.pdf says "1,5% of the transaction amount + 0,5% (network fee)".

There is also a deposit holding fee for >100k which has increased since it was initially added back in 2020. Given the interest available, it isn't clear how this will work out either.
 
ryaner said:
I just completed the sign up for a saving account and it appears to come with an Irish IBAN.

The signup itself was painless and one of the better ones compared to other banks, Revolut/N26 included there. I definitely am not a fan of how unclear the pricing is. For foreign payments via card as an example, Fee_Information_Document_Easy_Bank_Personal_EN.pdf says "Mastercard exchange rates" while consumers_business_pricing_EN.pdf says "1,5% of the transaction amount + 0,5% (network fee)".

There is also a deposit holding fee for >100k which has increased since it was initially added back in 2020. Given the interest available, it isn't clear how this will work out either.
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The savings account though is free, right?
 
peemac said:
Reviews on the app store are poor - even taking into account the usual distain for any financial institution

Main issue seems to be the near non-existent customer service if something goes wrong. Same as revolut.

So effectively its Revolut with an Irish Iban. So unlikely to be a contender as a primary bank account for many people
Click to expand...

It's a contender for me, as the only thing missing from Revolut banking for me was the ability to have a joint account, which appears to be possible with Bunq.
 
lledlledlled said:
It's a contender for me, as the only thing missing from Revolut banking for me was the ability to have a joint account, which appears to be possible with Bunq.
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I had an issue with revolut where they stopped a direct debit payment to Sky & Revenue for a "security check". I approved both payments in the app, but they did not clear them and left both accounts "unpaid" as the subsequent re-application was not processed either.

When I finally got on chat to a person (over 2 hours later - at least they send you notification the person is there, so you can do something else whilst waiting), it was the most abysmal customer service experience I had. Basically "not their fault" as the second payment application came on a weekend!!!! I was told to ask Sky & revenue to set up payments again. Asked if I could talk to someone else and directed to making a report on an online form.

So handy as a back-up account. Not fit for a primary account.

Bunq seem to have the same service issues - basically non existent for anything other than very basic enquiries answered by call centre staff.
 
The great thing about direct debits with Bunq is that you can set an upper limit on the amount depending on the originator, so it won't automatically debit the account if it is a huge amount. Also you can set it that you have to approve each DD in the app manually. Great when you are leaving Vodafone or Eir when they think they can keep rolling the DD's.
 
Itchy said:
The great thing about direct debits with Bunq is that you can set an upper limit on the amount depending on the originator, so it won't automatically debit the account if it is a huge amount. Also you can set it that you have to approve each DD in the app manually. Great when you are leaving Vodafone or Eir when they think they can keep rolling the DD's.
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That is actually an incredibly useful feature!
 
Itchy said:
The great thing about direct debits with Bunq is that you can set an upper limit on the amount depending on the originator, so it won't automatically debit the account if it is a huge amount. Also you can set it that you have to approve each DD in the app manually. Great when you are leaving Vodafone or Eir when they think they can keep rolling the DD's.
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these kind of features are quite common and most are part of the standard SEPA Direct Debit rules. Both Bank of Ireland and AIB for example allow for the upper limit rule and also allow you to set it up so DD's outside of certain dates to be rejected. No matter who you are a customer of, you are entitled to ask your bank for a refund of a DD for up to 8 weeks after it was taken,
 
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