I’ve got the N26 Metal Card which I find pretty good to be honest, but Loki g at Curve Metal, that does look good too
I’d say compare the two (maybe throw in Revolut Metal and Amex Gold) and see what is of most benefit to you, alternatively if you just getting these cards for the airport lounge then you could buy a membership pass from LoungeKey or Priority Pass
If you decide to cancel N26 Metal after a year, you cannot reopen the account ever again (I’ve asked this in the chat a few months ago). With Revolut it’s possible to reopen a Metal account again in the future, unsure about Curve
Curve Metal and n26 Metal LoungeKey is £15
Revolut Metal is £22
The features of the Metal plan for these options are similar, but if you’re paying for the Metal sub I presume you also plan to use the card. So here’s some differences between the accounts overall.
First, I’d note that Curve is not a bank, Revolut isn’t either (but may be operating under a banking license soon), but N26 is a German bank and funds are secured up to 100k EUR.
In terms of actual features, they’re pretty much similar. I’d say Revolut accounts in general offer a couple more nice features though, like currency exchange facilities (which can help avoid volatility for travellers, esp in times of Brexit), cryptocurrency trading, etc. People have already pointed out that lounge keys are cheaper with Curve and N26 compared to Revolut by a bit.
Final note, on weekends Revolut and Curve have a markup on their exchange rate of 0.5-1.5%. N26 does not have this markup. N26 uses the Mastercard exchange rate, Revolut uses ‘inter-bank’, not sure about Curve. In practice, they’re all pretty similar but do fluctuate a bit. On ATM withdrawals, Revolut and Curve have a £600/mo fee-free cap on their Metal plans, N26 has no cap.
Having been to many lounges around the world, there are only a few that are worth any entry fee and, as others have mentioned, most regular lounges are more easily accessible by other methods.
Revolut has European Banking License so I know they are also covered for that 100,000 euro
I went with Revolut as its a better offering than all others imo. Two metal cards free, one free pass then £15 after.
20% discount on mobile insurance which makes it cheaper than my old package.
New features like free stock investment for metal users (already made £50 on some Chinese stocks)
Yeh N26 can’t even save your payee’s… If N26 stepped up it would be a option but Revolut is clear leader tbh
Whilst they do have a European Banking License - it’s not currently in use. Your account is not held with Revolut Bank, it’s with Revolut’s e-money service. Your money is ring-fenced so it’s unlikely anything will happen but you don’t have the same protections as you do with a bank account.
Just to be clear - you’re not covered under the European 100,000€ scheme.
As @TTJJ pointed out, they’re not using that license yet, and it’s possible it will be revoked too (the issuing country is reviewing it). Having a banking license alone does not mean it is covered for the 100k EUR afaik. With N26 it is offered by a separate govt institution afaik, in the UK it is offered by FSCS (not sure if banks automatically qualify for that scheme). Revolut’s license is in Lithuania, not sure if they have such a scheme. But operating as a bank offers other protections, too.
Revolut has a bad rep for randomly suspending accounts and having an over-tuned security system.
It’s an EU wide scheme.
Even though N26 is operating in the UK it’s still a German bank, so you’re covered under Germany’s €100,000 deposit protection. It’s an EU wide thing, each country has their own implementation of it but they’re all the same amount legally.
If Revolut did start using its banking license, which isn’t the case currently, you’d be protected for €100,000 under whatever Lithuania’s FSCS equivalent is.
Brexit won’t make a difference to these EU things because even if we’re no longer in the EU, you’d be holding an EU bank account so you qualify.
Yeah I read in to this and am aware they are not using it just yet and that’s seems to be they are waiting for Brexit from some stuff I read on their forum about passporting and applying for British banking license too.
Anyhow lounges at £15 was a great improvement by revolut I think their metal offering is very nice and rounded and personally suits me well.
I was intrigued by this as I have a World Elite card so I called HSBC but they told me there’s no such thing in the UK. Do you have a metal card issued by HSBC UK?