Yep, saved me quite a bit on cash withdrawals abroad but I won’t save €60 per year either.
Shame really. I think it likely marks the beginning of the end of Bankera.
Must have another look at BoursoBank .
Ps and Santander expat.
Let me know if you manage to persuade Boursobank to overlook the residency requirement.
They didn’t have those requirements when I first looked at them a year or more back but they’re wanting a RIB from a French bank now so probably not a runner anymore.
Someone here managed to open the expat Santander account which seems to be the option to go for: https://www.bancosantander.es/en/particulares/cuentas-tarjetas/cuentas-corrientes/cuenta-online-con-pasaporte
Bankera closed so an overnight deal by the look of it.
PS No physical card for the Santander account unless you have a Spanish address 
1 Like
The other option used to be Ma French Bank (by La Poste) but that’s unfortunately being closed to new applications now.
Which leaves (I think) Credit Agricole’s Britline, which is as legacy French as they come but well thought of:
(The application includes a telephone interview which might put some off!)
I’m just waiting for Wise to decide it’s too difficult to provide an EU IBAN to UK customers and then will probably have to look at CA for my French direct debits.
I had Britline when we lived in France and it was a real pain as Credit Agricole aren’t joined up across France and our main account was in CA Pyrenees.
1 Like
Coming back to HSBC HK- another benefit is that Hong Kong’s Faster Payments is cross-compatible with Thai PromptPay QR payment, meaning I barely have to touch cash anymore when I go on a Thai holiday. Last time, between card and QR, I only needed a tenner’s worth of baht in physical cash for the airport train into Bangkok and a couple of street stalls that didn’t have QR codes. It also helped me buy Steam credit there for cheaper games (for developers that participate in region-based pricing).
What do the virtual cards look like?
Based on this post, same as UK:
2 Likes
I’ve been quite happy with my Santander Spain account. I don’t like that it doesn’t have a physical card but I use Apple Pay or link it to Curve just in case. I don’t get notifications on incoming payments which is alright I guess.
Painless to open (for me) and free. What else could I need.
Why don’t you get a UK account?
Closed my Santander UK account back in 2017.
I didn’t like Santander back then, was just handy as they had a branch in my university. Maybe I would like them now, but I’m happy with HSBC.
Oh I just meant as you can use the UK one as you would the Spanish one and it’s the same style app etc.
Indeed, actually I really appreciate that functionality working with Wise, along with Singapore’s PayNow, Australia’s PayID and US ACH Fast Payments - the benefits of the better exchange rates without having days of waiting.
Only a year or two ago payments to the US took days, and they’ve only recently started accepting inbound PayID payments from Australia (for me anyway, no idea about outbound I use Wise to get money out of Australia, not in), which eliminated a choice between debit card fees, slower payment times with Revolut, poorer exchange rates or (if time was of the essence) using GBP and replenishing that at some point later.
OT but I’ve done a lot of that recently with the exchange rate AUD-GBP tanked, but AUD-USD is the highest it’s been since last year, so going that was isn’t too painful now (with HKD being linked to USD within a narrow band, it’s improved that somewhat, too).
Wow, which I knew that sooner. How do I set it up?
Open the app but don’t log in, and you’ll see “FPS Transfer” in the bottom left corner. Tap it, then tap “scan to pay”, then scan the QR code at the shop. It’ll tell you how much your account will be charged in HKD (there’s like a 1% markup, which is still less than what the airport currency exchanges charge), tap “confirm”, then it’ll go through just the same as if you paid from a Thai bank account.
1 Like